Industry
A Guide on Storing, Handling & Displaying Ice Cream
If there has ever been something that sells itself – it’s ice cream. Buying ice cream is not always an intentional buy, more frequently it’s an impulsive one. You see ice cream, you want ice cream. We mostly buy with our eyes, so other than the memory of the taste, what makes customers immediately reach for that refreshing cold desert is the presentation. This is why displaying your ice cream or gelato at a place that everyone will see upon entrance is a sure way of making you and your customers happy.
Ice cream is an amazing treat to offer, even if it’s not the main thing that you sell. As an addition to your restaurant’s menu, or as a desert option at your café, bakery or patisserie, a commercial ice cream freezer for sale is a great investment. Having ice cream and gelato will increase your sales, and your customers will definitely love you even more.
Displaying
Even with such a loved desert as ice cream, that’s its own advertisement, presentation is key. Make the ice cream cabinet a focus point, as if you were creating a photography composition. Make it appealing! Ice cream comes in so many flavours, and therefore oh-so many colours. Play with its colourfulness and look at the way you present it to your customers as an art project.
Buying a freezer that looks good will help your sales greatly as well. Needless to say, when it comes to attracting people, even ice cream freezers should be aesthetically pleasing with modern designs. Choose a quality display freezer that has a system which prevents the glass from steaming and with a design that gives your customers full view of the product. Good lightening is also important. LED lights are a smart choice. They convert most of the energy in light instead of heat, which will protect your freezer’s temperature regulation. They last longer than other types of lights and they save electricity, and therefore are environmentally friendlier.
Storing
The main thing you need to pay attention to when you are selling ice cream is preservation of quality and flavour. Regardless of the size of your establishment or the main focus of your business, ice cream is delicate and should be stored properly. Constant changes in the temperature can negatively impact the ice cream, so proper refrigeration is a priority.
When you are buying a commercial ice cream freezer for sale, your first concern is whether your new freezer will act solely as a display fridge, or if it’s also a storage freezer. With a freezer that only serves as an ice cream display case, the ice cream should be moved to a storage freezer at the end of the day, so that it stays good and tasty. The other option is for your ice cream counter display to feature an under storage, so it can both display and store the ice cream.
For your comfort, another thing to consider is the simplicity of access. Also, keep in mind that the faster you open and close the fridge; the less cold air will escape. This is good for protecting the freezer, but also to keep the quality of the ice cream. And on top of that, you don’t want to have a hard time reaching for a scoop when you’re about to serve your customer. So, choose the freezer that allows you an easy and fast access. Your display fridge, hopefully, will constantly be used, and therefore the temperature will fluctuate, so it’s recommendable that your freezer has a good system for regulating the temperature in different environmental conditions.
Handling and Maintenance
Commercial freezers aren’t a cheap investment, so they must be maintained properly. Depending on the display fridge you decide to buy, there may be different things you should be careful about. There are right and wrong ways to handle your freezer, like forgetting to clean the vents. There are right and wrong places to place your freezer, like directly against the wall.
Since it’s going to be on for long periods of time, you may face a variety of troubles. Not the least of which is spending a lot of money on repairs, as well as losing your product. Maintaining your freezer means following the user’s guides precisely, regular check-ups, cleaning and finding a good service technician. Parts may break, lights may stop working, ice may build up… The biggest issue is that some of these can affect the freezer’s ability to keep the temperature constant. As for the ice cream, this means that the integrity and the quality of the products are also in danger.
Even with the best quality freezers you may face these problems if you don’t take constant care. There are ice cream and gelato freezers for sale, for instance, that have an automatic defrosting feature, which will make maintenance significantly easier. This still doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be doing all the necessary check-ups.
Constant care for your display freezer, such as cleaning the vents, the fans and the inside of the fridge, looking out for small malfunctions and replacing outdated parts promptly, will go a long way towards prolonging its lifespan. Checking the parts and cleaning it regularly will also prevent your freezer from using too much electricity. Another good and sure way to save yourself from major problems is having a technician check your commercial freezer regularly.