The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association was founded in 1945 as "The National Wholesale Frozen Food Distributors." At a meeting in New York City’s Yale Club, forty-two representatives of 36 distributing firms chartered the organization under the leadership of Burton Prince of New Haven, Connecticut.

As the Association entered the 1950s it counted a membership of 107 distributors and 46 associate packer and broker members. In recognition of the broadened membership, the word "Wholesale" was dropped from the organization title in 1955. Four years later, the word "Distributors" was dropped and the Association became known as the National Frozen Food Association. In 2001, the refrigerated dairy foods department was incorporated into the Association because of its similarities to frozen in both the retail and foodservice markets and the Association was renamed the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association to recognize its broadened membership. Today, NFRA has grown to almost 700 corporate members from every segment of the industry.