Why did cold chain logistics leader Roundday Logistics spend five years venturing beyond its core business? After investing heavily in China’s e-commerce market with limited returns, and later entering the fresh produce supply chain—a field where even PX Mart took more than a decade to turn a modest profit—Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu steps out of his usual low profile in an interview with CommonWealth Magazine to reveal Roundday’s new strategy.

As a Laya Burger franchisee operating two outlets, Wang Ming-Jung (汪明蓉), Product Director at Sun Spark Group, Laya Burger’s parent company, has long been concerned about fresh produce quality. “Sometimes vegetables look fine on the outside but are spoiled inside. When you don’t know where they come from, it raises serious food safety concerns,” Wang said.

In June this year, Laya Burger headquarters began sourcing produce from Roundday Logistics through a farm-to-door cold chain delivery model. The pre-sorted and fresh-cut vegetables require only a simple rinse before use. “Roundday handles produce according to food-grade facility standards,” Wang observed.

From Cold Chain Leader to Food Supply Chain Integrator

Step into Roundday’s Fresh Food Smart Logistics Park in Dalin, Chiayi, which opened late last year, and it feels like entering a giant refrigerator—a striking contrast to the heat outside. Cabbages delivered from Nantou are first cooled through vacuum pre-cooling before being sent to the fresh-cut processing area. There, they are trimmed, cut, and washed three times before being packaged according to customer requirements. Finally, they are loaded onto temperature-controlled trucks for distribution.

Why Has Cold Chain Logistics Provider Roundday Moved into Fresh Produce?

“Roundday is a pioneer in Taiwan’s cold chain industry,” said Chen Chu-Hsing, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Material Handling and Logistics. As early as 2001, the company established Taiwan’s first cold chain network spanning northern, central, and southern Taiwan, serving major food manufacturers such as DaChan, Charoen Pokphand (CP), and seafood supplier YENS, as well as leading retail channels.

Roundday had originally planned to go public in 2024, but Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu later decided to put the plan on hold. “We won’t be going public next year. Instead, we are transforming from a third-party logistics provider into a food supply chain integrator,” he said. Chen added that the company will rely on its stable cold chain logistics revenue to support the early-stage losses of its new business ventures.

Roundday Logistics Co., Ltd.

• Founded: 1993

• Chairman: Chen Hsu-Chu

• Capital: NT$1 billion

• Core Businesses: Cold storage, transportation and distribution, fresh produce supply

• Key Clients: DaChan, Charoen Pokphand Enterprise (Taiwan) / CP Taiwan, T-Ham, YENS, Lian Hwa Foods, YFY, RT-Mart, and MOS Burger

• Performance: Revenue of NT$1.5 billion in 2022; estimated net margin of approximately 10%

  
  

Chen Hsu-Chu

• Born: 1960

• Education: B.A. in Economics, National Taiwan University

• Experience: Section Manager, Mei Chih Yi Company; Section Manager, Tachou Ship Building Co., Ltd.

Extending Shelf Life: A Path to Profitability

Five years ago, Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu made a bold move: investing more than NT$1.8 billion—roughly equal to Roundday’s annual revenue at the time—to develop a fresh food smart logistics park. The company also invested more than NT$100 million to lease the International Freshness Logistics Center in Pingtung, accelerating its expansion into the fresh produce supply chain. The goal was clear: to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by three additional days. “Ready-to-eat fresh-cut fruit sold in convenience stores typically has a shelf life of D+3, meaning three days after production. Our target is D+6,” Chen said, underscoring the company’s ambitious vision.

The fresh produce sector is notoriously difficult. High handling requirements, short shelf life, and the high cost of cold chain logistics mean that, despite its apparent potential, few players are truly profitable. The core challenge lies in persistently high loss rates. From harvest to consumption, more than 55% of fruits and vegetables fail to remain fresh, resulting in significant losses along the supply chain. “Even reducing losses by just 20% would make a major difference,” Chen said. He emphasized that extending shelf life and reducing delivery frequency are key to achieving profitability in the fresh produce supply chain.

As Clients Build In-House Cold Chains, 3PL Becomes More Challenging

With more major clients building their own cold chain logistics systems, Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu believes Roundday must move further into the fresh produce supply chain.“Many of our business segments have been taken back by clients and handled in-house,” he said. While B2B operations remain profitable, they are no longer as easy as they once were. “All changes in strategy ultimately come down to shifts in market demand,” Chen added.

