Cool Times Podcast

A man steps into a cold storage facility—75 feet in the air, everything frozen solid—and something shifts in how he understands what's possible. The technology that moves pallets in deep freeze isn't just about efficiency. It's about redundancy. It's about the moment a crane fails and everything stops, versus a system that simply keeps going.

Gary Chapman, automation architect from Moffett Automation, walks through what happens when a company decides to think differently about warehouse design and cold chain operations. He and an integrator have spent eighteen months building systems together—six projects running in parallel—learning that software isn't the bonus feature in warehouse automation. It's the entire game. Listeners will discover what happens when you stop asking "How do I automate what I have?" and start asking "What does my future look like if we build this together?"—a shift that changes everything about R-value, throughput, and competitive advantage in cold storage.

Jenna and Vince Free hosts this conversation on Cool Times Podcast, bringing the questions a warehouse owner would actually ask—about scalability, about pallet positions, about the moment when a competitor moves faster than you. They spent time in these facilities, watching systems navigate impossibly tight spaces and learning firsthand that the real architecture lives at the intersection of human strategy and mechanical precision.

Someone sits down with a stack of samples—lighter, stronger, different. The words come careful at first: thermal bridging, composite materials, a better way. But then the story spills: a million-square-foot warehouse in Denver, seven thousand rods, half of them wrapped in insulation that no longer needs to exist. That's the moment the room shifts. Not from a pitch, but from recognition. The person across the table has heard the same thing back nine times in a row from architects and engineers: This is a winner. When is it going to be available?

Joe Trujillo, president of  Xō Structure, spent nine years watching the cold storage industry solve the same problem the same way—expensive, inefficient, wasteful. Then he built something else: a modular structural system and ceiling tee that eliminates thermal bridging, cuts assembly time in half, and passes Class A fire rating validation. On Cool Times Podcast, Trujillo breaks down how engineering innovation challenges the status quo in cold chain logistics, and what it takes to get an industry to pay attention when you've actually solved something they've lived with for decades.

Vince Free recognizes immediately what this means: fewer rods, less labor, lower CapEx, a shift that industry stubbornness might resist but cannot ignore. The conversation cuts through the noise to ask the question that matters—not what can we sell, but why have we been building it this way all along?

About the Guest: Joe Trujillo is president of Xō Structure, an innovator in modular cold storage construction systems. His work in thermal performance, structural efficiency, and cold chain logistics is reshaping how the industry approaches warehouse design and operational costs.

CONNECT WITH JOE TRUJILLO
You can find Joe Trujillo here:
Website: https://www.xostructure.com/

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Someone was breaking bones, running out of talent, knowing his body couldn't sustain the pace anymore. A single question from a stranger changed everything—not because it was harsh, but because it named what he already felt: *you can't do this forever*. That moment, delivered during a motocross lesson while healing from injury, sent him toward a twenty-year career he never knew existed.

Now Bryan White, the newly appointed executive director from association management firm Kellen, is stepping into controlled-environment construction at the exact moment CEBA is splitting from its parent organization to become its own entity. White's task is monumental—building the infrastructure from nothing: databases, websites, email systems, registration platforms. What makes his perspective invaluable is that he brings two decades of career reinvention to an industry where competitors genuinely love each other, where people volunteer their time and passion, and where a single conversation can shift your entire trajectory. On Cool Times Podcast, listeners will discover how to navigate organizational transitions, earn trust in close-knit industries, and lead through vulnerability.

Vince Free, longtime CEBA member and host, understands the weight of what this moment means for the community. He and co-host Jenna welcome Bryan White into a conversation about transition, institutional trust, and the person chosen to guide CEBA through its most transformative season—exploring what it takes to build something meaningful from nothing.

About the Guest: Bryan White is the Executive Director of CEBA, brought on by association management firm Kellen to lead the organization's independence and infrastructure development.

