Southeast Frozen Foods assists local supermarkets during Hurricane Ivan

SOUTHEAST FROZEN FOODS ASSISTS LOCAL SUPERMARKETS DURING HURRICANE IVAN

SEPTEMBER 2004, MIAMI, FL — At Southeast, supporting customers is about more than just business, it's about community.

When successive hurricanes battered the coast of Florida in September, Southeast Frozen Foods moved quickly to lend a hand both to its customers and to the residents of South Florida.

Southeast's quick action helped ensure the safety of the food supply for the residents of Florida and the Caribbean, providing refrigerated trucks, ice and drinking water to people and businesses in the affected areas and saving countless tons — and hundreds of thousands of dollars — in perishable foods.

Already in the spring, months before the hurricanes hit, Southeast had developed and distributed to its customers a Hurricane Preparedness Planner designed to help our retailers and buyers identify key "must-have" items during a storm. As the hurricanes approached the region, Southeast kicked into gear, working with customers to process special orders prior to the storm's arrival to help them meet pre-storm demand for their food and household items. This quick action both helped our customers secure additional sales and guaranteed that the residents of South Florida had the provisions necessary to ride out the storm.

Prior to and after the storm, Southeast provided refrigerated trailer trucks to all retailers requesting assistance to safeguard their perishable inventory. Even as they lost electrical power, our customers were able to rely on SoutheastÕs diesel-run equipment to provide for their communities.

Southeast was able to rush water and ice to retailers in devastated areas within two hours of the storm's passing, thus meeting the needs of customers desperate for their own water and food needs. Even where Southeast did not have customers in the Tampa and Orlando regions, Southeast donated water and ice to help residents get through the storm's aftermath.

After responding to the emergency needs of our customers and the residents of South Florida, Southeast dispatched technology and transportation teams to work with our retail customers to help get them back online, replenishing their shelves and getting them back into business as quickly as possible. Southeast's integrated networking system allowed our customers to reopen and restock more quickly than most retailers in the affected areas.

Beyond Florida, Southeast shipped ice and water to clients in the Caribbean and in the Cayman Islands to help them get through the storm.

However horrible the hurricanes that ripped through our region, they showed the cohesiveness of our community and the strength of Southeast's commitment to its customers and to the residents of South Florida.

We thank all those who joined together in this effort.