TEFCOLD Commercial Refrigeration: The Complete UK Brand Guide (2026)

Last reviewed: October 2026 · Lisa Craven, Managing Director, FridgeSmart

TEFCOLD is a commercial refrigeration supplier and exporter founded in 1987 in Viborg, Denmark, now exporting to 100+ countries across Europe, the UK, and beyond, with a group turnover TEFCOLD puts at over €120 million. In the UK, TEFCOLD trades through TEFCOLD UK (formerly Interlevin Refrigeration, founded 1967) — giving the brand nearly 60 years of UK commercial refrigeration heritage through what TEFCOLD UK describes as the UK’s largest commercial refrigeration wholesale operation. This guide covers the full brand story, product range, natural refrigerant technology, energy efficiency, warranty, and where TEFCOLD sits in the market.

The TEFCOLD Story: From a Single Workshop to 100 Countries and Counting

TEFCOLD was founded in 1987 in Viborg, a market town in central Jutland, Denmark, by Frede Christensen — later joined by his son Torben Christensen. Their founding philosophy was straightforward: supply commercial refrigeration that performs consistently to professional standards, without the premium price tag of the established brands. It was a gap in the market that, nearly four decades later, has turned into what TEFCOLD reports as a €120 million business with owned operations across Europe and export routes to more than 100 countries worldwide.

TEFCOLD says the Viborg headquarters today spans 17,000m² and houses one of TEFCOLD’s major European warehouse operations, an in-house testing laboratory, a spare parts centre, and a showroom. Every product range TEFCOLD supplies must pass through that testing facility before it goes to market — temperature stability under load, energy consumption, door-seal performance, ambient-temperature tolerance. The testing happens at Viborg regardless of where the unit was produced. That distinction matters: TEFCOLD designs and specifies its products and has them built by audited production partners. Its engineers write the specification; its Viborg lab signs off the product.

The UK story is older than TEFCOLD itself. Interlevin Refrigeration was founded in 1967 — twenty years before TEFCOLD — and built up a strong position as a UK commercial refrigeration wholesaler based in Castle Donington, Derbyshire. By the time TEFCOLD and Interlevin started working together (nearly three decades before acquisition), Interlevin was already moving, by TEFCOLD’s account, approximately 40,000 plug-in refrigeration units per year through the UK trade. In February 2018, TEFCOLD acquired Interlevin outright. In January 2022, Interlevin officially rebranded as TEFCOLD UK — giving the Danish brand a UK operation that predates it by twenty years.

The pace of growth since then has been extraordinary. Since 2018, TEFCOLD has completed seven strategic acquisitions across Europe, establishing owned operations in every major commercial refrigeration market:

The result is a brand now headquartered in Denmark, with owned operations in the UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and beyond — a genuine pan-European supplier with the infrastructure to back it up. Torben L. Christensen serves as Group Chairman; UK day-to-day operations are led by Managing Director Tom Lewington from Castle Donington.

Built Commercial, Not Converted Domestic

The most common mistake buyers make is treating commercial refrigeration as a scaled-up version of domestic equipment. It isn’t. A domestic fridge is designed to be opened a handful of times per day in a stable home environment. A commercial unit in a convenience store is opened hundreds of times per day, in a room that fluctuates between the cold of a winter morning and the heat of a summer afternoon, running continuously for 16 hours straight or longer. The components, tolerances, and thermal mass required are fundamentally different.

TEFCOLD engineers products from the commercial specification outward. Their Galaxy+ multideck range uses compressors and evaporators rated Climate Class 3 (25°C ambient, 60% humidity — the standard test condition for supermarket multidecks), while TEFCOLD’s IC chest freezer ranges are rated Climate Class 5 (40°C). Their cold rooms are engineered for daily stock loading, not occasional home freezer restocking. Their blast chillers are built to cycle food from 70°C to 3°C within 90 minutes, every service, every day.

This matters in practice because the upfront cost difference between commercial and domestic equipment is recovered in reliability and running cost within the first 12–18 months of operation. A domestic fridge running in a commercial environment will usually void its warranty and rarely lasts. A TEFCOLD unit running in the same environment is designed to last 10–15 years with proper maintenance.

