Minus Forty and QBD combine to create Due North

TORONTO – Two long-standing retail refrigeration merchandising companies, Minus Forty Technologies Corp. and QBD, have combined their offerings into one new operating company, Due North.

According to the new company, the amalgamation will enable Due North to "create refrigerated retail merchandising solutions that maximize customer success through a variety of means including domestic manufacturing capacity that ensures alignment with its customers’ business growth requirements."

Troy Shannan, CEO of Due North, says the new company "has been purpose-built to create solutions that advance our customers’ business interests and enhance their business performance in an ever-evolving retail landscape.

“We are absolutely committed to supporting our customers’ success by investing in new product and service innovations that give them true competitive advantage and help them maximize their sales,” he adds. 

The Due North synergy creates a portfolio of a retail refrigeration merchandising solutions designed to: 

• Create superior brand experiences that align with customers’ retail strategies;
• Advance customers’ competitive advantage and their merchandise products to maximize sales; and
• Simplify customers’ refrigerated retail merchandising programs.

“Our newly combined brands and businesses, under the Due North powerhouse, gives our customers even more opportunities to operationalize the most suitable refrigerated retail merchandising program for them,” says Julian Attree, founder, and former CEO of Minus Forty Technologies and now chief strategy officer of Due North. “We’re ready, willing and very able to create the right solution for our customers across a wide range of retail segments.”

Due North will support customers in retail segments, including convenience and micro-markets, grocery, beverage, ice cream, pet food, foodservice, QSR, pharmacy and more.

The new company continues to operate out of two Ontario-based plants, the Minus Forty location in Georgetown and the QBD plant in Brampton. The leadership team includes familiar faces from both organizations, including Randy Skyba, who is now vice-president of sales and marketing for Due North.