Ice suppliers are more than simple ice sellers and can wear many hats, from ice manufacturer selling wholesale ice to ice distributors shipping ice to all of the retail stores in a business’s primary retail region. Ice manufacturers collaborate with the end business customer at times, transforming the business into an ice manufacturer and distributor for the ice supplier in times of high demand.

Ice from ice suppliers is a product many business use differently, from refrigeration to decoration. Most businesses rely on one primary form of ice, packaged, block or dry ice as an integral part of the business. Leverage the many offerings of ice manufacturers to create a competitive advantage for the business in terms of shipping across country with dry ice over several days to creating elaborate table settings from pure blocks of ice. When choosing ice suppliers, consider these options:

1. Select packaged ice or ice manufacturing equipment to fit the business need.

2. Find ice manufacturing business specializing in block ice or sculptures.

3. Determine whether the business benefits from using dry ice.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Locate volume packaged ice manufacturers or machines

Ice manufacturers selling packaged ice deal in large volumes to make a profit. Many develop patented forms of packaging and further merchandise packaged ice in cooperation with retailers. Manufacturing the ice in-house for the business to use or sell requires ice machines with great capacity.

I recommend: Use a cubed ice manufacturer like Reddy Ice that is a national ice distributor with a national distribution and retail network. Bagged ice cubes and bagged beverage ice manufactured from purified water are specialties of Reddy Ice. Capital City Ice offers packaged ice and merchandising freezers allowing your business to enter the world of ice suppliers while benefiting from the high profit margins of ice. Further increase profit margins with an industrial icemaker from Manitowoc churning up to 2,000 pounds of ice cubes daily on the premises.

Order block ice from wholesale ice suppliers

Especially for event planning, marketing, or wedding planning businesses, block ice sculptures add value to the events. Ice manufacturers sell 25 to 300 pound blocks of ice and some sell completed sculptures.

I recommend: Use timesaving Ice Caters block ice sculptures complete with set-up instructions. Select from custom creations or standard designs such as swans or ice buckets, and each sculpture comes with an easy clean up bonus called Magic Snow that absorbs melting ice. Order large blocks of clear ice to create your own sculptures or for refrigeration from East Bay Ice Company. In addition, incorporate unique ice bowls into an event’s décor to impress your clients.

Choose an ice manufacturing business specializing in manufacturing dry ice

Dry ice is ideal for food processing and service industries. Due to its low temperature, minus 109 degrees Fahrenheit, and little clean up, dry ice is useful in many different businesses and is easy to ship throughout the country.

I recommend: Choose dry ice suppliers with the knowledge of how best to ship the ice. Atlantic Dry Ice ships daily to various regions in the Americas and Caribbean to customers needing to pack and ship refrigerated products. Airgas offers dry ice pellets in 50-pound or 500-pound boxes and direct delivery across the United States through grocery stores. Purchasing dry ice pellets by the pound is another option.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  To achieve optimal delivery, use an ice manufacturer with distribution network that mirrors your sales regions.