Natural Refrigerants: Why TEFCOLD’s Refrigerant Choices Matter

TEFCOLD has made a deliberate commitment to natural hydrocarbon refrigerants across its range. The majority of the commercial range — multidecks, blast chillers, chest freezers, ice cream freezers — runs on R290 (propane). Smaller units such as wine coolers and minibars typically use R600a (isobutane). Both are near-zero GWP natural refrigerants; the specific refrigerant used varies by product type and is confirmed on each product datasheet.

That might sound counterintuitive at first (propane is what fires a barbecue), but R290 is now the refrigerant of choice for commercial refrigeration suppliers who understand where UK and European regulation is heading, and why natural hydrocarbon refrigerants are simply better.

The numbers make the case:

R290 has a GWP of 3 — compared to 3,922 for R404A, the refrigerant that was standard in commercial refrigeration until recently. Great Britain kept the EU F-Gas Regulation as domestic law and runs its own phase-down of high-GWP HFCs: new sealed commercial cabinets on R404A or R134a have been banned since 2020 and 2022 respectively, and servicing legacy refrigerants gets more restricted each year.

An R290 or R600a cabinet has no F-gas exposure at all: nothing to phase down, no recharge restrictions, no leak-check regime. For a UK food business planning equipment that will still be running in 2030, that is worth money.

Beyond compliance, R290 is simply more efficient. The thermodynamic properties of propane mean it absorbs heat faster and achieves temperature recovery more quickly than HFC alternatives — delivering, TEFCOLD states, approximately 7–12% better energy efficiency than legacy HFC refrigerants such as R404A, depending on application. On a unit running 365 days a year, that adds up.

The TEFCOLD Product Range: 850+ SKUs, Every Category Covered

TEFCOLD markets itself as offering the most extensive range of quality plug-in refrigeration products in Europe — and the claim holds up. No other single commercial refrigeration brand covers the breadth of application that TEFCOLD does from a single wholesale relationship. For a UK food business, that means one supplier, one warranty structure, one service network, across every piece of refrigeration on site.

Beyond these categories, TEFCOLD also supplies professional kitchen equipment including gastronorm undercounters and uprights (G-Line), pizza counters, saladettes, cooling wells, and ice makers. The 2025 Serrco acquisition added premium keg coolers and back bar systems to the UK range. For a business equipping a kitchen, a bar, and a retail display from scratch, TEFCOLD can supply the entire refrigeration spec from one distributor relationship.

The Galaxy+ Multideck: TEFCOLD’s Flagship and Why It Matters

The Galaxy+ range is TEFCOLD’s premium multideck chiller series and the unit that most UK convenience stores, delis, and farm shops encounter first. It’s worth understanding what makes it different, because the specifications reveal the engineering philosophy behind the whole brand.

The Galaxy+ was designed around a specific insight: most multideck displays waste space at the top and sacrifice shelf depth for a slimmer profile. TEFCOLD reversed both compromises. The Galaxy+ features an ultra-low front canopy that provides an extra 100mm of internal height — fitting a fifth shelf plus base within an overall height of 2040mm. The shelves are 400mm deep — deeper than most budget cabinets — and the cabinet keeps a standard depth, so it passes through most doors during a shop fit-out.

The Galaxy+ is available in four configurations:

• Open Front (GP range) — no door, air curtain, maximum product accessibility. GP10 (1m), GP14 (1.33m), GP20 (2m). From £2,780 ex. VAT
• Glass Door (FGD range) — frameless self-closing double-glazed doors. GP10FGD, GP14FGD, GP20FGD. From £3,122 ex. VAT. View FGD models →
• With Night Shutter (MCX range) — integrated roll-down shutter for 24/7 retail and petrol forecourts. From £2,895 ex. VAT
• Compact (PC range) — slimmer profile, 1.25m–1.5m, for smaller retail environments. PC1250B from £1,624 ex. VAT

All Galaxy+ models run on R290 refrigerant, maintain −1°C to +5°C display temperature (inside the 8°C chilled-food limit in the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995, with margin for meat, dairy, fish, and sandwiches), and are available in white, black, or stainless steel finishes. Shelves adjust to 7° or 14° angles for merchandising flexibility.