A stranger pulls a young man aside on a construction site and asks one question: "What do you want to do with your life?" Twenty years later, that moment still echoes—not as nostalgia, but as a blueprint. Lead by showing up. Exceed what's expected. Keep your fingerprints on everything that matters.

Josh Currie has spent three decades building cold storage facilities that keep food moving through America's supply chain. From his early days in concurrent enrollment and grocery retail to launching ThermCon as a specialized construction firm, he's navigated startups, shutdowns, and scaling—all while refusing to outsource the details that separate good projects from legendary ones. On this episode of Cool Times Podcast, you'll discover how mentorship flows both directions, why the cold storage industry remains resilient despite tariffs and automation pressures, and what it means to build a business where people still want to show up.

Vince Free brings his signature curiosity and high-energy questions to a conversation about scaling without losing soul—a tension he understands deeply. Josh's philosophy of relationship-first leadership and presence mirrors the ethos that keeps Vince connected to the networks and people who matter most in this industry, even as markets shift.

About the Guest: Josh Currie is founder of ThermCon, a boutique cold storage construction and special projects firm. Active in GCCA and CRITA, he's a 30-year veteran of facility design, insulated metal panels, thermal performance optimization, and the networks that build resilient supply chains.

A man in his fifties sits in a New Jersey office, three decades of warehouse grit still visible in his hands, recounting a summer at sixteen when he dressed in a suit to secretly unload frozen containers before dawn. His parents had no idea. One sentence from the warehouse owner—just one—changed the trajectory of his entire life. This is the story of how two lumpers from the ground floor became architects of an industry transformation.

Dan DiDonato, John Ingrassia, Gary Ortiz bring thirty-five years of cold chain mastery to Cool Times Podcast, built on concrete pours, pallet refurbishment, and eventually running hundred-million-dollar regional cold storage operations. Now they're launching Unit Cold Storage—a modular cold storage solution engineered for small and mid-size food, pharma, and e-commerce companies that need speed, flexibility, and real control over inventory. Vince Free digs into how two warehouse kids spotted the exact gap the industry overlooked and are now reshaping cold storage infrastructure for the era of thirty-minute delivery windows.

For Vince, this conversation hits different. It's about the relationship-first mindset that built empires—how listening to what operators actually need, not what corporate thinks they need, creates real solutions. It's also about recognizing the people who shaped an industry from the inside, the ones whose hands-on wisdom translates into innovation that works.

Check out Unit Cold Storage:

https://unitcold.com/

Don’t miss this architecture-meets-cold-storage deep dive with one of the most passionate leaders in the biz. Chill out with the full episode at 

🌐 www.cooltimespodcast.com

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Nick Strube, Vice President at FoodTech, sits down with Vince Free to discuss the unsexy-but-essential world of cold storage and food processing construction. But the real story is simpler: two Wisconsin guys who graduated from UWM the same year, played bags at Brewers games, and somehow never crossed paths until now. Nick's been in the industry for twenty years because someone gave him a foot-in-the-door opportunity, and he just kept saying yes — to learning new tasks, to seeing how food actually gets made, to building the kinds of spaces that keep America fed. In this episode, you'll learn how food production facilities demand a completely different design philosophy than cold storage warehouses, how FoodTech sequences massive European equipment through tight spaces, how modern 3D modeling and iPad walkthroughs are changing the game on job sites, and the story of the time FoodTech had to retrofit an ice cream freezer with a foot of ice between the panels, working in five feet of space while the conveyor stayed running and the world was locking down. A warm, hometown-flavored conversation that makes the industry feel small in the best way.

