At the time when television was first introduced in South Africa , viewing in households was restricted to only two hours in the evening . Many farmers

who were not connected to the Eskom grid installed generators to power their television sets during the two hours of viewing . Minus 40 developed a chest-type freezer that could be powered from a 220V generator and the eutectic solution in its sidewalls be frozen during the time that the generator ( for the television ) was run each evening . The chest freezer would then provide low temperature storage until the next evening when the generator was again operated .

The demand for the Minus 40 freezer grew rapidly . The company relocated

to Diep River in the Cape and was later sold to a new owner , Malcolm Reading . A few years later , the company relocated to Atlantis to take advantage of the proximity of a large labour force and the subsidy incentives offered by government to encourage the development of Atlantis as an industrial and residential hub on the West Coast .

On 1 April 1990 , Steve Davison and Neil McMurray acquired ownership of Minus 40 . The two had a long-standing friendship and both were keen on a change in career . McMurray , with an

accounting background , had ended his term with an industrial painting contractor , while Davison ended his after one year of employment with Grenco ( SA ). Until his move to Minus 40 , Davison , as a graduate mechanical engineer , had followed a career path in industrial ammonia refrigeration . He engaged with his peers as a member of the South African Institute of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning ( SAIRAC ), which he had joined in 1975 , and served as the Cape Town centre ’ s chairperson and national president from 1990 to 1992 .