Where Does TEFCOLD Sit in the Market?

TEFCOLD operates clearly in the professional mid-market — above light-commercial budget brands, positioned as a value alternative to established premium names. Here is how the tiers compare in practice:

The 2025 Warranty Upgrade: What Changed and Why It Matters

TEFCOLD UK states that from 1 July 2025 it upgraded its standard warranty for new products. Every TEFCOLD line FridgeSmart sells now carries the following as standard:

• 2 Years — Parts: All electromechanical components replaced free of charge if they fail due to manufacturing defect. Replacements are identical or compatible components.
• 1 Year — Labour: The cost of a TEFCOLD-authorised engineer carrying out the warranty repair is covered for the first 12 months.

An optional upgrade to 2 years parts + 2 years labour is available per model at the point of order (on current FridgeSmart listings the upgrade runs from about £37 on a small chest freezer to about £228 on a 10-tray blast chiller). TEFCOLD UK states that products supplied before 1 July 2025 carry the previous standard of 2-year parts with no labour cover.

All warranty work is carried out by engineers arranged by the manufacturer, and FridgeSmart’s warranty terms cover equipment on the UK mainland only. If your site is in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the Scottish islands, the Channel Islands or another offshore location, confirm warranty coverage with FridgeSmart before you order.

TEFCOLD UK: The Infrastructure Behind the Product

One of the less visible but genuinely important aspects of buying TEFCOLD through FridgeSmart is what sits behind the transaction. TEFCOLD UK describes itself as the UK’s largest wholesaler of commercial refrigeration and catering equipment — a position built over nearly 60 years via the Interlevin lineage, not assembled overnight.

The Castle Donington base in Derbyshire is not just a sales office. It is a working distribution hub, and TEFCOLD states the group holds over 70,000 units across its European operations at any given time — meaning that in the vast majority of cases, units are available for fast UK despatch from Castle Donington rather than being ordered from overseas against a lengthy lead time. For a food business that needs a unit quickly (a failed fridge during peak trading, a new shop opening to a deadline), that depth of available stock is worth as much as the product specification itself.

TEFCOLD UK also maintains a spare parts stock and operates a nationwide engineer network. This matters at year 3, year 5, and year 8 of ownership — when the question isn’t “which unit to buy” but “can we get a replacement compressor and an engineer here this week.” With TEFCOLD UK’s parts stock and engineer network, that answer is usually yes.

TEFCOLD UK also distributes other manufacturers’ ranges to the UK trade alongside its own — Interlevin, Arcaboa, Elcold, Elstar, Framec, ISA and Staycold — which is the basis of its claim to be the single largest source of plug-in commercial refrigeration in the UK market.

Why FridgeSmart Stocks TEFCOLD

At FridgeSmart, we’ve made a deliberate choice to make TEFCOLD the backbone of our commercial refrigeration offer. It comes down to three things.

First, the range covers everything. We can supply a convenience store multideck, a restaurant blast chiller, a bakery cake display, a bar bottle cooler, a butcher’s serve-over counter, and a catering cold room — all from one brand, all with natural hydrocarbon refrigerant, the same warranty structure, and the same nationwide service network. That is one supplier relationship for the customer and one coherent recommendation from us.

Second, the energy data is honest and published. TEFCOLD publishes kWh/day figures for every unit in their range. Not estimated, not theoretical — tested figures from their Viborg laboratory. When we tell a customer that the Galaxy+ GP10FGD will cost them around £344/year to run vs around £1,146/year for the open-front GP10, that’s not our estimate. That’s TEFCOLD’s tested data at 29p/kWh UK commercial rate. We can defend every number we quote.

Third, the support actually works. We’ve had TEFCOLD in the range long enough to know what happens when something goes wrong — because things always eventually go wrong in commercial refrigeration. The parts are available. The engineers are on the network. The warranty gets honoured. For a food business, that reliability is worth more than the sharpest possible buy price on day one.

Frequently Asked Questions About TEFCOLD