Walk-in coolers & freezers
for Ontario grocers.

Your walk-in cooler is the back end of a system whose front end is your display refrigeration. We size walk-ins against your display capacity, replenishment cadence, and product category mix, so the backroom matches floor throughput instead of guessing at it.

Grocery walk-ins open 300 to 800 times per shift between receiving, restocking, and after-hours stocking crews. Standard residential gaskets shred in months. We spec heavy-duty hinges, strip curtains where appropriate, and oversized condensers so the unit recovers fast after the morning produce pull without freezing product overnight.

Produce, dairy, meat, and a separate grocery store freezer each want a different setpoint and humidity target. We build multi-room walk-ins with independent zone control in one building envelope on shared mechanical, one grocery store refrigeration system instead of four standalone units, at lower total cost.

Grocery restocking runs 11pm to 6am with reduced supervision. We spec audible high-temp alarms, remote monitoring, and emergency lighting so a temperature drift surfaces before the overnight crew leaves.

Cold-chain product loses shelf life every minute it sits on the receiving dock. We design walk-in placement against your dock layout: door-to-door direct path for high-velocity SKUs, drive-in clearance for pallet-jack delivery, dock seals where the dock and walk-in share airspace.

Most grocers can't shut the floor for a walk-in install, so we phase the work around store hours with overnight panel sets and weekend tie-ins, and stage a temporary refrigeration trailer if the existing unit fails mid-project.

For a 4,000 to 8,000 sq ft independent grocery or ethnic market we build a 3-zone walk-in: a high-humidity produce cooler or produce chiller, a dairy/deli cooler, and a grocery store freezer in one building envelope. Remote condensing for noise and load, NSF-certified interior, sealed-seam floor with centre drains, heavy-duty gaskets and oversized condensers spec'd for door-cycle-heavy operation. Glass-front sections optional for FoH-visible product like a butcher counter or dry-aged beef.

A restaurant walk-in holds prepped product in 2 to 3 day turnover with chaotic door cycling; a grocery walk-in holds raw product in 12 to 72 hour turnover with sustained door cycling all day. Restaurants need fast recovery after dinner rush; grocery needs steady-state temperature under continuous door opens, so we spec grocery and supermarket walk-ins with continuous-duty condensers and humidity targets matched to product category.

Whether you're sourcing a commercial refrigerator for supermarket back-of-house or a freezer for grocery store frozen-aisle backup, the sizing math is different from food-service. See the restaurants market page for the food-service side.

Independent and ethnic-market grocers usually need one combined building envelope with multiple internal zones to minimize footprint and capex. Supermarkets and chain grocery usually need separate larger walk-ins per category with central refrigeration racks; supermarket refrigeration installation is its own project type. Convenience stores need something different again, typically a single cooler for convenience store beer and dairy, or a convenience store fridge with display section, sometimes paired with a dedicated freezer for ice cream and frozen snacks.

We build all three, with the same crew and a different project structure for each.

Ontario grocery walk-ins and grocery store fridge installations fall under Public Health inspection for ready-to-eat product handling, plus CFIA inspection for federally registered meat, dairy, and poultry operations. Our installs are spec'd to current Ontario Food Premises Regulation requirements: NSF-certified panels, sealed-seam or floorless installation, accurate thermometer placement at the warmest cabinet point, separation of raw meat from RTE storage per Health Canada guidance. We file electrical and refrigeration permits, coordinate inspection, and meet the inspector on site.