❄️ Cool Takeaways:

• The UWM Graduation-Year Reveal — Vince and Nick discover they graduated from the same school, the same year (2005–2006). The moment crystallizes why Vince has been hunting Nick down — two Wisconsin guys living parallel lives in the same industry. 
• Sanitary Design: Where Food Production Gets Complex — Nick explains why food production facilities require elaborate wash-down protocols, bacteria containment design, and material selection — unlike cold storage, which is 'a little more flexible.' The stakes are E. coli, listeria, cross-contamination. 
• The Mister Rogers Factory-Tour Callback — Nick describes his genuine joy at factory tours — seeing how food is made, understanding the logic of production flow, experiencing the wonder he felt as a kid watching Mister Rogers. This is why he stayed in the industry for twenty years. 
• Revit & iPad Procore: Virtual Walkthroughs Before Construction Begins — FoodTech construction managers carry iPads on job sites and can stand in a physical location while viewing the 3D model on their device — seeing finished conditions and avoiding the RFI nightmare that slows traditional projects down. 
• The Ice Cream Freezer Rescue: A Foot of Ice, Five Feet of Space, Spring 2020 — A repeat client's ice cream freezer had a foot of ice between the panels due to vapor leaks. With racking tight to the wall, a conveyor running, and COVID lockdowns beginning, FoodTech engineered a solution to replace a 30-foot-high wall in a five-foot workspace while keeping the facility operational. 
• Boston vs. Wisconsin Accents: The Office Rivalry — FoodTech has offices in Rockland, Massachusetts and Brookfield, Wisconsin. The teams regularly debate whose accent is thicker — and despite Vince's failed Borat impression, the Wisconsin crew holds its ground. 

🔗 CONNECT WITH NICK

You can find Nick Strube here:

Website: https://foodtech.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-strube-aia-47467710b/

🎯 Sponsored By:

Rytec High Performance Doors

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Fastener Systems Inc. (FSI)

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Steve Chick, Director of Preconstruction at Greek Design Build, shares the unlikely path from porta-potty bathrooms to building pharmaceutical cold storage facilities. But this episode isn't just about construction — it's about the moment Steve realized his work saved his own family's lives. When his wife needed RhoGAM injections for both their daughters due to competing blood types, he discovered the drug came from a facility he'd built. Vince Free and Jenna Free explore how Greek's 90-year developer mindset shapes everything the company builds, why mentorship and relationships matter more than product specs, and what happens when an outsider becomes part of the cold storage community. The conversation moves from the challenges of bringing new contractors into the industry to the future of refrigeration innovation — with the thread running underneath: stewardship. Cold storage isn't a commodity. It's a craft practiced by people who carry the weight of what's inside the buildings they build.

❄️ Cool Takeaways:

• The RhoGAM Revelation — Steve built the facility that produced the medication that saved both his daughters' lives. A moment where construction stops being a job and becomes sacred work. 
• From Bathroom Builder to Preconstruction Director — How a ZipRecruiter ad, mentorship from Sean Cunningham, and learning from John Gallagher's mistakes transformed an outsider into an insider in cold storage. 
• The Family Industry Advantage — Why cold storage contractors collaborate like family while dry industrial competitors stay separated — and what that means for quality and relationships. 
• One Chance Token Per Project — The hard-won philosophy: Steve wants to help newcomers, but high stakes mean he can only bring one inexperienced contractor per job. The real tension between mentorship and protection.
• Greek's Developer Mindset — Building for long-term ownership instead of quick profit. A 90-year legacy from Frank Reek Sr. that shapes every decision the company makes today. 
• The Preferred Freezer Blacklist — John Gallagher kept all his secrets locked down. Steve worked in isolation for years until CEBA opened the industry and he realized there was a whole community of builders. 
• Innovation on the Horizon — ASRS rigidity, ammonia regulation pricing, and AI applied to refrigeration data — the future of cold storage isn't flashy, it's practical and thoughtful.

