The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-hedquartered National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) have announced that the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats has inducted two industry leaders into the 2021 Frozen Food Hall of Fame. The inductees are Ray Tarnowski (seen at left in photo aboue), retired president of Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage, and Richard Graeter (pictured at right in photo above), president and chief executive officer of Graeter’s Ice Cream Company.
Ray Tarnowski entered the frozen food industry in 1979 when he joined Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage. After five years with the company, he was named president.
Following a noteworthy 41-year career in the refrigerated warehousing business, Tarnowski retired in 2020. Upon retirement, he successfully managed the sale of the facility, which was the oldest frozen food warehouse in the United States at the time.
Over the span of a four-decade career, Tarnowski served in many trade association leadership roles, including chairman of the World Food Logistics Organization and Global Cold Chain Alliance, as well as treasurer of NFRA. He is a member of the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats and the Honorable Order of Golden Penguins.
As part of the fourth generation of the Graeter’s Ice Cream legacy, Richard Graeter has been at the helm since 2007. His dedication to the artisanal French pot ice cream making tradition has grown the company significantly by opening stores throughout the Midwest and expanded distribution to grocery stores across the United States.
Graeter was named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, and was inducted into the Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
The induction ceremony will take place during the 2022 NFRA Convention, October 15-18, in Orlando, Florida. It would have occurred next month in San Diego, California, had the 2021 convention not been called off due to ongoing health threats caused by the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2).
“The safety concerns of NFRA Convention attendees and staff and the wellbeing of their families is our number one priority. As such, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s NFRA Convention scheduled for October 16-19. NFRA will not be coordinating a virtual event,” stated the trade association in an announcement regarding the cancellation.
The Frozen Food Hall of Fame was established in 1990 by the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats, an organization of industry members whose purpose is to maintain the tradition of promoting the image and advancement of the frozen food business. These members nominate and vote on the newest inductees, whose dedication and hard work have greatly benefited the industry.
