Best 3PLs for Food and Cold Chain

By EFC Editorial · Updated September 28, 2026 · How we research

Quick answer

Our Editor's pick for shelf-stable food and snacks is Tondo Fulfillment: in our experience comparing 3PL quotes, its shipping rates were the lowest we were offered. It doesn't offer refrigerated or frozen storage. Shipfusion publishes the most food-safety detail (60–68°F controlled areas, FEFO, SQF and FDA certification) for brands above 2,000 orders a month. Stord suits larger brands, Kase has FDA-registered buildings, and ShipBob has temperature-controlled warehouses with FEFO. None of the providers we track publishes refrigerated or frozen storage, so true cold storage needs a specialist.

Key takeaways

No provider in our 27-company database lists refrigerated or frozen storage; the temperature control the picks publish is for shelf-stable goods.
Shipfusion publishes a 60–68°F range for its food areas; the others that mention temperature control don't publish a range.
FEFO (first-expired, first-out) picking is published by Shipfusion, Stord, Kase and ShipBob.
FDA registration applies to the building, and the FDA requires registered food facilities to renew every other year; ask for the current registration of the exact site.
Walmart Fulfillment Services only accepts non-perishable items that don't need temperature control.

Editor’s pick

Best for shelf-stable food and snacks: Tondo Fulfillment

In our experience comparing 3PL quotes, Tondo's shipping rates were the lowest we were offered. Its homepage claims brands can "save up to 40%, guaranteed" and describes multi-carrier rate shopping, and its Fulfill.com profile says its discounted rates let brands make a margin on shipping. Tondo lists food and beverage among its core industries, states lot tracking and expiration-date management where relevant, and ships small-to-mid-sized shelf-stable products from Delaware and Utah with a 2pm same-day cutoff, on month-to-month terms with 30 days' notice and Slack-based account management. Tondo doesn't offer refrigerated or frozen storage, and its site doesn't publish a temperature range or FDA registration, so ask for the registration of your building; for chilled or frozen products, see "Which 3PLs handle cold chain food?" below. Fulfill.com named Tondo a United States Best 3PL for 2026, and the CEOs of BRĒZ and Duradry endorse it on Tondo's site. Other trade-offs: only two US warehouses and quote-only pricing.

Visit Tondo Fulfillment

Best for temperature-sensitive shelf-stable food and coffee: Shipfusion

Shipfusion says all of its food fulfillment centers have designated temperature-controlled areas monitored by smart sensors and held at 60–68°F, and that its system checks the destination forecast to add cold chain shipping requirements. It also publishes end-to-end lot tracking, FEFO and FIFO management, and SQF and FDA certification. The trade-off: it's quote-only, targets brands shipping 2,000+ orders a month, and doesn't advertise refrigerated or frozen storage.

Visit Shipfusion

Best for large omnichannel food and beverage brands: Stord

Stord states every one of its fulfillment centers has passed cGMP requirements, offers SKU-level expiration tracking with FEFO allocation, and runs quarterly recall audits. Its freight options include temperature-controlled shipping alongside FTL, LTL and drayage. Not a fit for small brands or anyone who needs cold storage in the warehouse itself: pricing is quote-only and the food page doesn't mention refrigerated storage.

Visit Stord

Best for FDA-registered, food-grade buildings: Kase (formerly Kase Fulfillment)

Kase publishes lot-level inventory management with FEFO picking and lists its Fontana, CA and Columbus, OH sites as FDA-registered and its Sunnyvale, TX site as food-grade. That lets you ask for paperwork on a named building. It publishes no pricing, minimums or temperature-control details, so treat it as a dry-goods option.

Visit Kase (formerly Kase Fulfillment)

Best for shelf-stable food brands wanting a large network: ShipBob

ShipBob says it has air-conditioned and heated facilities for shelf-stable food and multiple temperature-controlled warehouses in its network, with lot and expiration tracking and FEFO picking. Its food page lists snacks, powders, ground coffee, sauces, confectionery and canned or bottled drinks. It doesn't mention refrigerated, frozen or FDA registration on that page, and pricing is custom-quoted.

Visit ShipBob

Which 3PLs handle cold chain food?

Fewer than the search results suggest. Of the providers we track, none publishes refrigerated (roughly fridge-temperature) or frozen storage. What several do publish is climate control for shelf-stable goods plus cold-chain packaging logic for shipping:

Provider	Temperature signal (published)	FEFO / lot	FDA / food safety	Pricing
Tondo Fulfillment (Editor's pick)	None: no refrigerated or frozen storage	Expiry dates / lot tracking	Not stated	Quote
Shipfusion	Temperature-controlled areas, 60–68°F; weather-based cold chain shipping	Yes / yes	SQF and FDA certified (its claim)	Quote
Stord	Temperature-controlled freight	Yes / expiration tracking	cGMP at every center (its claim)	Quote
Kase	Not published	Yes / yes	FDA-registered Fontana and Columbus; food-grade Sunnyvale, TX	Quote
ShipBob	Temperature-controlled warehouses in network	Yes / yes	Not stated on food page	Quote

If your product must stay refrigerated or frozen in storage (meat, seafood, dairy, frozen meals), none of these is a confirmed fit. Look for a specialist cold storage operator and ask for its temperature logs and alarm procedures. For shelf-stable supplements, which share most of these requirements, see our supplement 3PL comparison.

