COVID-19 - Fond du Lac Cold Storage - NJ's Premier Temperature Controlled Warehouse Facility

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COVID-19

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Communication Update (03/26/2020 4:00 pm)

Good afternoon everyone,

As you know, we have made several recent service changes based on the ongoing pandemic to help our ability to serve you, continue operations and manage labor availability and costs. Beginning Monday, March 30, 2020, we will be adjusting our receiving and shipping hours to the following:

Shipping (LTL pickups)

Monday – Friday – No Change (8:00am – 4:30pm)

Receiving

Monday – Friday (8:00am – 3:00pm)

Carriers will still be calling for instructions once they arrive, as they have been for the last week.

We would also like to take the opportunity to inform you of a new initiative that will improve the shipping and receiving process. Over the next 30 – 45 days, we will be implementing a trial of a new appointment setting software. This software will allow carriers to schedule appointments independently. The objective of this new technology is to reduce waiting times and allow our shipping and receiving departments to plan more efficiently. The plan is to be fully operational with the software by summer. There will be more details on this initiative in the future.

Thank you all for being so supportive of these changes. We appreciate everyone's continued collaboration and feedback during these unprecedented, challenging times. Stay safe.

Mark

Mark A. Duffy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Office: 732-650-9200 ext.150

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Communication Update (03/25/2020 6:30 pm)

Good afternoon, we hope you, your families and your customers are remaining safe and healthy. As we continue to study the data and trends on this pandemic, we want to inform you of the following temporary routing changes. These changes will go into effect Monday, March 30, 2020:

No trucks will be dispatched on Mondays for local deliveries and pick-ups.
Hudson Valley trucks will only be dispatched on Wednesdays, so no Friday deliveries/pick-ups.
Manhattan deliveries/pick-ups will only take place on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Fridays.
We will be suspending the Guaranteed AM truck for the time being.

On an additional note, due to the significantly lower volume, we have reduced our staff hours throughout the company. We intend to keep all of our staff working, but we have a smaller crew working at any given time. Beginning Monday, March 30, 2020, the Customer Service office will close at 7:00 pm EST. Due to managing our staff as efficiently as possible, we will only be able to accept late orders up until 6:30 pm. Any orders submitted after 6:30 will need to be processed for the following delivery day. In addition, as we are working with less staff, please be aware there may be some delays in e-mail responses as some folks may be covering multiple desks.

All of these changes are temporary and we will continue to monitor the situation and continue to communicate proactively and transparently. We look forward to reverting back to business as usual sooner than later.

Thank you again for your support. Stay safe everyone.

Mark

Mark A. Duffy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Office: 732-650-9200 ext.150

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Communication Update (03/19/2020 6:00 pm)

We hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe throughout these challenging times.

As we are preparing and planning for next week, we wanted to proactively reach out regarding volume trends. Our delivery volume is starting to decrease each day and we are significantly lighter than usual for tomorrow being a Friday.

As we continue to plan on staffing, if the volume for Monday delivery remains significantly lower than usual, we will need to schedule any orders sent over tomorrow for Tuesday delivery (3.24.20). We will monitor this as the orders progress, but there is potential that we will not be sending Monday deliveries if the volume is very low. Based upon this, please send orders as early as possible to minimize any impacts to you and your customers.

We appreciate your support and understanding.

Be well.

Mark

Mark A. Duffy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Office: 732-650-9200 ext.150

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Communication Update (03/19/2020 2:00 pm)

We hope this update finds you and your loved ones healthy.

As we monitor COVID-19 developments and implications, we remain focused, like all of you, on the health and safety of our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and the communicates we serve. We want to thank you all for your partnership as we all work together to manage and overcome the challenges associated with COVID-19.

We were very pleased to see the recognition of the work we collectively do within the three tier system is recognized as essential and therefore exempt from the rule requiring at least 75% of a business' workforce to work from home. We remain committed to serve you and your customers through this difficult time.

We remain vigilant regarding our health, safety and service preparedness measures. We are proactively taking temperatures of employees and supporting telecommuting options when possible. We reinforce the conviction we all must have with good hygiene practices and social distancing.

