ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606240003
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTOPHER L. BOYD STAFF WRITER
KEEPING SPECTATORS COOL at the Summer Games in Atlanta next month means big business for two Virginia companies.
While the Olympic flame burns in steamy Atlanta next month, approximately 225 million ice cubes from Virginia will help cool fans at the games.
At least 400 tractor-trailer loads of ice will be trucked 600 miles by Cassco Ice & Cold Storage Inc. to Atlanta restaurants and food vendors.
The Harrisonburg-based company was chosen in February to make the ice because its business partners in Atlanta were looking for an ice maker with Cassco's size and dependability, said Neil Showalter, Cassco's president.
"Our goal is to provide 15 million pounds of ice for the Olympics," said Gail Price, director of corporate communications for WLR Foods Inc., the Broadway poultry processor that is Cassco's parent.
"We don't usually have a 15 million-pound order for a targeted two-week period of the year," Price said. "This is not quite business as usual."
Cassco, which produces ice 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has the capacity to make 1.5 million to 2 million pounds of ice each day at its five plants in Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., Showalter said. One plant is in Radford, and the company operates an ice distribution center in Salem.
During a normal summer, the company produces about 250 million pounds of ice. In order to keep up with its regular customer demand, the other Cassco plants have increased their production so the Harrisonburg operation can concentrate on supplying Atlanta during the Olympic games.
The ice is being stored at Moore & Dorsey Inc., a Berryville cold storage facility that holds apples most of the year. It is keeping all 15 million pounds - about 1 million bags of ice - in the freezer. The ice is being stacked 10 feet high in two 18,000-square-foot rooms in 40-,16-,and 8-pound bags, as well as in 300-pound blocks.
Skip Broy, sales manager of Moore & Dorsey, said Cassco began storing ice April 8, just as the apple-packing season ended. More than 5 million pounds already are stored and ready to be shipped to Atlanta when the Olympics begin July 19, Price said.
"Our job is to make sure it doesn't turn to liquid," said Tupper Dorsey, vice president of Moore & Dorsey.
Showalter said this job has allowed the company to give its employees extended working hours and more work days. "Morale has been really high."
Employees "have a sense of purpose and feel like they are working toward a goal because of it. This is an indication of the type of economic activity the Olympics can bring to this country."
Kristen Green of The Winchester Star contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Ralph Underwood stores ice at the Moore & Dorseyby CNBInc. cold storage facility in Berryville. About 15million pounds are
going to the Olympic games in Atlanta.