Companies working to keep perishable items cool amid extreme heat

PHOENIX - When it's 115° outside, the walk-in cooler at Eat Clean Phx is the perfect place to be, but 1,000 customers every week are waiting for their food.

"It's all fresh ingredients coming in. and fresh ingredients going out, nothing frozen. Everything is made from scratch. No preservatives, low sodium, and it tastes incredible," said Ryan Powell, owner of Eat Clean Phx.

So the prepared meals are quickly moved to an insulated bag with ice and loaded into a climate-controlled truck and then dropped off at homes across the Valley.

"This bag will buy them four to five hours in the heat for them to get the meals off their doorstep," Powell said.

Powell says customers are also able to track the truck.

"We don't want our customers to get sick, so that's why we invested a lot of money into state-of-the-art equipment, as well as these expensive vans with refrigeration units to make sure the food is safe from point A to point B," he said.

Temperature is also important for Black Cat Vineyard in Napa Valley.

"Because we are 100% direct to consumer, our shipments are incredibly important to us," said Samantha Reichow Miner, CFO and vice president of Black Cat Vineyard. "They are the basis for our business. We want this wine that we painstakingly make to perfection to be delivered in its perfect state."

Reichow Miner says her family ships plenty of bottles to Arizona, and this summer, a more affordable air option with ice packs from FedEx is being offered.

"It's so funny because when you look at our demographic over the country, some of our biggest points of sales are the hottest places; Arizona, Texas and Florida," she said. "You guys love to drink your wine."

But before their customers can pour a glass of their famous family Cuvée, someone 21 or older must sign for the delivery.

 

"We really encourage people to give an address where somebody is going to be there to accept that wine when it arrives the first time," Reichow Miner said.

A business address is ideal in the summer. Luckily for Eat Clean Phx, a delivery can be left without a signature, or you can drive yourself to the store and grab food to go.