Refrigerated Freight and On-Site Cold Storage for Slice Drinks
Summary
Slice makes a probiotic beverage that has to stay between 33 and 39 degrees. For two 2025 festivals we picked up at their Oceanside, California headquarters, ran refrigerated freight to the site, left the reefer on site as cold storage through the show, and brought the remainder home.
The situation
A festival activation with a shelf-stable product is a freight problem. With a refrigerated one it's a different job, because the temperature requirement doesn't pause for load-in.
Slice needed product at two festivals on opposite sides of the country within about a month of each other. Both required the same thing: 33 to 39 degrees held from pickup through the event, not just in transit.
That creates four problems at once. Cross-country movement with temperature maintained the whole way. Cold storage at a festival site, where there is no warehouse. Inventory organized for fast unloading by people working a crowd. And a return leg for whatever doesn't get sampled, still refrigerated.
A probiotic beverage that breaks temperature isn't delayed product. It's lost product.
When We Were Young, Las Vegas, October 2025
16 pallets across three purchase orders: 6 for the activation, 8 for concessions, 2 for back of house.
A 53' reefer trailer stayed on site through the festival, serving as cold storage for the show, with diesel fills scheduled throughout to keep it running.
About 4 pallets of leftover product went back to Slice's cold storage partner in Torrance, California.
Warped Tour Orlando, November 2025
16 pallets, roughly 26,900 lbs and more than 2,600 cases, shipped cross-country from Oceanside to Orlando.
No local reefer trailer was available during Florida produce season. We transloaded at our Orlando facility into a reefer box truck rather than letting the load sit.
The load was staged by purchase order so concessions and the House of Slice sampling activation could unload fast on arrival.
9 pallets returned to Los Angeles after the show.
What we did
We coordinate temperature-controlled freight and on-site reefer staging for events, including California to Las Vegas and California to Florida and back, held at 33 to 39 degrees.
In practice that meant pickup at Slice's Oceanside headquarters, refrigerated freight to each site, the reefer left on site as cold storage through the show, pickup afterward, and the return trip.
Staging by purchase order is the detail that makes an event unload work. Concessions, activation and back-of-house product arriving mixed means sorting on the ground while a crew waits.
Results
Temperature held at 33 to 39 degrees from pickup through the event on both jobs.
32 pallets moved in total across the two festivals, including roughly 26,900 lbs and more than 2,600 cases on the Orlando run.
Refrigerated equipment staged on site at both events as cold storage for the show.
Return legs completed on both, with 4 pallets back to Torrance and 9 back to Los Angeles.
A transload solved in Orlando when no local reefer trailer was available during produce season.
Why this one matters
The Orlando transload is the part worth understanding.
Florida produce season consumes local refrigerated equipment. A load arriving into that market can find no reefer available for the last leg, and product sitting on a dock at ambient is product being destroyed slowly.
Transloading at our own facility into a reefer box truck kept the chain intact. That option exists because the facility is there and the team holding the freight also holds the building. A pure freight broker in that position is making phone calls.
Event cold chain fails at the seams, not in the middle. Pickup to trailer, trailer to site, site through the show, and the return. Each handoff is where temperature gets lost.
Questions this raises
Can you handle temperature-controlled product for events? We coordinate temperature-controlled freight and on-site reefer staging for events, including California to Las Vegas and California to Florida and back, held at 33 to 39 degrees.
How do you keep product cold at a festival site? By leaving the reefer trailer on site as cold storage through the show, with fuel scheduled to keep it running. A festival has no warehouse, so the trailer is the warehouse.
What happens if no refrigerated equipment is available locally? We transload. In Orlando during produce season no local reefer trailer was available, so the load was transferred at our facility into a reefer box truck rather than sitting at ambient.
Who handles the return leg after an event? We do, refrigerated. Leftover product went back to cold storage partners in Torrance and Los Angeles after the two shows.
Why does staging by purchase order matter? Because concessions, sampling activation and back-of-house product get unloaded by different people at different times. Mixed pallets mean sorting on the ground while a crew waits.
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