Ice Wars

Home City Ice gives customers the cold shoulder

By Cal Abbo

Chaldeans in Detroit are known for owning various businesses, often party stores or gas stations, or industries affiliated with them. They have a specific kind of quality that separates them from other operators: excellence of service and dedication to their customers.

There are many examples of the Chaldean factor in business, but none as clear as the recent shakeup in the retail ice market. In late 2022, Saad Abbo sold his successful ice company, U.S. Ice, to a large corporate firm called Home City Ice. Since then, retailers have reported a dramatic increase in prices and a substantial reduction in the quality and frequency of service.

Sam Bakkal owns a BP gas station on the corner of 13 mile and Greenfield. Before the acquisition, he was a loyal customer to U.S. Ice. In his own words, “I, for one, never considered calling anybody else.”

Abbo’s entire business model was focused on providing good service for his customers. In today’s corporate world, this attitude is often lost. Even as Abbo’s ice empire grew larger, and perhaps because of it, his focus never shifted to making money alone. It was always about the customers.

The idea for U.S. Ice was born when the ice delivery service failed to deliver to the family store and Abbo’s father suggested the family start their own ice company. The rest is history.

“My father was aggressive,” Abbo added. “We opened up the ice company and put a plant together. It was producing 10,000 pounds of ice every day. At the time, we thought that was a lot.”

Abbo and his brother bought a few trucks. After the first year, they had about 50 customers. Not bad for a startup, but it wasn’t something to start a career over. The following year, that number tripled to 150. After that, they really believed they could succeed in this business. So they sold the store.

“The whole idea behind it is service,” Abbo said. “We built this thing around the idea that you don’t delay a customer. They call, and we were there every time.”

In the beginning, it was the Chaldeans who helped Abbo and his family succeed. His high level of service and ability to keep prices down was appealing to the large community of store owners. Eventually word spread about U.S. Ice, and they deservedly got many more clients. A bit over a year ago, Abbo decided to retire, and sold his company to Home City Ice.

“We kept the price down in Michigan compared to every other state in the country,” Abbo said. “Since we sold the business one year ago, the prices have almost doubled from what they used to be, which is actually a normal price compared to the rest of the country. And the service is not there.”

Abbo won the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce Businessperson of the Year Award in 2014 and was inducted into the Great Lakes Ice Association Hall of Fame in 2023.

This quality of service and dedication, as represented by Abbo’s example, is what allows Chaldean businesses to succeed over others. The new issues with the corporate Home City Ice only testifies to the large divide.

In the past, other large acquisitions of Chaldean companies went somewhat differently. Melody Farms, the largest independent dairy company in the Midwest at its peak, was purchased by Dean Foods in 2003. During the transition period, Dean Foods promised to donate 1% of all its sales back to the community, and specifically funded programs at the Chaldean Cultural Center as well as the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, according to its President Martin Manna.

In addition, he said, when Level One Bank purchased the Bank of Michigan, which was known as a Chaldean community bank, they continued to hire from within the community and accelerated their sponsorships in many community organizations.

Bakkal’s experience with Home City Ice confirms what Abbo has heard from his former customers. The company was not easy to get a hold of, he said, and he was spoiled by U.S. Ice’s personal service.

“If I needed something, not because of my personal relationship with Saad, everybody in the company would take my concerns seriously whether it’s about delivery, performance of the cooler, or anything,” he said. “We had a person to talk to on the other end.”

Bakkal’s corporate experience, on the other hand, has been far from satisfying. As ice service transitioned between companies, many changes were made to procedure as well as standards.

Since the company is so large, in Bakkal’s own words, they have an in-house call center in Ohio. “I would leave a message and it would be returned a few days later,” he said, “which is nothing like U.S. Ice. When they first took over, the company was shorthanded when it came to deliveries and drivers.”

While Home City Ice appears to be well-staffed now, Bakkal said, they’ve made some changes that make his business more difficult. For instance, they gave each of their customers a designated delivery day, which was not the case with U.S. Ice.

If Bakkal calls and requests a delivery outside of his designated delivery day, Home City Ice adds a service fee on top of the cost of the product, and the delivery likely won’t come for 2-3 days, he said. With U.S. Ice, Bakkal could request a delivery and it would arrive the same day or next day, without any added charge.

In addition, since the takeover just over one year ago, Bakkal said Home City Ice has raised their prices almost twofold. Before, he could get ice from Abbo’s company for as low as $0.95 per bag, but with Home City Ice, he said he can pay up to $1.75, sometimes with added service fees.

“I think us Chaldeans in particular are really honorable in our business and focus on service,” Bakkal said. “When we get used to a company or a customer, we make the personal connection and it’s not just about price. And when I honor my word with you, I stick with it for the longest time unless I have a good reason not to.”

Home City Ice was contacted but did not respond to a request for comment.