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Ice plays an important role in virtually every restaurant, regardless
of type. Ice is used at the bar, for water and beverage service,
in salad bars and displays, as well as for kitchen prep needs. A
restaurant may have one ice maker and bin combination to serve all
its ice needs, or it may have multiple units, either centrally located
or strategically placed near points of use.
In addition to an ice maker and bin combination, many quick casual
and fast food restaurants have self-serve beverage programs that
require an ice and beverage dispenser. These dispensers may be manually
filled with ice from an ice maker in the kitchen or automatically
filled from either a remote or top mounted ice maker.
Modular ice makers
The section on modular
ice makers and flake
ice provides an overview of the type
of equipment available and selection considerations.
Ice storage equipment
Because commercial restaurant staff continually interact with the
ice storage equipment, not the ice maker, the selection of the ice
bin may be even more important than the selection of the ice maker
that will fill it.
There are many types of ice storage equipment. Some are little
more than insulated storage boxes; others deliver a wide range of
laborsaving, sanitation and safety features. In increasing order
of operational benefit, the available types are:
We encourage you to use the above links for detailed information
about the different types of ice storage equipment and the benefits
each provide. A discussion of concerns specific to the restaurant
industry is provided below.
In reviewing the different types of storage equipment available,
keep in mind that:
- The average back injury costs employers $10,000 in direct costs
- Foodservice and bar employees hate to “do the ice”
- Labor not used for “doing the ice” is available
for other tasks
Important pre-purchase considerations should include:
- The ease or difficulty of ice removal
- Features that provide safety, convenience, or time-savings
for staff
- An assessment of how far ice will need to be transported from
the bin and how that can be safely accomplished
Restaurants face a number of challenges related to ice. The making
and storing of the ice is the easy part. It’s the difficulty
of removing ice from the bin and the distance between the production
area and bar and serving stations that present the challenge for
employees and management alike.
Slope front bins
Slope front bins get their name from their angled (sloped) front.
Generally available in storage capacities ranging from 200 lbs to
1000 lbs, and widths from 22" to 52", these bins are little
more than insulated boxes on which an ice maker is placed.
Click here
to see an example of a slope front bin line.
In the past, restaurants may have selected slope front bins for
use with their ice machines because of their low cost. However,
today’s sanitation, safety and operational concerns are resulting
in many restaurants switching from slope front bins to more operationally-efficient,
problem-solving equipment. Slope front bins remain an alternative
for certain low-volume applications.
Although slope front bins are inexpensive,
they have a number of important drawbacks.
- Sanitation - In slope front bins, the last ice in is the first
ice out. This means that the most recently made ice is continually
removed from the top of the bin, leaving older ice accumulating
toward the middle and the bottom of the bin. This older ice will freeze
together as clumps and absorb kitchen odors, even harbor mold and bateria.
When the older ice is finally used, it can have
unpleasant taste, odor and appearance.
- Safety - The need for staff to repetitively bend over the slope
front bin sill and scoop ice from the bin can result in employee
injuries from harvesting ice. Scooping into pails is a messy operation, presenting
a spilled ice and slippage hazard on the floor. Finally, employees
normally scoop the ice into buckets that can weigh 30 lbs or more
when filled. These buckets must then be carried to the point of
ice use, which presents another opportunity for employee injury.
Some safety issues can be addressed by using an ice transport
cart to move the ice from the slope front bin to the point of
use. Staff will still be required to scoop the ice from the bin,
but it can be put into three 25-lb ice totes that fit in a castered
cart for easy transport to the front of the house. Click
here to see an example of this cart.
- Efficiency - With slope front bins, ice must be scooped from
the bin into containers, a time-consuming and inefficient method
for removing ice from a bin. For example, even using a 4 lb.scoop requires 250
repititions to remove 1000 lbs of ice.
- Capacity - Because the access door is at the top of the bin,
staff must bend over the door sill to access the ice. This limits
the total bin height to about 50" (with a maximum sill height
of 35") since anything taller would have a sill height too
high for proper access. This means that a 48" wide bin can
only provide about 900 lbs of storage, an amount well below the
capacity needed in many of today’s operations.