When Costco entered Taiwan in 1997, Roundday handled both centralized frozen storage and cold chain distribution for the retailer. As Costco expanded, it built its own logistics centers and outsourced store deliveries to lower-cost fleets. Today, Roundday mainly transports containers from suppliers to Costco’s distribution centers. Similar shifts have also occurred with PX Mart and 7-Eleven.

“Companies of our scale typically handle distribution in-house,” said Yen Chih-Chieh (顏志杰), CEO of YEN & Brothers Enterprise. In the post-pandemic era, as major logistics players and conglomerates continue to invest heavily in cold chain infrastructure, growth opportunities for traditional third-party logistics providers have become increasingly limited.

“Roundday has traditionally taken a more passive approach to marketing and lacks price competitiveness, making it less likely to be the first choice for non-local enterprises,” said Wang Hsiang-Chih (王祥芝), Secretary-General of the Taiwan Cold Chain Association.

After existing clients built their own cold chain systems, Roundday was left handling the more fragmented delivery channels—those with restricted delivery windows—even though it is capable of full-channel distribution. “With delivery windows becoming increasingly fragmented, the efficiency of shared distribution is no longer what it used to be,” Chen Hsu-Chu admitted.

At present, Roundday still handles the logistics flow from suppliers to centralized distribution centers and continues to serve trading firms such as DKSH as a cold chain consolidation hub. “I believe this segment—from suppliers to distribution centers—may eventually disappear as well,” Chen said.

How an NTU Economics Graduate Spent 20 Years Transforming Traditional Logistics

This was not Roundday’s first transformation.

Thirty years ago, Chen Hsu-Chu’s father built Taiwan’s first mid-sized cold storage facility in Wugu Industrial Park, replacing manual labor with forklifts and pallet systems. When shipments had to be dispatched at 2 a.m. and manpower was scarce, Chen stepped in to help. At the time, refrigerated trucks were limited and often failed to arrive on schedule. Frustrated, yet still needing to report to his day job at a trading company by 8 a.m., Chen decided to take matters into his own hands: he bought a refrigerated truck and obtained a commercial driver’s license.

“Back then, a large refrigerated truck cost about NT$4 million and could be paid off in two years,” he recalled.

A graduate of National Taiwan University’s Department of Economics, Chen Hsu-Chu spent 20 years transforming Roundday from a traditional, labor-intensive logistics business into a more modern operation. In 2006, the company introduced inventory and transportation management systems to improve distribution efficiency.

Following an agricultural policy forum in 2018, Chen saw several trends converging: the government’s push to develop cold chains for agricultural products, tighter back-of-house constraints in the foodservice sector, labor shortages, and rising demand for ready-to-use ingredients among busy consumers. He then made a decisive move into the fresh produce supply chain.

“As long as waste is well controlled and scale is achieved, gross margins in fresh produce can exceed 30%, compared with 15–20% in logistics,” Chen said.

However, this transformation has also required him to completely rethink the way he has long managed the logistics business.

Shifting Focus from the Last Mile to the First Mile

To strengthen farm-level management, Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu set up a dedicated task force led by Lin Liang-Mao, former agriculture director of Yunlin and Chiayi counties. The team works closely with more than 50 farmer groups and cooperatives, engaging directly with farmers on the ground to understand their practical needs. “It’s not just about supervision or guidance—it’s about building trust with farmers,” said Lin, Special Assistant to the Chairman of Roundday Logistics.

In 2020, China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples, leading to a surplus in the domestic market. Roundday’s Japanese investor, Farmind Corporation, a leading marketer of fresh-cut produce, stepped in with an order for 350 metric tons of pineapples. Exports grew to 500 metric tons last year and 700 metric tons this year, and are expected to reach 1,200 metric tons next year.

“Many people thought our move into fresh produce wasn’t serious,” said Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu. “But securing buyers first, and then working with cooperatives, has been the key to opening up collaboration.”

With stable demand in place, the next challenge is preservation.

“Pre-cooling is essential. It allows produce to ‘go dormant’ by quickly removing field heat and slowing down aging,” said Chen, who has become something of an agricultural expert. He emphasized that post-harvest handling is a race against time, where every second counts. Each type of produce requires a different approach, with its own optimal harvest maturity, ripening method, storage temperature, and transport timing. Even within the same category, different varieties require their own handling protocols.

