Sustainable Frozen Food Facility Location Selection under Pandemic Era

Abstract

Consumption of frozen food has increased significantly in many countries experiencing total closure due to epidemics. In order to meet this increase in demand, companies apply different strategies in both production and logistics processes. In particular, warehouse locations need to be closer to consumers so as not to disrupt the increasing demand and the cold chain. Considering the sustainable position in the frozen food industry, it is essential to focus on both commercial and economic impacts. However, especially the environmental and sustainable criteria have always been neglected in terms of planning the country and the city. Therefore, this study has three main research questions; (1) identify key criteria for sustainability-focused frozen food facility location, (2) understand the relationship between these criteria, and (3) develop a hierarchical sustainable location roadmap for practitioners. Initially, a literature review was conducted to find the answers to these questions and reveal suitable criteria. Secondly, PROMETHEE was used to determine the relative importance of the data-driven performance of the main and sub-criteria. Therefore, this study gives the reader a comprehensive insight into how sustainable data-driven performance criteria are applied in frozen food storage facility locations. Finally, the proposed model used real-life data to select a developing country's sustainable frozen food storage location.