Our History

At a young age, Talmadge Reed followed in his father’s footsteps in the poultry business and as he matured, he grew the poultry processing business from humble beginnings of hand-processing 100 chickens a week to automated-processing 30,000 chicken a day. Reed Poultry became a major supplier of processed poultry in East Central Georgia and parts of South Carolina until he sold the business in the 1980’s.

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With the increase in chicken production, the need for ice to keep the chickens cold increased. At the peak of their production, Reed Poultry was using twenty-five tons of ice daily. When their ice supplier in Washington, GA shut down, Talmadge had to find a solution to keep the chicken plant operational.

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In 1972, Talmadge bought an ice production plant in Greenwood, SC where he was able to produce enough ice for his chicken plant. He sold the chicken plant in 1979 and the Greenwood ice plant in 1982 to build a fully automated ice plant in Lincolnton, which his son Tab bought from him shortly after.

 

The original ice plant in Greenwood produced manufactured block ice. The new plant in Lincolnton would mass produce forty-one tons of ice per day to be packed into eight pound bags for delivery to approximately four-hundred customers in a seventy-five mile radius of Lincoln County. At that time Reed Ice had give trucks running six days a week.

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Over 50 years later, Reed Ice is still growing and continues the legacy Talmadge started. Talmadge may have "retired" in the 80's but he kept busy every day until he passed away in 2017 at the age of 88. 

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Tab Reed and his son Bo run the family business now and continue to find new ways to grow the company. Reed Ice produces and bags ice 24 hours a day, seven days a week at peak season making over 100 tons of ice each day. With over 750 customers, 8 full-time drivers, 2 repair techs, 4 event trailers, 1 self-serve ice machine, and more on the horizon, we think Talmadge would be proud of where Reed Ice Company is today. ​​