🎯 Sponsored By:

Applied Fabricators (AFAB)

https://www.appliedfabricators.com/

Iceberg Mechanical

 https://www.icebergmechanical.com/

Kurt Madsen has been building cold storage for 21 years, but years ago, something shifted. What once drove him — the physical pride of finished buildings — gave way to something unexpected: caring more about the people he's helped grow than the projects he's completed. In this episode, Kurt (VP of Cold Storage and Distribution at Hanson Rice) walks through his journey from hotel construction burnout to discovering cold storage at a Walmart distribution center outside Reno, where a mentor named Harry Farrar grabbed hold of him and showed him the ropes. We talk about why Hanson Rice has stayed in business since 1983, how they've built over 30 million square feet, what's actually evolving in cold storage (spoiler: refrigeration systems, not design), and why Kurt — the 'gray hair at the table' — was blown away by AI on a weekend. But the real story is the confession that lands near the end: 'A number of years ago, that changed, and it became about the people.' A veteran builder's career isn't measured by square footage — it's measured by who he lifted up along the way.

❄️ Cool Takeaways:

• The Hotel Burnout That Launched Cold Storage — Kurt left his father's construction company to build hotels, but by 2005, administrative work (collecting money, dealing with insurance, legal stuff) had replaced actual construction. A Walmart distribution center project in Reno changed everything. 
• Harry Farrar's Mentorship — The Real Origin Story — Kurt's general superintendent grabbed hold of him and showed him the behind-the-scenes details, the ropes, the fast pace. This mentor relationship became the soil from which everything else grew over 21 years. 
• Hanson Rice's 'Partner Over Subcontractor' Philosophy — With 85% repeat business and 30M+ square feet built, Hanson Rice doesn't view subcontractors as one-and-done. 'If they don't succeed, we don't succeed.' Mutual goals. Long-term relationships. It starts with prequalification (Compass) and honoring partnership. 
• Refrigeration Is the Only Real Evolution in 21 Years — Panels, concrete, vapor barriers — same details for decades. But refrigeration has exploded: ammonia to synthetics to glycol to CO2 cascading systems. Kurt predicts CO2 will become cost-competitive with ammonia in the next 5 years. 
• The Gray Hair Learning AI & Being Blown Away — Kurt resisted AI for years ('I'm old-fashioned, don't like change'). Then he threw a proposal into ChatGPT, gave it prompts, and 'it generated some stuff that just blew me away.' Weeks of work done in minutes. He admits: 'Why haven't I been doing this sooner?' 
• Five Projects, One RV, One Proud Year — Albertsons — Ten years ago, Kurt oversaw an Albertsons program: five simultaneous projects (Portland, two in Southern California, Arizona, Lubbock) all different scopes. He lived in an RV for a year, traveling between locations. 'It was really gratifying and stands out in my mind as a really good project.' 
• A Number of Years Ago, That Changed, and It Became About the People' — Kurt's confession: he used to need the physical satisfaction of seeing a finished building. Now, watching homegrown talent succeed — people he's mentored from entry level — is what actually keeps him in the chair. 'Knowing or hoping I had a little bit to do with that is really what it's about for me.'

🎯 Sponsored By:

Rytec High Performance Doors

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Brandon Reeve and his new Chief Innovation Officer, Karan Patel, sit down with Vince Free and Jenna Free to pull back the curtain on what AFAB — Applied Fabricators — is actually building. The conversation covers a complete shop floor redesign using a paper doll exercise, Purdue engineering students driving lean manufacturing improvements, and a serious push for ISO compliance and FM testing. But the episode's real payload is cultural: Brandon walks through AFAB's values live and without notes — 'we not me,' gratitude on rush orders, owning mistakes, acting in good faith, rapid responsive reliable — before landing the company's unofficial slogan: 'Go grab a beer, AFAB's got it from here.' Karan's story adds weight to all of it: a corporate-world veteran who watched AFAB grow from the outside and chose it over red tape.

The episode closes with a steel and aluminum market update that's equal parts alarming and actionable — aluminum on the London Metal Exchange has nearly doubled year-over-year — and a rapid-fire round that ends with a pilot's license reveal nobody saw coming.

