Custom food-grade warehousing in the Charlotte area often comes down to what a 3PL is willing to build for one customer. At Cargo Integrated Logistics, our food-grade space along the I-40 corridor in Conover, NC recently expanded to meet a growing customer’s volume, and that meant creating a solution that did not exist in the building a month earlier. Food-grade storage is rarely one-size-fits-all, and the customers who need it usually arrive with requirements a standard warehouse cannot meet.
A Separation Curtain That Creates Food-Grade Space on Demand
When a key customer needed more food-grade capacity, we ran a separation curtain front to back through the warehouse to carve out a compliant, food-grade section. It gives the customer the certified space they need at a fraction of the cost of building permanent walls. That kind of flexibility matters in food-grade warehousing, where a shipper’s requirements can change with a single new retailer or product line.
Lot-Code Tracking Most 3PLs Cannot Offer
Lot-code tracking is where a food-grade 3PL earns its keep. Most warehouses put product away by product code. One of our customers needs their product grouped and stored by lot, so when they call out a lot, we can pull the full quantity together, load after load. Our system tracks by both SKU and lot code, which lets us build those groupings and hand back exactly what the customer asked for. Not every 3PL can do this, and for food and beverage brands, it is often the deciding factor.
Meeting Retailer Requirements at the Pallet Level
Food-grade warehousing in the Carolinas frequently means conforming to a retailer’s exact specifications. When a manufacturer’s product ships to a major retailer, that retailer sets the rules for labels, barcodes, and placement so their scanners read everything the first time. We take those requirements from the manufacturer and apply them in our building, so the product arrives compliant and ready to sell. A beverage customer who came to us after their previous warehouse closed has stayed for exactly this reason.
Food-Grade Warehousing Backed by a Near-Perfect AIB Score
Food-grade credibility comes from an independent auditor, not a marketing line. Cargo Integrated is FDA registered and recently earned a near-perfect AIB inspection score of 975 out of 1,000, one of the strongest results our team has ever posted. The bigger brands will not talk to a 3PL without that kind of certification, and it tells every customer that the building meets a standard someone outside our walls verified. You can read more about our AIB result and what it covers on our blog. To talk through a custom food-grade solution, reach out to Mark Andrews at Cargo Integrated Logistics.
