Cold storage has performed consistently well during times of financial hardship. The recession of 2009 saw  food & beverage/F&B 3PL revenues fall by just one-tenth of 1% compared to revenues for the third-party logistics/3PL sector, which were down nearly 7% in aggregate. F&B has been the third-best performing retail sector during the past two recessions, with a 3.7% month-over-month growth rate against a decline of 6.1% for total retail sales. Moreover, while retail as a whole has experienced an 8.7% decline overall during the pandemic, F&B sales have seen 25.6% growth for March 2020.

Does this mean a new industrial asset class is forming? According to a report from Savills, in the words of the Magic 8-Ball, "signs point to yes."

Publicly listed grocery chains have shown remarkable resilience during the pandemic. Stock prices for some of the largest grocers have increased by an average of 12% from the end of 2019 through April 15, 2020, which was approximately one month into the shutdowns. Amazon stock saw 25% growth during that period, reported Savills, while regional grocer Kroger's saw a 10% increase over the same period. The grocery sector is one of the main consumers of cold storage space, providing investors with increasing assurance that demand will hold steady or rise, regardless of difficult times.