What should a food brand require from a 3PL?

Lot tracking: every unit received and shipped is tied to a lot, so you can run a recall by lot.
Expiration dates and FEFO: the WMS stores best-by dates and picks the earliest-expiring lot first. Set a minimum remaining shelf life for DTC and for each retailer.
FDA facility registration: the FDA requires facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for US consumption to register, and to renew every other year. Ask for the registration covering the building your stock will sit in.
Food safety audits: SQF or similar third-party audits are a stronger signal than a general claim. Ask for the certificate and audit date.
Temperature range and monitoring: ask for the published range, how it's logged, and what happens when it drifts. Shipfusion is the only provider here that publishes a range (60–68°F).
Pest control and allergen segregation: ask how allergen products are stored apart from others.

Put FEFO rules, minimum shelf life and recall reporting timelines into the contract, not just the sales deck.

What is the best 3PL for coffee?

Roasted coffee, tea and drink powders are shelf-stable but sensitive to heat and humidity, so a climate-controlled building with FEFO picking usually matters more than cold storage.

Tondo Fulfillment, our Editor's pick for shelf-stable food, covers powdered and functional beverages and suits coffee brands also selling wholesale or on TikTok Shop. It doesn't publish a temperature range, so ask about summer building temperatures.
Shipfusion lists food and beverage as a core industry, publishes its 60–68°F range, and names Purity Coffee among its clients.
ShipBob lists ground coffee among the food types it handles and names Chamberlain Coffee among its clients.

If you sell whole-bean coffee on a roast schedule, ask how the 3PL handles short-dated inventory and whether it can ship roast-to-order batches through a subscription cycle. See also our subscription box 3PL comparison.

Can Amazon or Walmart fulfill food orders?

Partly. Walmart Fulfillment Services accepts only non-perishable items that don't require temperature control, so it's out for anything chilled. Amazon MCF draws on FBA inventory, and its MCF page doesn't address perishables, so check Amazon's current food and grocery rules before counting on it. Either way, you lose your own packaging: WFS ships Multichannel Solutions orders in unbranded packaging and MCF uses unbranded packaging by default. For marketplace-heavy food brands, see our Amazon seller 3PL comparison.

How much does food fulfillment cost?

None of the five picks publishes rates; all quote per client. For a reference point on shelf-stable goods, published rate cards from other providers include ShipCalm at $2.65 per DTC order plus $0.95 per item before postage, and Fulfyld's all-in average of $7.74+ per order for 4–12 oz packages at its 501–1,000 orders a month tier, including postage. Neither publishes a food-specific or temperature-controlled rate.

Expect food-specific costs on top: lot and expiry setup, insulated packaging or gel packs in summer, and faster shipping for heat-sensitive items. Ask each 3PL to quote with your packaging, not a generic box.

What goes wrong with food fulfillment?

Short-dated product shipped because FEFO wasn't configured, or a retailer's minimum shelf life was ignored.
Heat damage in summer transit, when the warehouse was fine but the box wasn't.
Mixed lots in one bin, which breaks traceability.
A recall that takes days because lot data isn't tied to orders.
A 3PL that says "temperature-controlled" but means air-conditioned, when your product needs refrigeration.

Ask for the range in degrees and the monitoring records. If a provider won't give a number, assume it's ambient.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cold chain 3PL?

A cold chain 3PL stores and ships products that must stay within a set temperature range, such as refrigerated or frozen food. Many ecommerce 3PLs only offer climate control for shelf-stable goods, so ask for the exact temperature range.

What does 3PL cold storage mean?

It means a third-party logistics provider runs temperature-controlled warehousing on your behalf, typically refrigerated or frozen rooms with temperature monitoring. None of the providers compared here publishes refrigerated or frozen storage.

Does a food 3PL need to be FDA registered?

The FDA requires facilities that hold food for US consumption to register and renew every other year. Kase lists FDA-registered buildings, and Shipfusion states FDA certification; ask any 3PL for the registration of the specific building.

What is FEFO?

First-expired, first-out: the warehouse ships the lot with the earliest expiration date first. Shipfusion, Stord, Kase and ShipBob all publish FEFO support.

Can ShipBob ship frozen food?

ShipBob's food page describes temperature-controlled warehouses for shelf-stable food and beverages and doesn't mention refrigerated or frozen storage. Confirm directly before sending anything perishable.