Central Storage & Warehouse (CSW) has commissioned a new −70°F ultra-cold storage vault at its Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facility, marking the operator's third foray into extreme-temperature capacity at that campus and its second dedicated ultra-cold expansion since 2016.
The new space was built in partnership with Consolidated Construction Company and Summit Refrigeration, the refrigeration contractor responsible for designing and engineering the deep-freeze system. CSW originally built its ultra-cold footprint at Pleasant Prairie in 2016 and completed its first expansion in 2020; this latest addition continues that trajectory as demand for sub-zero cold-chain space grows across foodservice, biotech, and pharmaceutical supply chains.
Why −70°F Matters
Storage at −70°F sits well below the −10°F to −20°F range of conventional blast-freeze and frozen-food warehousing, and even colder than the −40°F threshold common in industrial ice cream hardening and specialty frozen food distribution. At these temperatures, enzymatic activity and microbial growth halt entirely, making the spec relevant for high-value ingredients, certain seafood and protein products, and biologics that share cold-chain infrastructure with foodservice distributors. For operators and distributors sourcing through cold-storage and refrigeration supply chains, the availability of −70°F commercial space in the upper Midwest reduces the need to ship ultra-cold product to coastal hub facilities.
Midwest Cold-Chain Implications
CSW's Pleasant Prairie campus sits in the Kenosha corridor between Chicago and Milwaukee — a logistics sweet spot for Midwest foodservice distributors moving product across the I-94 corridor. The expansion adds specialized capacity at a moment when ultra-cold storage infrastructure is under pressure nationally; vaccine and biologics cold-chain build-outs during the early 2020s consumed much of the available −70°F warehouse space, and foodservice cold-chain operators have been competing for that capacity ever since. Foodservice equipment consultants specifying temperature-controlled distribution facilities will find the Pleasant Prairie build relevant as a benchmark for refrigeration system design at extreme setpoints. For more on how deep-freeze refrigeration technology is evolving at the equipment level, see our refrigeration and prep-and-storage coverage.
CSW describes itself as a premier Midwest cold storage developer and operator. The company has not disclosed the square footage of the new vault or the refrigeration equipment tonnage involved.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