“Pre-cooling at the source, combined with cold chain distribution, is the optimal approach for handling fresh produce,” said Hsu Min-Chi (徐敏記), Assistant Researcher at the Crop Science Division of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute.

With comprehensive farm management and post-harvest handling in place, losses can be reduced by 20–30%, said Liao Kuo-Chun (廖國均), Director of Processing at Roundday Dalin, who has a background in horticulture.“As long as the raw materials entering the logistics center are in good condition, fresh produce will not spoil within Roundday’s system,” he added. The Dalin Park maintains temperatures below 10°C throughout operations. Even during unloading and weighing at the docks, cold chain integrity is strictly maintained.“Cold chain is our standard,” affirmed Hsu Kuo-Feng (徐國豐), Operations Manager of Roundday Dalin Distribution Center.

Located near the Yunlin–Chiayi region—Taiwan’s largest fruit and vegetable production area—the Dalin Park offers strong advantages in sourcing and product variety after processing and distribution.“Our sourcing and product diversity are clearly superior to other players,” said Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu. Building on its nationwide cold chain logistics network, Roundday is pursuing a dual-track transformation to develop a fresh produce supply chain ecosystem.

Logistics Provider Moves into Fresh Produce Sales

Building its own brand was the final step. Having never dealt directly with consumers before, Roundday brought in Tu Huai-Sheng as CEO in 2021. Tu had previously helped transform his family business into Ytower Cooking, a major online recipe and cooking platform. Roundday then launched the FOOD-X brand, actively expanding into foodservice channels while also building an e-commerce platform for direct-to-consumer sales.

Tu, who has brought on one new restaurant brand every three months on average, noted that as labor and rental costs continue to rise, precise cost control has become increasingly critical. Using pre-processed fresh produce can reduce labor costs by 30–50%, while also freeing up back-of-house space, improving space efficiency, and strengthening food safety.

By using FOOD-X to better understand market demand, Roundday can guide upstream production decisions. “Our ultimate goal is to give farmers more stability,” said Tu. “Farmers can focus on production without worrying about price fluctuations. We offer fair pricing and stable sales channels.”

To engage directly with consumers, Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu made his first investment in home delivery fleets over the past two years, purchasing vehicles equipped with real-time shipment tracking. He also integrated Roundday’s long-established transportation management system to improve shared distribution efficiency.

“The reality is that fleet efficiency depends on density. We have to get through this transition period,” Chen said candidly. Dressed simply and speaking with the down-to-earth manner of a neighborly uncle, Chen is frank about the challenges ahead.

After five years of losses, the fresh produce supply chain has become the biggest challenge since Chen Hsu-Chu founded Roundday Logistics—yet it is a path he believes he must take. Much like PX Mart Chairman Lin Ming-Hsiung, who once assigned his eldest son to oversee the company’s long-struggling fresh produce division, Chen has placed his eldest daughter in charge of this business, a sign of how determined he is to see it through.

Shen Tai-Lin (沈泰霖), Supply Chain Director at Sun Fresh, noted that Roundday’s biggest challenge is not competition, but whether it can accurately identify market demand.

According to Roundday’s plan, monthly fresh produce sales are expected to reach 400 metric tons by year-end and double next year, putting the business within reach of profitability. “My concern now isn’t demand, but supply,” said Chairman Chen Hsu-Chu. Although he visits Dalin only once a week, Chen remains closely involved in the project. Lowering his voice, he added, “If this doesn’t succeed, Roundday is finished.”

Despite skepticism from the market and a 30% surge in material costs during the pandemic, Chen remains confident. He believes Roundday can build a fully integrated cold chain ecosystem spanning production, storage, transportation, and distribution, while playing a key role in Taiwan’s fresh produce supply chain. “We don’t aim to do everything ourselves,” he said. “Our goal is to build a shared platform that encourages more companies to participate in the fresh produce sector.”

Editor: Huang Yun-Ting (黃韵庭)

Authors: Wang Yi-Chih (王一芝), Li Yi-Hsuan (李宜萱)

Photo Credit: Wang Chien-Tung (王建棟)

Reprinted from CommonWealth Magazine with permission