Thank you for your support, communication and understanding. Stay healthy and safe.

Be well,

Mark

Mark A. Duffy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Office: 732-650-9200 ext.150

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Safety and Service Preparedness

To our valued customers and business partners,

As we all work together to manage through these unprecedented times, we wanted to share our thoughts and plans as we face the difficult challenge of responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19), which the World Health Organization recently declared a pandemic.

Our hearts and thoughts go out to the people who have been directly and indirectly affected by this unprecedented event. We appreciate, admire and thank the healthcare workers, local communities and governments around the world who are on the front line working to contain this coronavirus and help those in need.

Our top priority is the safety of our employees, all of you and the communities we serve. We will continue to monitor the developments of the COVID-19 situation and we will use our website as our primary tool for communication updates. Below are steps we are actively taking to focus on the safety of our employees, you and your customers:

►Assembling kits for each driver that include items to help them protect their health and the communities’ health while delivering. As long as supplies are available, the kits will contain disposable food service gloves that the drivers don before each delivery and shed after facilitating the transaction. The driver will use a new set of gloves for each delivery. The kit will also contain Lysol spray or sanitizing wipes that can be used to disinfect the scanner and other items that are shared between driver and customer. If hand sanitizer is available, each driver will be provided with an ample supply to continuously sanitize their hands after contact with external surfaces or customers.

►Before every shift and prior to driver dispatch, we will provide a safety briefing on the importance of proper hand washing and remind employees to avoid touching their face, as well as reminding everyone to cover their mouths and noses when sneezing or coughing and washing hands immediately thereafter.

►We will make hand sanitizer readily available, when possible, for all members of the workforce while they are at work. Similarly, management will ensure hand soap is readily available in all FDL washrooms.

►We will follow CDC matrix recommendations relating to reports of confirmed or potential exposure of any FDL employee.

►We are preparing a protocol for handling instances of employee absenteeism related to COVID-19 exposure or mandatory quarantines/school closures. Employees may ask to absent themselves due to fear or an abundance of caution. If possible, we will consider a reasonable personal leave procedure that permits employees to request a block of unpaid leave should they have legitimate concerns about virus exposure or need to be absent due to exposure or quarantine of some sort.

►Communication has already taken place with key staffing agency partners requesting their active support in ramping up our staffing pipeline in the event we need additional talent.

►We are developing a centralized reporting process through which Human Resources collects information about employee concerns to ensure consistency in handling of COVID-19 related issues. FDL Human Resources will log all concerns as well as our handling of each situation.

►We have commissioned our cleaning vendor and additional cleaning vendors to ensure they are prepared to deep clean/thoroughly sanitize the workplace proactively as well as immediately upon confirmation of a verified case of exposure on FDL property.

►Should there be a more widespread outbreak in the local metro area, we are communicating the importance of social distancing practices in the workspace to avoid meetings or employee groups gathering in close proximity.

►We are preparing for remote work practices for personnel who are not critical to be on-site for essential warehouse and/or office responsibilities, and can effectively perform their duties while in an alternative location.

We will continue to proactively communicate with you regarding developments that have a direct or indirect impact on our service. We will also be asking for your continued support, collaboration and ideas as we work through this together. Here are some possible temporary considerations:

-We may have to refine/restrict certain days, areas we can deliver based on regulatory, community and/or FDL guidance.

-We may have to abandon windows based on geographic access limitations and/or delivery efficiency and capacity.

-We may have to identify alternative drop points for deliveries with designated individuals for consignee BOL signatures.

-We may be limited to warehouse, delivery capacity based on FDL talent available.

-We may have to discontinue bottle-picking.

-We may have to postpone sample deliveries.

-We may have to, and can, coordinate pick-ups at FDL.

Again, we will continue to focus on how we can best serve you and your customers, although the reality is, we are in a temporary new normal, and we need your help. Our top priority is, and will be, the safety of our employees, their families, you and your families and the communities we serve.

Thank you for your support, understanding and assistance. May you and yours all remain safe and healthy.

All the best,

Mark

Mark A. Duffy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Office: 732-650-9200 ext.150