Upright ice storage bins
Upright ice storage bins are found in many restaurant kitchens and
often service ice needs throughout the facility. Depending on the
design and features of the bins, they address some but not all of
the sanitation, efficiency and safety concerns faced by restaurants.
For example, some upright bins are equipped with features that
control ice flow into the bottom access area, making shoveling easier
and allowing staff to break ice bridges safely. Other safety features
can include polyethylene access doors that have no sharp corners
and that stay open until actively pulled closed. Click
here to see bins with these features.
Employees still have to shovel or scoop the ice from an upright
bin. And they will still be faced with moving ice, sometimes large
amounts, from the bin to the point of use. Some of the ice transport
issues can be addressed by using an ice transport cart. Carts are
available that allow the transport of large amounts of ice at one
time, making the filling of distant bar wells much more manageable.
Some carts are equipped with ice totes that allow employees to pour
ice into the wells. Click here to see examples of ice transport
carts.
Gravity-feed ice storage and transport
systems
A higher level of safety, sanitation and efficiency is provided
by gravity-feed ice storage and transport systems. Gravity-feed
ice storage and transport systems are elevated, insulated ice storage
bins with a front or bottom chute that allow ice in the bin to drop
by gravity into an ice transport cart or other receptacle when a
gate is opened.
Click here
to see examples of models that will gravity-dispense either cube
or flake ice.
Click here
to see models that are compatible with cube ice only.
Advantages of gravity-feed ice storage
and transport systems:
- Sanitation - Gravity drops ice directly into dedicated ice carts
or ice totes when an ice gate is opened, eliminating the potential
contamination point of shoveling or scooping ice. Dedicated ice
carts and totes ensure that delivered ice is clean and sanitary.
And because ice is dispensed from the bottom of the bin, the first
ice in is the first ice used. This ensures a constant turnover
and aeration of ice and means that there will be no old ice sitting
in the bottom of the bin developing an unpleasant taste, odor
and appearance.
- Efficiency - Gravity-feed dispensing of ice is more than seven
times faster than scooping ice from a bin. A facility using 1000
lbs a day, for example, will save nearly 122 staff hours a year
with gravity-feed dispensing. Using an ice transport cart to move
ice just 100 feet will save another 95 hours a year for that same
1000 lbs of ice. The total annual labor savings using this type
of system, compared with scooping ice and carrying buckets, is
217 hours, which frees up time for other activities.
- Safety - The elimination of scooping, shoveling and carrying
buckets of ice reduces the risk of employee back injuries and
slippage. Ice transport carts enable employees to quickly and
safely transport up to 240 lbs of ice at one time from the point
of production to point of use.
Sizing the storage equipment
Today’s sophisticated ice maker market offers more ice machines
and bins from which to choose than ever before. The selection of
the right ice maker/ice storage equipment combination is critical
to the smooth running of the operation.
Pound for pound, ice production is two to three times more expensive
than ice storage. By using this knowledge and properly sizing the
total “system”, a facility’s ice needs will be
met at minimum cost and maximum equipment efficiency. Sizing the
system - letting the ice maker meet the average daily ice usage
and sizing the bin to meet peak demands for ice - is the best way
ensure the right amount of ice at the lowest possible price.
In general, you will want to match the ice storage capacity to
the ice maker’s daily production only if the same amount of
ice is used every day of the week. This situation is rare. For most operations
there are days when a larger
amount of ice is required that the average daily production of the
ice maker. To optimize ice production capacity, you will want to size the
storage equipment to meet those “peak” days.
Sizing a bin too small will mean that your ice maker will cycle
off quickly. You may purchase a 1200-lb ice maker but only get a
fraction of its capacity because it fills the bin too quickly, losing
valuable production time. In applications where more ice is needed
during certain days, for weekend traffic for example, you should
size the bin so that the ice maker can continue to produce ice and
the ice storage equipment can act as your “ice bank”
for the weekend peak need.