❄️ Cool Takeaways: 

• Shop Floor Redesign — AFAB is rebuilding its entire manufacturing floor using a paper doll exercise — cardboard cutouts of every machine laid out in the parking lot — with Purdue industrial engineering students leading lean manufacturing and Kaizen optimization. 

• Why Karan Patel Chose AFAB — After years at Firestone Building Products, Elevate, Wholesome, and AmRise, Karan Patel left corporate life because the red tape cost more than it was worth. He had been watching AFAB grow from the outside before Brandon Reeve made the call. 

• ISO Compliance in Plain Language — Karan explains AFAB's ISO and FM documentation push with one concrete image: 'If you're bending a three by three inside corner trim, it's three by three on the nose — not three and a hair.' Precision as a documented system, not just an intention. 

• The Values Wall — Brandon Reeve walks through AFAB's core values without notes — 'we not me,' positive grateful and enthusiastic, owning mistakes, acting in good faith, rapid responsive reliable — and lands the brand promise: 'Go grab a beer, AFAB's got it from here.' 

• Growing Right, Not Just Growing — Brandon's thesis for the entire company: 'We wanna grow, but we wanna grow right.' AFAB hires for culture fit and trains from there — and the arrival of Karan Patel is the structural proof that the strategy is working. 

• Steel and Aluminum Market Update — Karan delivers a non-alarmist but clear-eyed read: steel and aluminum are both rising, $200 per ton increase in the last quarter, and the London Metal Exchange aluminum price has nearly doubled year-over-year. AFAB bought early. The recommendation for everyone else: act now. 

• Pilot's License Reveal — In the rapid-fire closing round, Karan casually mentions he just passed his single-engine pilot's license — the episode's best human moment, delivered with the same understated confidence he brings to market data.

🎯 Sponsored By: Applied Fabricators (AFAB)

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In this high-energy and no-BS episode, Vince and Jenna Free sit down with Hector Castro, leader of the cold storage division at BELDON ROOFING, to talk about what it really takes to build cold storage facilities the right way. From his early days learning roofing on the job site to leading one of the most respected teams in the industry, Hector shares why integrity, mentorship, and doing things right the first time still matter—now more than ever. 

The conversation dives deep into industry gaps, poor standards, and the growing pains of new players entering the space—while also highlighting the power of teamwork, communication, and being the “easy button” for your clients. This episode is a masterclass in experience, accountability, and raising the bar in cold storage construction. 

❄️ Cool Takeaways: 

From the Roof Up – Hector’s success started in the field, learning hands-on from mentors and crews—proving real knowledge is built, not taught in a classroom. 

Be the Easy Button – Winning work comes down to trust, consistency, and making your client’s life easier through communication and execution. 

Details Matter More Than You Think – Small mistakes like improper panel cuts or missing butyl can lead to massive long-term failures like condensation, leaks, and ice buildup. 

Industry Standards Are Lacking – With new players entering cold storage, there’s a growing need for education, alignment, and a unified standard across trades. 

Teamwork Over Ego – The best projects happen when trades collaborate early, communicate clearly, and protect each other from costly mistakes. 

Pre-Construction Is Everything – Getting the right people in the room early (IMP, roofing, refrigeration) prevents problems before they start. 

Mentorship Changes Lives – Hector credits his success to mentors who took the time to teach him—and emphasizes passing that knowledge forward. 

Do It Right the First Time – No shortcuts, no guessing—use the right tools, follow proven methods, and take pride in the work. 

Boots on the Ground Wins – Real leadership happens in the field, not behind a desk—walk the job, check the work, and stay involved. 

Attitude Determines Altitude – Success in this industry comes down to mindset, work ethic, and a willingness to learn.

Sponsored by: 

Applied Fabricators (AFAB) 

Custom fabrication solutions built for performance in cold storage and industrial environments 👉

https://www.appliedfabricators.com/