Natural refrigeration is a challenging sustainability issue for consumers
By Keilly Witman KW Refrigerant Management Strategy LLC This is the first article in a three-part series on sustainability and refrigerants. In this day and age, most supermarket companies recognize that their customers care about the environment and their communities. Customers want to spend their money at businesses that share those values. They want to feel good about where they shop, so they want to know that their grocery store is helping to make their community a better place. Given these facts, and given the enormous progress that many supermarket companies have made in reducing the environmental impact of their [...]
Merchandising Tip: Ice without the hassle
Merchandising seafood without ice saves labor hours and makes clean up quick and easy. Here’s how to get the look of ice without the time and expense. For a free merchandising consultation, visit www.hillphoenix.com/designhelp.
Merchandising Tip: Create a visual focal point
Want to attract more customers to your high-margin meat and seafood departments? Put the focus on the product. Coolgenix conductive refrigeration technology protects the integrity of meat and seafood, so your product is moist, colorful and visually appealing to your customers.
To understand the future of commercial refrigeration, look to CO2’s past
By Derek Gosselin Hillphoenix Systems Product Manager Using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant seems like a new solution to today’s challenge of lowering the global warming potential of commercial refrigeration systems. But, as industry researcher James M. Calm has documented, the use of CO2 as a refrigerant actually stretches back to 1866. In subsequent decades CO2, ammonia and other early refrigerants took a backseat to organic fluoride-based cooling compounds. The first among them was synthesized dichlorodifluoromethane, or R-12, developed in the late 1920s. In 1930, fluorocarbon refrigerants were introduced to the market and quickly became the standard. It took us [...]
Hillphoenix supports Coolgenix customers with onsite training
By Derek Gosselin Hillphoenix Systems Product Manager Using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant seems like a new solution to today’s challenge of lowering the global warming potential of commercial refrigeration systems. But, as industry researcher James M. Calm has documented, the use of CO2 as a refrigerant actually stretches back to 1866. In subsequent decades CO2, ammonia and other early refrigerants took a backseat to organic fluoride-based cooling compounds. The first among them was synthesized dichlorodifluoromethane, or R-12, developed in the late 1920s. In 1930, fluorocarbon refrigerants were introduced to the market and quickly became the standard. It took us [...]
The Shrinking Supermarket: 6 Essentials to Designing Small-Format Grocery Stores
The trend toward smaller stores is getting bigger. Small-format dollar stores and drug stores now claim about half of consumers’ short shopping trips, according to market researcher IRI. Meanwhile, traditional supermarkets are netting just 25 percent of those in-and-out sprees, IRI reports. These statistics reflect a shift in consumers’ definition of convenience. The all-in-one big box is losing its allure. These days, on-the-go consumers would rather make more frequent trips to smaller stores where they can get what they want and be on their way. In this environment, supermarkets still have an edge because they’ve got the product mix and [...]
Video: Is your display case stealing moisture from your meat and seafood?
To understand how conduction heat transfer preserves the natural moisture content of meat and seafood, it helps to understand the alternative: traditional convection-cooled cases. Most convection-cooled meat and seafood display cases work in one of two ways. The most common way uses fans to drive the circulated air; this method is called forced convection. A second approach relies on the natural tendency of cold air to sink and warm air to rise. A particular type of evaporator called a gravity coil is mounted at the top of the case instead of at the bottom as is typically used in forced-air [...]
Retailers can future-proof their business now by assessing alternative refrigerants…
Retailers can future-proof their business now by assessing alternative refrigerants before they hit the market Now’s the time for supermarkets and convenience stores to assess whether soon-to-be-released sustainable refrigerants will be a good fit for their businesses — and Hillphoenix experts can help. Major manufacturers plan to release refrigerants with lower global-warming potential in mid-2015. The new products will hit the market in advance of an anticipated phase out of R404A, a widely used refrigerant that U.S. and European regulators have targeted because of its potential for environmentally harmful emissions. “Grocers and convenience store owners should start today assessing whether these [...]
Conduction heat transfer: Why does it matter to merchandisers?
If your job involves showcasing meat and seafood in ways that are attractive to the customer and maintain the integrity of the product, conductive heat transfer can dramatically expand your window of opportunity. Moist and even cooling – the kind that actually extends the life of meat and seafood – are hallmarks of the conduction approach to refrigerated display case design. Conduction is heat transfer through the direct physical contact of two objects (or surfaces) at different temperatures. When two objects are in contact, heat flows from the warmer surface of one to the cooler surface of the other until [...]