The CORE X GRESS story started simply in the 1940s when a local entrepreneur began selling chicken feed in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This small operation grew into selling live chickens from the family farm, with daily drives to New York City. By the 1970s, it had become a successful poultry processing company with 400 employees in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The business took an interesting turn in 1971 when the family sold to A&P grocery stores, only to buy it back in 1978 for pennies on the dollar. Throughout the 80s and 90s, they rebuilt and expanded the poultry business. When southern farms began processing birds at volumes that made competition difficult, the leadership made a strategic pivot: they transformed their Pennsylvania operation into one of the region’s most trusted cold storage providers.
Building a Pennsylvania Cold Storage Powerhouse
As their customers grew, so did CORE X GRESS. They added buildings and trucks in Pennsylvania, expanding their cold storage capabilities to meet changing market needs. The company developed specialized blast freezing for poultry products at their Scranton facility, opening doors to new food storage and distribution opportunities throughout the Northeast.
This practical approach to business growth led to what CORE X GRESS is today: a leading cold storage provider in Pennsylvania with millions of square feet of frozen, cooler, and dry storage space. By adapting to market changes and focusing on customer needs, they turned a regional poultry business into an essential link in the nationwide food supply chain while maintaining their Pennsylvania roots.
Enterprise-Wide Impact as Part of CORE X Partners
The integration with CORE X Partners represents a significant milestone in the company’s evolution. Through strategic alignment and access to network-wide resources, CORE X GRESS has achieved record performance while maintaining its unique regional identity and legacy of service excellence.
“This isn’t somebody buying your company and coming in on day one and cleaning house,” notes a CORE X GRESS leader. “The people that have made your company successful will continue to do so.”
The partnership delivers substantial business continuity benefits:
- Enhanced implementation support across the network
- Strategic capacity optimization through regional coordination
- Comprehensive risk mitigation through redundant systems
- Improved employee opportunities through enterprise expansion
Continuing a Pennsylvania Cold Storage Legacy
As we move forward, we acknowledge the recent passing of Glenn Gress, Sr., whose leadership was instrumental in establishing CORE X GRESS as a premier cold storage provider in Pennsylvania. His positive outlook and commitment to excellence helped shape what CORE X GRESS has become today.
Glenn Gress Jr. will continue to honor his father’s legacy of service excellence and strategic vision. The family values and strong Pennsylvania relationships defined by CORE X GRESS continue to thrive within the broader enterprise context.
Service Excellence in a Network Context
In an industry where service quality directly impacts business continuity, CORE X GRESS remains committed to exceptional standards. Their reputation for outstanding service continues to be a cornerstone of their business philosophy and provides a competitive advantage for enterprise customers seeking risk mitigation through reliable cold chain solutions.
CORE X GRESS aims to leverage the broader network to offer enterprise-wide solutions through national contracts. This approach means customers receive consistent service excellence in Scranton, Pennsylvania, or any other CORE X Partners network location.
Building the Future of Cold Storage in Pennsylvania
Through strategic partnership, CORE X GRESS exemplifies how Pennsylvania cold storage expertise combined with nationwide network capabilities creates solutions that truly deliver for customers across the cold chain. As the business continues to evolve from its Scranton headquarters, it remains anchored in the principles of service excellence, relationship building, and strategic vision that have guided this Pennsylvania success story from the beginning.
