HILL PHOENIX, INC.
PHOENIX, AZ

– Hillphoenix re-enters the Walk In Cooler business. – Hillphoenix management commissions team to develop educational programs for sales, service, dealers, customers and contractors. – Hillphoenix acquires Barker Company creating Specialty Products by Hillphoenix. – Hillphoenix helps Sprouts Farmers Market become the third U. S. retailer to achieve Platinum GreenChill status with the installation of the new Hillphoenix Second Nature CO2 Cascade System for both low and medium temperature applications. All three Platinum Certified GreenChill stores are Hillphoenix designs. Company History – We Were Born To Leap Hillphoenix Inc., a Dover Company, designs and manufactures an extensive line of commercial refrigerated display merchandisers, commercial and light industrial refrigeration systems and mechanical centers, electrical distribution products, and specialty display cases and fixtures. The origin of Hillphoenix dates back to 1887, when C.V. Hill, a New Jersey grocer, dissatisfied with the coolers currently available to him both with regard to price and performance, decides to build his own. Because Mr. Hill “dislikes lifting out the heavy butter and lard tubs stored in the coolers”, he invents a butter slide which comes out automatically when the cooler door is opened. This is the first of many patents the company will own as new ideas are initiated over the decades that follow. A neighboring grocer hears of the unit and when he sees it, buys it on the spot. Mr. Hill sells another cooler and then decides to go into the cooler manufacturing business, as he says “for a few years,” then return to the grocery store. He starts a new company and names it C. V. Hill Refrigerator Works. He never returns to the grocery business deciding instead to focus on developing better ways for grocers to display perishable products. Not only is a company born but so is an industry. Mr. Hill learns about refrigeration and air circulation on the first two coolers he builds and in 1889 he establishes his first factory. He builds two more refrigerators and shows them at the first Trenton State Fair. Although he enjoys the fair, he does not sell any products. In March of 1890, he sells two refrigerators at $115.00 each. He also invents the first baffle and bunker system for ice-refrigerated coolers. This “puts him on the map in Trenton.” By 1896 Hill Refrigerator Works moves to a larger facility in Trenton, N.J., and begins to receive orders from the government and steamship operators, as well as from grocers. As the turn of the century arrives Mr. Hill starts developing refrigerated show cases and in 1905 introduces the first Hill refrigerated show case. As he continues to develop show case concepts he is particularly focused on developing the first refrigerated display case for fresh meat. Around 1909, utilizing the growing availability of the electric motor and ammonia as the refrigerant, Mr. Hill begins to make a name for himself as grocers up and down the Eastern Seaboard want to buy his meat cases for their stores. Hill Refrigeration Company is born. In the early 1920s, the company develops the first top display case, which allows customers to view the merchandise inside. Other innovations include the 1927 introduction of the first all-metal case and the 1928 introduction of the first display case capable of maintaining frozen food and ice cream at the right temperatures. When Swift and Company is looking for a case to use for frozen meat, they are surprised to learn that one has already been developed by Hill. Swift uses the Hill case successfully in their laboratory test helping to establish the retail frozen food business in grocery stores. In 1929 Hill installs the first frozen food case in a retail food store and in 1930 Clarence Birdseye recommends the use of the Hill 2000 model to display the Birdseye “frosted foods” then being introduced in the marketplace. In 1932, Mr. Hill retires, leaving the company in the very capable hands of his sons, C. V. Hill Jr., and J. S. Hill. That same year the company creates the first porcelain-clad cases, providing retailers with a more durable case that is easier to clean. In the next few years, the company introduces the first service deli case with mezzanine shelving and storage in the bottom area. As the 1930’s introduce larger, self-service stores, Hill Refrigeration is ready, once again leading the way with their new “add-a-unit” feature, developed in 1939, which allows cases to be joined together in a continuous lineup. This feature is perfect for the larger stores that are being built and catches on with grocers all over the country. At the height of the depression, the company scores another first, only this one is in the area of marketing. Hill Refrigeration publishes a book called “Modern Food Merchandising” in 1934 which enumerates guidelines on successful food marketing. The book is enthusiastically received and five editions are published. The company also builds its own grocery store, both to test its new equipment and to try out new merchandising ideas. During World War II, Hill manufactures landing craft for the military along with refrigerators for use on Navy vessels. When the war ends the company is in an excellent position to meet the demands of the food industry for new equipment, since it was able to devote significant time in research and development efforts focused on making war-time products better. In 1945, Hill Refrigeration announces a major breakthrough in refrigerated display case design; a three-deck open dairy case. This mechanical and merchandising breakthrough maintains temperature on each level while showcasing a greater quantity and variety of product. The new case not only gives grocers an attractive display setting that stimulates impulse sales, it also allows them to show much more quantity and variety in the same floor space. The case breaks new merchandising ground, and helps speed the spread of “self-service shopping”. The immediate success of the new Hill dairy case leads to the introduction of the Hill self-service open frozen food cases with the “add-a-unit” feature and automatic defrost.