Winter truck driving tips from a driver with 5 million safe miles

With hundreds of trucks on the road moving millions of pounds of food every week, drivers at VersaCold experience the daily challenge of safely delivering food that consumers enjoy. And the safe delivery of food becomes more of a challenge in the winter months. Despite difficult weather conditions, our commitment to both safety and customer satisfaction doesn’t change—so we rely on talented drivers to safely move the food that families love to eat.

To understand how drivers prepare for winter driving, we spoke with one of our most experienced drivers, Steve Nickason. Steve, who is based out of the Calgary area, has been driving professionally for over 42 years and has avoided collisions in the 5-million-plus miles he’s travelled. We asked Steve to share a few ways he takes caution when driving in the winter.

New Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and what they mean for you

Canada is recognized for having one of the strongest food safety systems in the world. But in attempt to strengthen its already world-class system, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has introduced new regulations. As of January 15, 2019, the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations are in effect.

Your Food Matters—2018 and beyond

The year is coming to a close, and what a year it’s been. From awards to new certifications and partnerships, 2018 has been extremely exciting for VersaCold. This spring, we introduced our new tagline, Your Food Matters, as a commitment to making our customers and our customers’ food our top priority. And we have taken many steps this year to keep that promise.

Let’s take a look back at some of the year’s great accomplishments.

What we discovered by thinking outside the recruitment box

VersaCold is committed to your food. And when it comes to putting your food first, our people are our biggest advantage. Each year, our team safely and securely handles and ships millions of pounds of temperature-sensitive products. VersaCold works as an extension of our customers’ businesses, and our team is relied on to maintain the quality, value and safety of our customers’ food.

VersaCold employs 2,600+ employees at 32 warehousing facilities, offices and transportation terminals from coast to coast. We offer a secure working environment and plenty of employee benefits. But despite all of this, there’s a big challenge that we—and other Canadian businesses—are currently facing: record-low unemployment rates.

5 ways to keep your food fresher longer 

As the demand for quality and fresh food grows, so does the need for a reliable supply chain company. To keep food fresh across the supply chain, the integration of temperature-sensitive storage and complex time-based distribution must be transparent, comprehensive and precise.

“Maintaining the freshness, quality and safety of food is shared by all, including the consumer,” says Moses Akingbade, Director, Cold Chain Assurance. “A key factor in maintaining food safety, quality and freshness, is ensuring that products are handled and stored at temperatures appropriate for the type of food. It’s what we all need to do in order to ensure we are nourishing ourselves in a safe manner.”

With over 65 years of experience with temperature-sensitive food, VersaCold can guarantee freshness from supplier to warehouse to store. But once food is delivered, it’s out of our hands. Here are 5 tips for keeping your food fresher longer.

B&G Foods + VersaCold

VersaCold is a food-first company. And the best way we ensure this is through dedicated partnerships.

As Director of National Accounts, Ian Sinclair works with VersaCold’s key accounts to help them achieve their goals with custom solutions based on their corporate objectives and business requirements. His main goal is building a strong partnership with clients to better understand how to grow their business.

When B&G Foods, a food company with 125+ years of experience and 50+ iconic brands, were looking for a strategic partner in Canada, Ian knew VersaCold would be a perfect fit. The relationship evolved over the course of a year as the companies continued to build their trust and understanding of one another. For B&G Foods, finding the right partner was a huge decision, and for Ian that meant showing B&G how their food matters.

We sat down with Ian and Tom Heslin, Director of Distribution at B&G Foods, to discuss the consumer journey process and what makes a good supply chain partner.

“Anything to do with food, VersaCold knows how to handle all the goods.”

Our people here at VersaCold are the backbone of all that we do. So we’d like to introduce our new interview series that will continue to roll out in the months to come. These stories will feature different VersaCold employees across the cold supply chain and explore how their specific roles and personal dedication demonstrate their commitment to safety, quality and the freshness of the food families eat.

We recently sat down with Vera Penney to chat about her role at VersaCold and why it’s so important to her. Vera has been with VersaCold and Atlas Cold Storage (a company VersaCold acquired over 10 years ago) for a combined 13+ years. She’s taken on many roles at a number of Southern Ontario locations over the course of her cold chain career—from inventory control to customer service to workflow control and, most recently, as a shunter at our new Milton location.

