24-hour service
General Refrigeration was founded in 1952 by Chuck Cottingham with his partner Henry Smith when they left Art Wolf Refrigeration. The shop they occupied was in the back of a then prospering Keegan Brothers Equipment who sold kitchen equipment, much of which was refrigerated giving Chuck and Henry the opportunity to service and install this equipment. Keegan Brothers was in the process of constructing a new building at this time so Chuck set out to find General a new home, eventually taking up shop at 184 N La Fox in South Elgin and General prospered there for the next 35 years.
When Henry Smith passed away Chuck brought on two new partners, Al Meyer and Hank Johnson, both formerly of Art Wolf Refrigeration and were each given a 24% ownership share. As business grew service men were added to handle the increasing work load. Al was with General for several years before leaving the company and Hank left General to start his own business, Royal Refrigeration, leaving Chuck as sole owner. In 1965, General began doing supermarket installation work for Eagle Foods and hired Richard Marple to help handle the extra work load. Thus began the modern era of General Refrigeration, Richard is still with the company today and is enjoying a part-time retirement. Business continued to grow and evolve with the ever changing technology and customer demand for efficiency and cost savings.
General attracted the attention of Reedy Industries in 1980 as Chuck was looking to sell the business so that he may retire after a long and prosperous career. Reedy purchased General in 1980 and has been an invaluable partner with General ever since. General relocated for only the second time in 36 years to 651 Martin Drive in South Elgin in 1989 and still resides there today. General’s customer base and work force was greatly enhanced when Reedy Ind. purchased Anderson Brothers Refrigeration in 2004 and merged it with General in 2005. Anderson Bros. was founded in 1951 and was a very respectable competitor and ally with General over the years. The merger of the two companies proved to be another smart business move by Reedy Ind. with both companies operating as one and prospering with a new revitalization in this current challenging era.