When coupled with the correct ice bin, this approach to sizing
- allowing the ice maker to run continuously to meet the average
daily demand and increasing the ice storage capacity to meet peak
demands - reduces equipment cost without compromising available
ice.
An interactive program is available to guide you through the proper
sizing of your ice maker and ice storage equipment. Click
here to go to that program.
Self-serve ice and beverage dispensers
Many of today’s quick service and quick casual restaurants
have self-serve beverage programs. Self-serve beverages save labor
and speed throughput, an important advantage during peak traffic
hours.
Today’s restaurant operators have a number of decisions to
make before selecting the type of beverage dispenser that will best
meet their needs:
- Automatic versus manual load
- Storage capacity and number of valves
- Integral beverage cooling or separate, mechanical cooling system
- Location of dispenser in store
- What kind of ice is desired
Automatic versus manual load
While automatically loading their ice and beverage dispensers has
become increasingly popular with restaurant operators, there can
be valid reasons for manually loading these dispensers. With manual
load applications, however, the dispenser type should be evaluated
carefully to maintain efficiency and safety.
Consider that a countertop beverage dispenser itself can be as
tall as 38". When placed on a standard 36" high counter,
manual loading takes place at 74" (more than 6 feet) above
the floor. This obviously requires some sort of step stool or ladder
and is potentially a safety hazard for staff. Employees will carry
a bucket with 20 lbs or more of ice up this ladder and more than
seven such trips would be required to fill a dispenser that stores
150 lbs of ice.
Operators who want a manual load beverage dispenser - perhaps because
they already have an ice maker in the kitchen - should investigate
beverage dispensers that sit in the counter rather than on it and
store ice below the counter rather than above it. This type of beverage
dispenser allows safe, easy manual loading at waist height, eliminating
the need for a ladder or stool. Click
here to view an ice and beverage dispenser with undercounter
ice storage. A cart to transport the ice from the kitchen should
also be considered to improve employee efficiency and safety. Click
here to view an ice transport cart that allows easy transfer
of 75 lbs of ice (in three 25-lb ice totes) at one time from the
back room ice machine to the ice and beverage dispenser.
Operators who want to eliminate the need to manually load the ice
and beverage dispenser have two ways to automatically load the dispenser
with ice. An ice maker can be mounted on top of most countertop
ice and beverage dispensers, or the operator can select a remote
ice maker that can transport ice to a countertop or undercounter
dispenser from up to 20 feet away.
Ice makers that can be used on top of dispensers come in a wide
range of production capacities - producing from 200 to 1600 lbs
of ice in a 24-hour period. Some manufacturers of beverage dispensers
have their own line of cube ice makers that will work with their
beverage dispensers. Other ice dispenser manufacturers offer dispenser
top kits that allow another manufacturer’s ice maker to be
mounted on top. Ice made by the top mounted ice maker drops by gravity
into the storage area of the dispenser and is then dispensed when
the lever or button for ice is pushed.
While this seems to be an easy solution, there are some drawbacks.
Cleaning of the dispenser storage area is often very difficult since
the ice maker covers the majority of the dispenser top and there
is little room for cleaning access. A second drawback is size -
the combination of dispenser and ice maker together can result in
a unit with a height of 73" or more. When placed on a standard
36" counter, the unit towers 9 feet above the floor. This means
that the dispenser must be placed against a wall to avoid restricting
visibility.
To avoid the problems associated with top mounted ice makers, operators
can select a Satellite-fill ice machine that can fill a dispenser from a
location under a counter, in the back room (with the bag-in-box
system, for example), or anywhere 20 feet or more from the dispenser.
This ability to remotely fill the dispenser provides a number of
advantages. Because the ice maker is not physically mounted on the
dispenser, the top of the dispenser is not obstructed and cleaning
of the dispenser storage area is much easier and faster. Without
an ice maker on top, the dispenser is not as tall and can be located
in the customer area without obstructing the view. And finally,
the heat and noise associated with making ice is removed from the
customer area.
