Meet Craig Industries
Delivering a quality product is mandatory at Craig Industries, headquartered in a refurbished fire station at 401 Delaware, across the street from their manufacturing plant located at 325 Payson Ave.
“Twenty-five years ago, my dad and uncle, Ellis and Allen Craig, were selling walk-in coolers for a similar company in Florida,” says Luke Craig, Ellis’ son and vice president of operations. “However, they often found that products were damaged in shipment, so they decided that a manufacturing plant closer to home was necessary.”
Today, Craig Industries is the parent company of seven entities that provides products to companies all over the world: U.S. Cooler manufactures custom walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers for foodservice, warehouse, grocery convenience stores, mortuary and hunting uses. Enviro Buildings manufactures versatile modular structures. These shelters are lightweight, insulated and can be used in hundreds of different applications including clean rooms and telecom shelters.
Brew Cave is a brand of U.S. Cooler that provides economy-sized beer caves for use by bars and individuals. WineKeep wine lockers store and age vintage wine collections in restaurants and homes. American Dock Box manufactures marina storage shelters and cabana buildings. Walk-in Cooler & Freezer Parts is an online retailer of replacement parts and accessories, and Fastcooler.com is an online network of dealers through which a customer can place orders.
Everything Craig Industries sells is custom-ordered to fit a particular space. They carry very little inventory, but can design and build a cooler from scratch in about three days.
“We’ve spent a considerable amount of money on new equipment and improving our efficiencies,” says Craig who runs the day-to-day operations of the company with his cousin, Josh, “and we’ve seen double digit growth almost every year for the past decade.
“We’ve built our own software for quoting, designing and contact management,” he continues, noting a computer screen that monitors the amount of product manufactured per hour. “We have very few surprises in our system.”
The government’s continued insistence on over-regulating the refrigeration industry (and others), however, continues to surprise Craig.
“We are regulated by Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007. Any room greater than 3,000 square feet and kept at 55 degrees or cooler must be EISA compliant. They regulate the products that go into our coolers, the safety of our products, the energy efficiency of our product, and more. It’s challenging to keep up with all the new regulations; we may be the only EISA compliant manufacturer in the country.
“We spend a lot of time educating our customers about these regulations and educating our legislators about the burdens they are placing on our industry,” he says.
For more information about any of the products manufactured by Craig Industries, visit www.craigindustries.com.
