How should a blast freezer be specified in an RFQ?

By required core-temperature pull-down time for a defined product, load pattern and batch size — not by tonnes per day. Two suppliers can both claim the same daily tonnage with very different plant sizes and air velocities.

What hygiene scope belongs in a food cold store RFQ?

Washdown rating for evaporators and enclosures, hygienic panel joint detail, floor falls and drainage layout, drain heating in freezer areas, and the cleaning regime the design must survive. Left unstated, they become variations after award.

Why does peak intake matter more than average throughput?

A produce hall is sized by its worst week, not its annual average. Harvest peaks of three times average intake change the design duty and the door-traffic load, and are the most common cause of undersized plant.

Is this food case study a real project?

It is anonymised and generalised from representative buyer-led procurements. Names, sites and contract values are removed; figures are indicative of comparable projects and are not quotations or guaranteed outcomes.

Food buyer case study

Food cold-chain buyer case study: from harvest peak to one comparable chilled and blast-freezing RFQ

How a fruit and vegetable processor moved from a seasonal capacity crisis to six comparable proposals for a combined chilled, ripening and blast-freezing facility — by fixing the peak intake duty, defrost strategy and hygiene scope before contacting a single supplier.

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Short answer

The buyer modelled two separate duties — a +2 °C chilled hall sized on peak harvest intake, and a blast-freezing tunnel sized on core temperature pull-down time, not tonnes per day. Hygiene requirements (washdown-rated evaporators, hygienic panel joints, drainage falls), defrost strategy and commissioning were written into the RFQ as mandatory scope. Six pre-qualified suppliers priced the same duties: raw bids spread about 31%; after normalising defrost, drainage and hygienic finish exclusions the genuine difference was roughly 12%.

Who this is for and how ColdMatch works

Best for

Commercial and industrial cold chain projects, typically from USD 250,000 upward: cold rooms, refrigerated warehouses, blast freezers, processing plant refrigeration and distribution hubs.

Not a fit: domestic refrigerators, household or office air conditioning, small repair call-outs, or spare-parts-only enquiries.

Typical cold chain project types

Fruit, vegetable and horticulture cold storage with pre-cooling
Meat, poultry and fish chilling plus blast freezing
Dairy and beverage process cooling
Pharma and vaccine GDP cold chain (2–8 °C, −20 °C, −70 °C)
Refrigerated warehouses, 3PL hubs and mobile cold rooms

Cold room vs refrigerated warehouse

A cold room is a single insulated chamber, usually under ~500 m³, serving one process or storage step. A refrigerated warehouse is a multi-zone facility with racking, docks, air locks and a central refrigeration plant, sized by pallet positions and daily throughput rather than by room volume.

What affects project cost

Storage volume, pallet positions and daily throughput
Target temperature and ambient design conditions
Refrigerant choice (NH₃, CO₂, HFC) and plant redundancy
Panel thickness, doors, air locks and civil works
Backup power, solar, freight, duties and commissioning

Temperature range checklist

+12 to +16 °C — bananas, potatoes, curing
+2 to +8 °C — pharma GDP, dairy, fresh produce
0 to +4 °C — meat, fish and chilled distribution
−18 to −25 °C — frozen storage
−35 to −40 °C — blast freezing and IQF

RFQ checklist

Product, temperature and daily intake
Room dimensions or required pallet positions
Site location, ambient conditions and power supply
Backup autonomy and redundancy level
Budget range, timeline and scope exclusions

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Supplier matching process

You define the project once — capacity, temperature and technical requirements. ColdMatch structures it into a supplier-ready RFQ, reviews it with a human specialist, then approaches suitable refrigeration manufacturers, EPC contractors and installers. Offers come back normalised so scope, price and lead time are comparable.

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Buyer is not charged

Using ColdMatch to scope a project, run calculators and receive supplier quotations is free for buyers. ColdMatch helps buyers compare suppliers and request quotes; it is an intermediary and does not manufacture equipment, install systems, or provide financing directly. Costs shown are indicative planning figures — only supplier quotations are binding.

Cold chain project types, temperatures and budgets

Use these reference clusters to place a project before contacting suppliers. Figures are indicative planning ranges for commercial and industrial projects from USD 250,000 upward — only supplier quotations are binding.

Project type cluster

Agriculture and horticulture cold storage: Pre-cooling plus storage for fruit, vegetables and flowers, usually +2 to +12 °C with high humidity control and fast pull-down after harvest. Sized by daily intake in tonnes, not only by room volume.
Meat, poultry and fish cold storage: Chilling at 0 to +4 °C combined with blast freezing at −35 to −40 °C and frozen holding at −18 to −25 °C. Hygienic panels, drainage and separate dirty/clean flows are part of scope.
Pharmaceutical and API cold storage: GDP-compliant 2–8 °C rooms, −20 °C and, for some active pharmaceutical ingredients and biologics, −70 °C. Requires mapping, IQ/OQ/PQ, N+1 refrigeration, backup power and alarm escalation.
Refrigerated warehouse and 3PL distribution: Multi-zone facilities sized by pallet positions, dock doors and daily throughput. Typical scope covers racking, air locks, dock levellers, a central plant and an energy strategy.
Food processing plant refrigeration: Process cooling, chillers, spiral or tunnel freezers and glycol loops integrated with production lines. Usually specified alongside ISO 22000 and HACCP food safety requirements.
Mobile and containerised cold rooms: Plug-and-play 20 ft or 40 ft refrigerated units for seasonal peaks, remote sites and temporary capacity, typically −25 to +8 °C with optional solar or generator support.