Before selecting any ice maker to automatically fill your beverage
dispenser it is recommended that you review
the section on ice types. There are substantial differences
in operating costs and efficiencies between machines that make cube
ice and those that make compressed nugget. These differences have
can have a significant impact on the bottom line of the operation.
Sizing the dispenser - capacity considerations
If you’ll be manually loading your ice and beverage dispenser
from an ice maker in the back room, the dispenser storage capacity
will probably be determined by how many valves you want and how
often you are willing to fill the dispenser. More valves require
wider dispensers and that means more storage. As long as your ice
maker capacity is adequate, you can refill the dispenser as many
times as necessary to keep up with demand. Be sure to consider other
uses for ice when deciding whether your current ice maker has enough
capacity to meet your needs.
You can calculate your ice consumption by determining your average
size cup and multiply its capacity by .40. Using this formula, for
a 24-oz cup you will use a little less than 10 oz of ice. Location
may affect the amount of ice used; for example, restaurants in the
South generally show higher ice use than those in the Northeast.
To estimate how much ice you’ll need each day, multiply your
average cup size by the number of beverages you expect to sell and
multiply that figure by .40. Then multiply that figure by 1.2 to
give yourself a 20% “safety” factor. This will give
you the amount of ice that will be dispensed into customer cups
each day.
But you’re not quite done…
You must cool the syrup lines to avoid foaming and to maintain
the quality of the delivered drink. Most operators choose ice in
the dispenser (integral beverage cooling) to cool their syrup lines
rather than a separate mechanical cooling system. (See
beverage cooling section) An integral beverage cooling system
- whether a cold plate or an ice-waterbath system - can use up to
50% of the ice in storage to cool the syrup lines. So, if you will
not be using a separate mechanical cooling system you must double
the amount of ice that will be used in the cups to find your total
ice needs for your traffic patterns.
For example, if you expect to sell 200 beverages, your average
cup size is 24 ounces, and you’ll be using dispenser ice to
cool your beverage lines:
- Ice for beverages = 24 x .40 x 200 = 1920 oz or 120 lbs
- Safety factor = 120 lbs x 1.2 = 144 lbs
- Integral beverage cooling = 144 x 2 = 288
- Daily capacity requirement = 288 lbs of ice
Location of the dispenser
Because the appearance of the restaurant interior is important to
the customer’s experience, restaurants generally work hard
to maintain the aesthetic appeal of their décor. Before deciding
on the type of ice and beverage dispenser to be used, consider carefully
where it will be located and whether the size of the unit will compromise
the aesthetic appearance and/or restrict visibility to other areas.
Remember that a countertop ice and beverage dispenser with a top mounted
ice maker can result in a height of 73" or more. When placed
on a standard 36" counter, the unit towers 9 feet above the
floor.
To avoid the problems associated with top mounted ice makers, operators
can select a Satellite-fill ice machine that can fill a dispenser from a
location under a counter, in the back room (with the bag-in-box
system, for example), or anywhere 20 feet or more from the dispenser.
This ability to remotely fill the dispenser provides a number of
advantages. Because the ice maker is not physically mounted on the
dispenser, the top of the dispenser is not obstructed and cleaning
of the dispenser storage area is much easier and faster. Without
an ice maker on top, the dispenser is not as tall and can be located
anywhere in the restaurant without detracting from its appearance
or obstructing the view. And finally, the heat and noise associated
with making ice is removed from the customer area.
Another alternative is to select ice and beverage dispensers that
sit in the counter rather than on it and store ice below the counter
rather than above it. Ice and beverage dispensers with undercounter
ice storage are available in manual and automatic load models and
can extend as little as 20" above the counter height. This
low-profile design allows the dispenser to be placed in an island
without compromising the appearance of the restaurant or restricting
visibility to other areas. Click
here to view an ice and beverage dispenser with undercounter
ice storage.
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