Where we are and where we’re going

There’s no doubt about it. Technology and the pursuit of innovation are essential to VersaCold’s commitment to our customers and ensuring the safety, quality and freshness of the food families eat.

We recently sat down with our Chief Information Officer and SVP, Bala Puvitharan, to discuss the importance of technological advancement throughout the cold supply chain and the efforts VersaCold is taking to lead the charge. Here are 5 ways we are utilizing technology to stay ahead of the curve, support our customers and better our processes.

5 ways our Supply Chain Solutions team can enhance your supply chain

VersaCold is an expansive end-to-end supply chain company and one of North America’s largest cold chain networks. But did you know we have an entire Supply Chain Solutions team dedicated to our customers? Meet the answer to the problems you never even knew you had. This is our know-how.

Our Supply Chain Solutions team works to assess our customers’ requirements, processes, and activities throughout the supply chain—including warehousing services, transportation, and network design. This unique team strives for continuous improvement with one end goal in mind: getting your food where it needs to be, efficiently, safely, and fresh.

Here are 5 ways our Supply Chain Solutions Team can enhance your supply chain.

How We’re Working with Bullfrog Power to Aid Local Renewable
Energy Initiatives

Bullfrog Power is Canada's leading green energy provider, providing renewable energy solutions for both homes and businesses. Started in 2005 in Toronto, they are a renewable energy-based company with the ultimate goal of transitioning Canada into a low-carbon economy.

The way it works is that businesses and homes sign up with Bullfrog to initially assess the energy they consume and then match that consumption by purchasing an equal amount of green, clean, renewable energy. That green energy then gets put back into the national grid, pipeline or fuel pool, displacing energy from polluting sources.

VersaCold is proud to say that we’ve been choosing renewable electricity and renewable natural gas with Bullfrog Power since 2015. Through our partnership, we are reducing our emissions footprint and helping to green our energy systems.

Our initial commitment is based off of our monthly energy usage at our corporate office in Richmond, BC, where we displace approximately 12.4 megawatts of conventional electricity with renewable electricity per month and 88.4 gigajoules of conventional natural gas with renewable natural gas per month. Through this renewable energy purchase, VersaCold now displaces 54.83 tonnes of CO2 annually, or 4.56 tonnes of CO2 monthly.

“VersaCold has made sustainability an essential part of our commitment to the environment,” says Doug Harrison, President and CEO. “That’s why we’re proud to partner with Bullfrog Power to support green electricity and green natural gas at our head office. Not to mention the green outreach that our contribution supports.”

Beyond matching our conventional energy usage with green energy, our partnership and monthly contribution also impact diverse communities throughout Canada by helping to fund green energy projects. And one of those initiatives, we’re proud to report, is helping a local community not too far from Richmond—the Skidegate community in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.

Haida Gwaii is a remote group of beautiful islands located off the coast of BC. It is home to the Haida people, a First Nations community that settled in the area over 8,000 years ago.

Through Bullfrog Power’s Community Renewable Projects program, VersaCold recently supported the solar installation at Kay Llnagaay, Haida Gwaii’s cultural heritage centre. Prior to the project, the centre used 10 million litres of diesel fuel and paid more than $100K per year for electricity.

The 100 kW solar installation, the largest community-owned renewable project in BC, reduces the community’s reliance on fossil fuels as well as its electricity costs. Powering the centre with energy from the sun also helps the Haida people continue to thrive as stewards of the land and sustain the cultural site, which plays such an important role in protecting and promoting their history.

“This new solar project will leave a cleaner footprint on Haida Gwaii for years to come and serve as a reminder that there are local solutions we can act on today to move toward a clean energy future,” says Billy Yovanovich, Chief Skidegate Band Councillor.

The project on Haida Gwaii is just one of more than 130 community renewable energy projects across Canada currently being supported through Bullfrog Power. The projects are not only increasing the amount of renewable energy in Canada and cleaning our grid—they are also providing important social and cultural impacts. VersaCold is proud to be a part of this amazing program and to support 100% green energy.

To learn more about Bullfrog Power and/or their Community Renewable Projects program, visit bullfrogpower.com.