Temperature range cluster

Range	Typical use
+12 to +16 °C	Bananas, potatoes, onions, curing and ripening rooms
+8 to +12 °C	Tropical fruit and chill-sensitive produce
+2 to +8 °C	Pharma GDP storage, vaccines, dairy, fresh produce
0 to +4 °C	Meat, fish and chilled distribution
−18 to −25 °C	Frozen food storage and frozen distribution hubs
−35 to −40 °C	Blast freezing, IQF tunnels and spiral freezers
−70 °C and below	Biologics, clinical trial material and ultra-low pharma

Budget band cluster

USD 250K – 750K: Single or twin cold rooms, a small blast freezer, or a containerised installation with basic backup power.
USD 750K – 2M: Multi-zone cold store of roughly 500–1,500 m² with racking, dock doors, a packaged plant and a generator.
USD 2M – 8M: Refrigerated warehouse or processing plant refrigeration with NH₃ or CO₂ central plant, redundancy and automation.
USD 8M – 100M+: Turnkey distribution hubs, national cold chain programmes and multi-site pharma or export infrastructure.

Estimate cooling load → · Build a supplier-ready RFQ →

Anonymised buyer case: chilled, ripening and blast-freezing facility for a produce processor

The situation before tender, how peak intake and pull-down time were converted into duties, the week-by-week programme, and the calculators behind the specification.

Food processors, packers and fresh produce exporters buying combined chilled and freezing capacity

Case — Chilled hall, ripening rooms and blast tunnel for a fruit and vegetable processor

Produce processor serving supermarket and export contracts. New 2,400 m² facility: +2 °C chilled hall, four ripening rooms, a blast-freezing tunnel and a −22 °C holding store. Budget band USD $2.1M–$3.8M.

Before

Suppliers sized the blast tunnel on tonnes per day rather than product core-temperature pull-down time
Peak harvest intake — three times the annual average — was never stated, so the chilled hall was undersized in two concepts
Hygiene scope undefined: washdown rating, panel joint detail and drainage falls left to each supplier's habit
Defrost strategy absent, though it drives both energy cost and product quality in a high-humidity produce hall

After

Six compliant proposals; raw spread of about 31% narrowed to roughly 12% after normalisation
The cheapest raw bid excluded drain heating, hygienic finishes and hot-gas defrost — roughly USD $120K–$190K of unavoidable scope
Blast tunnel retendered on pull-down time produced a 20% smaller plant than the first tonnes-per-day concept
Award on normalised 10-year cost, with a seasonal service response commitment inside the base price

Sourcing approach

Two duties modelled separately: chilled hall at peak intake with door and respiration load, blast tunnel on pull-down time to core temperature
Ripening rooms specified with controlled ethylene and airflow requirements instead of a generic 'ripening' line item
Hygiene and drainage written into the RFQ as mandatory scope: washdown-rated coils, hygienic joints, floor falls, drain heating
Six suppliers pre-qualified on comparable produce and blast-freezing references, not catalogue claims

ColdMatch RFQ timeline

Week 0–1Peak intake and pull-down fixed. Chilled hall duty modelled at peak harvest intake including respiration heat and door traffic; blast duty set by required core-temperature pull-down time. Cooling-load calculator
Week 1Capacity and layout cross-check. Pallet positions, ripening room count and tunnel batch size validated against the 2,400 m² footprint before tendering. Cold warehouse capacity planner
Week 2RFQ issued. One pack to six pre-qualified suppliers: same duties, same hygiene scope, same defrost strategy, same commissioning list. RFQ builder
Week 3–5Market period. Clarifications on defrost and drainage answered once in writing and shared with every bidder.
Week 6Normalisation. Defrost, drainage, hygienic finish and controls priced back onto one scope; annual energy modelled at seasonal load profile. Bid comparison tool
Week 7–8Award. Award on normalised 10-year cost plus seasonal service response, not on lump sum alone.

Calculators behind this project

Cooling-load calculator

Produced the chilled and freezing duties that became the RFQ technical annex.

Blast freezer cost calculator

Set a planning band for tunnel capacity before suppliers priced anything.

Cold warehouse capacity planner

Confirmed pallet positions, ripening rooms and tunnel batches fit the footprint.

Refrigeration bid comparison

Priced defrost, drainage and hygiene exclusions back onto one scope.

Run your food project the same way

Estimate your chilled and freezing duties, turn them into one structured RFQ with hygiene and defrost scope included, and compare proposals on a single normalised scope — free for buyers, supplier-neutral.

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This case study is anonymised and generalised for buyer guidance. Budget bands, bid spreads, programmes and savings are indicative of comparable projects and are not quotations, benchmarks or guaranteed outcomes. Calculators provide planning estimates only, not certified engineering design. ColdMatch Group is a supplier-neutral procurement platform and does not act as a manufacturer, installer or EPC contractor.

Frequently asked questions

How ColdMatch Group works — independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform — ColdMatch Group is an independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform for industrial refrigeration, cold storage and cold-chain projects from USD $250K+, connecting buyers with qualified third-party suppliers, EPC contractors and independent financing providers.

Related resources

Cooling-load calculator Build a free RFQ Cold storage buyer case study Cold chain logistics buyer case study Pharma cold chain buyer case study Pharma cold chain buyer hub

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