Commercial Freezers are a Must for Restaurants, Schools and Hospitals

Although commercial freezers are, like their domestic counterparts, largely non-frill appliances, they are an indispensable component of any food business, hospital and educational institution.

To enable them to handle a more taxing workload, they are typically built using heavy duty materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, industrial fans, double gaskets and sturdy compressors.

In addition, many of the freezers contain locks to prevent customer and employee pilferage. Many also have inbuilt alarms to alert you when something in the system is amiss, enabling you to take corrective measures to save your substantial food investemnt in good time.

Commercial freezers generally come in 5 basic configurations: chest, upright, under counter, table top and walk-in. Additional special categories include ice cream and energy star qualified freezers.

Commercial Chest Freezers

Owing to their design, frozen food keeps much better in commercial chest freezers than the uprights. This type of freezer is therefore great for establishments looking to store food for the long haul.

And, because they lie on their back, chest freezers are a great way to utilize store corners with plenty of floor space but limited headroom. However, because the chest freezers open upward, you should remember to factor in the lid height when calculating the required headroom.

To their credit, chest freezers are energy efficient resulting in lower electric bills than upright freezers. An important downside though, is that they occupy a lot of precious floor space.

Commercial Upright Freezers

Because commercial upright freezers are placed on the floor vertically, they have a considerably smaller footprint than chest freezers. However, owing to their vertical design, they are not energy efficient as cold air escapes when the door is opened...

Upright freezers are therefore suitable for storing products on a short-term basis. This freezer type comes with either solid or glass doors.

Solid Door Freezers

As by the very nature of a solid door freezer, its contents are not visible form outside, this type of commercial freezers is best suited for back office use.

However, this type of freezers has a couple of advantages over glass door freezers. They are less prone to damage and are more energy efficient than their glass door counterparts.

They also have an edge over chest freezers because of their smaller footprint although they will obviously require much higher overhead clearance.

Glass Door Freezers

Glass door freezers are upright freezers with either sliding or swinging glass doors. Sliding door freezers are ideal for the store front because they don't block the aisle, which in turn obstructs other customers and employees.

Freezers with swinging glass doors, on the other hand, are recommended for large, spacious stores.

Under Counter Freezers

Under counter freezers are designed to be tucked away under standard countertops. They enable you to utilize the valuable space under the counter and give your store a clean spacious feel.

This category of commercial freezers accordingly offer discrete storage space for small convenience stores.

Worktop Freezers

Worktop freezers innovatively combine freezer and worktop facilities. They often comprise a counter height freezer under a stainless steel worktop and a backsplash.

The latter prevents food from spilling or falling over the edge of the unit and dirtying the area around it. This alone takes the hassle out of cleaning the store and keeping it tidy.

Glass Top Freezers

Glass top freezers are, essentially chest freezers with glass doors. They are primarily designed to ensure maximum visibility of the merchandise.

They are often placed in strategic locations in the store - such as next to the cashier's - in order to entice customers to buy their contents on impulse. The glass doors often slide sideways, making it easy for customers to access their contents.

Ice Cream Freezers

Commercial ice cream freezers are designed to give maximum visibility to ice creams and desserts in ice cream parlors or convenience stores.

The glass top also allows customers to browse and take their pick before opening the unit. That way, the chill is locked into the freezer, prolonging the shelf life of its contents.

Energy Star

Energy star labeled commercial freezers are independently certified to be energy efficient. These can help a business cut down its electric bills by as much as 35 percent, with a payback of just under 1 and a half years.

Energy star freezers use less energy because they have more efficient compressors, fan motors and evaporators.

Walk-in Freezers

A walk-in freezer looks like a row of connected upright freezers. Customers access them using the front door in the same way they would an upright freezer. Store staff, on the other hand, are able to walk right into the back of the freezer to restock display shelves and store items in the space between the shelves and walls.

There are several things going for a walk in freezer...

Benefits

• It keeps inventory visible on shelves, easing tracking
• Restocking items from the back reduces spoilage as older items are bought first
• A walk in freezer provides ample storage space - in the freezer itself and the space between the freezer and wall - necessitating less deliveries or pick ups
• A single walk in is cheaper to maintain than multiple smaller freezer units.

Disadvantage

• The initial investment is quite substantial and may take it out of reach of many start-up businesses. However, if an entrepreneur can afford it, a walk-in freezer is a good investment as it will pay for itself in no time.

Popular Brands

There is a proliferation of brands of commercial freezers on the market. The more popular ones though are True, Arctic Air, Beverage Air, Summit, Turbo Air, United and Frigidaire.

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