Each business is unique in just about every aspect, no matter how much competition there is. Restaurants can all seat a different number of customers depending on the restaurant’s size and the number of tables and chairs that they have. They also tend to need more ice since people sit down and each which means refills.
Fast food businesses worry less about seating and tend to need less ice than other businesses. Since fewer people are coming inside the building and sitting to eat their food no one is getting refills. This means less ice is required to run the business properly.
Factors to Take Into Consideration For Ice Machines
There are a few different factors that a business needs to take into consideration when purchasing or looking for ice makers. People tend to prefer cold drinks rather than warm ones when visiting a business so, ensuring that the machine you choose can meet your business’s needs on a slow or busy day is key.
Type of Business
The number one factor to keep in mind when purchasing your ice machine of choice is the type of business you are running. How much ice you need depends on your nature of business. It is also important to know how many people visit the establishment on a given day, especially during peak hours. Most places will add up to a twenty percent increase on top of their estimate to include these hours and ensure they have room to grow.
When you think about it a hospital will use much more ice than a convenience store. Their quantity is based on the number of visitors they see daily, patients they have, and different use cases for it throughout the building. Ice chips are used for patients throughout the day, if food needs to be kept cold, etc. In this environment, up to ten pounds of ice could be used per person in a day.
Whereas grocery stores use ice to display food such as seafood, produce, and meat depending on the location and items they have to offer to mean that they will require less ice production on average due to it being used for displays rather than individual people.
This is why it is important to assess your setting and situation when looking into modular ice machines. Some establishments and facilities have vastly different needs than others. Each one also serves a different number of guests or customers daily which is also taken into consideration.
Serving or Delivering the Product
Similar to the type of business, you also need to consider the type of product or service you are offering. A sit-down restaurant will need more ice than a drive-thru-based restaurant will. This is primarily due to the accessibility of refills.
When you go to a restaurant and sit down to eat, you expect to be there for some time. You may ask for a glass of water and a soda or tea. This means that off the bat more ice is needed and since you will be there for an hour or longer. Chances are you will need a refill on one or both of those drinks as well.
Whereas drive-thru-based restaurants and establishments only use ice when customers order a drink. In this situation, not everyone may order a drink depending upon the person, but in a restaurant just about everyone gets at least a glass of water. Once the car drives away the business is not required to provide a refill either which means they only needed one serving of ice.
This is why knowing if you will be serving or delivering the product to the customer matters and comes into question when deciding upon the right ice machine.
Range of Sizes Available
After assessing your business’s needs and the average number of clients, it is recommended that you tack on an extra percentage (typically between twenty to thirty percent) to your calculation. This allows you to have room to grow while meeting your current demands.
There is a range of different sizes available to meet any business’s need. The most common widths of a commercial ice machine available are twenty-two, thirty, or forty-eight inches wide. They typically plugin directly to the business’s plumbing to ensure that the water tank is automatically replenished as needed.
This allows the business to produce anywhere from two-hundred and fifty to a thousand pounds of ice a day. It can be hard to meet those numbers if you need to keep refilling the water reservoir and no one wants to run out of ice if it can be prevented.
Final Thoughts
These are the factors you should consider when looking into buying a commercial ice maker. Each business is different and having enough ice to meet their demands is key. No one wants warm water or a warm cocktail with their dinner.