106 Years of Fresh Thinking
The Early Years
Beginning as a regional distributor of frozen products at the turn of previous century, the firm that would become TLC continued to grow the service side of the business. The company, known as Taylor Cold Storage, began operating frozen warehouse operations for regional food companies in Great Lakes region.
Two things remain from this century-old era. Some faded photographs and an old fashioned commitment to the best service for our customers.
The Dawn of Deregulation
By the early 1980's the company was a regional force in distribution services. As transportation deregulated, the company saw an opportunity to expand and to build upon a solid reputation of service.
New Name for a New Era
By 1985 the business was growing rapidly. The company had outgrown the "Taylor Cold Storage" brand. In a name search that included customer interviews, an employee naming contest, some patterns emerged.
The company was eventually renamed "Total Logistic Control" and the moniker "TLC" was born.
A Brief TLC Timeline
First known as Taylor Produce, TLC was founded in 1902 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1958, Taylor became the first public refrigerated warehouse to offer consolidated LTL distribution services.Taylor began expanding the dry warehousing services in 1978 to meet the needs of its growing CPG customers. The company was renamed TLC in 1983 and began focusing on outsourced logistic services. TLC’s trucking operations began in 1985 with the purchase of a refrigerated truck fleet. In 1994, The TLC Group was acquired by Christiana Inc.TLC merged with Wisconsin Cold Storage in 1996 to form a single company. The TLC name was retained.The growing transportation group added dedicated fleet services.In 1998, TLC was recognized as one of the Top Ten Providers in the logistics industry. TLC has been named and
recognized among the best in the industry for eight consecutive years.The company’s Foodservice Distribution was formed in 1999, serving schools and institutions with USDA
commodities.In 2000, TLC acquired the Pro Source Group. The company began providing dedicated facility solutions to customers, offering facility design, construction and operation for logistics and manufacturing.The company’s contract manufacturing business expanded in 2001 with the operation of the Lehigh Bottling facility. TLC formed a joint ownership with ITLX, a minority owned company, in 2003. SUPERVALU, one of the nation’s largest food wholesalers, acquired TLC in February 2005. Today TLC operates as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of SUPERVALU, leveraging the combined resources of both companies to the advantage of TLC customers.With 4,400 associates, 39 facilities and a large asset-based transportation fleet, TLC now serves a vast and growing marketplace.
