In-store refrigeration

In the early days of Sainsbury’s, before electricity and refrigeration technology, keeping goods cold was very difficult but also very important. In the shops, the only refrigeration available was an ice-box in the basement.

In 1949 Alan Sainsbury and another Sainsbury’s director Fred Salisbury were despatched to the US by the UK government as part of an initiative to promote improvements in food retailing methods.

Part of their remit was to study the display and sale of frozen foods, but they were also inspired by the potential of self-service trading and the visit led to the opening of the first self-service Sainsbury’s store in Croydon in 1950.

Sainsbury’s pioneered a new type of open-topped refrigerated cabinet in its self-service stores, designed in-house by the company’s Chief Engineer, Ralph Hall.  Prior to this, only a few Sainsbury’s branches had been equipped with refrigerated bins, known as ‘coffins’ in which a small range of frozen foods such as peas and ice cream were kept.

The new cabinets allowed for greater quantities of frozen foods to be stocked and for the range to be expanded – a wider variety of frozen vegetables, fish and desserts began to be available, and in 1958 Sainsbury’s launched a successful campaign, including its first TV adverts, to promote frozen chicken as an affordable meal option.

The storage areas behind the scenes were brought up to speed with new preservation technology. The chilled cabinets allowed goods to be kept fresh until they reached the shelves, but the preparation areas also needed high levels of attention. Whole chilled rooms were developed so meat and dairy products could be prepared and wrapped in cold surroundings which made them last longer.