AC Ice Company Inc. was established in 1977 by Ed Churchwell and Mark Achziger. Their first location was in the service bays of a Phillips 66 gas station. Their first ice machines were two Manitowoc 1100 cubers and a Star can block maker. They hand bagged the ice and stored it in a 4 x 8 freezer that sat on a trailer. This trailer was also their first delivery unit.
Their business soon outgrew their gas station area, so they bought land next door and installed 24 Manitowoc ice machines on the very first Clinebell ice bin. They also installed 6 Clinebell B-56 block makers and automated their plant to include an automatic bagger and heat sealer. They also built a cold storage freezer that held 60 pallets of ice. Their service area expanded to most of northeastern Colorado.
In 1988 they saw the need to expand into markets with a bigger population base. They bought a small ice company in Fort Collins and put in a freezer to store the ice. All of the ice was produced in their Brush facility and transported up to Fort Collins. In 2017 they moved from Fort Collins to Longmont so they would be a more centralized location for all of their customers. Their customer base ranges from the Wyoming border to Denver. This new facility gave them the ability to store over 700 pallets of ice
In 1999, they saw the need for yet a bigger facility. They moved to their present location at 221 Hospital Road in Brush. This building gave them the room to yet again expand. They installed a cold storage freezer that could hold 200 pallets. They installed 2 Vogt Ice Machines that can produce 30 ton of ice a day. They again automated their bagging system to make it more efficient and sanitary. A 3-truck dock area was built to make it easier to load their route trucks and trailers with palletized ice instead of one bag at a time.
The new decade brought new challenges. Their sales were growing at such a pace that they did not have enough ice production to keep up. They were buying 20 to 30 semi loads of ice from other ice companies just to be able to satisfy their customer demands. In the spring of 2002, they again expanded by doubling their ice production up to 60 ton of ice a day. Now, instead of having to buy ice they were able to sell extra ice to other ice companies that ran short in the summer. They have helped other ice companies as far east as Wisconsin and as far west as California.
The winter of 2013 brought another expansion both in production and service. A 50 ton a day Morris Ice Machine was installed next to their 60 ton of Vogt ice production. This allows them to produce and package 220,000 lbs. of ice per day. They also expanded their service area to cover southern Colorado, opening a warehouse facility in Colorado Springs with a storage capacity of 1,000 pallets of ice.
Their service area extends from the New Mexico border to the south up into Denver on the north.
As they have grown, they have constantly strived to improve their product and keep their service at the highest level. They are proud to be members of the International Packaged Ice Association (IPIA). Their motto, ICE IS FOOD, is one that they take seriously.
Please join the Logan County Chamber in congratulating AC Ice Company as this week’s Business of the Week and for their efforts in tying our community together!
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