From smoothies to soups to crushed ice, commercial blenders are a hardworking component to many commercial and foodservice kitchens. Choosing the right blender for your operation is more easily done if you know what type of blender you need. Are you looking to make soups? A culinary blender is the right commercial blender choice for a kitchen making delicate sauces and soups. For the bar that’s making blended cocktails, a bar blender is your best bet. Working with frozen ingredients or crushing ice, then a high performance beverage blender is a good fit. Finally, the specialty blender group includes a wide range of innovative and specialized blenders that are designed to fulfill specific needs. Each type of commercial blender offers operators a unique feature set that can help them operate efficiently.
Commercial Bar Blenders - utilized for blending the occasional drink or cocktail, bar blenders are a common appliance in taverns, pubs, restaurant bars and other establishments that serve blended cocktails, mocktails or beverages.
High Performance Beverage Blenders – bringing more power to task of blending than a bar blender, high performance beverage blenders average 2HP or more. A great example of a commercial high performance blender is the Hamilton Beach HBH850 Summit High Performance Bar Blender. Operations that are blending more than 25 drinks a day, like a coffee house or smoothie shop, juice bar or an establishment where frozen drinks are a specialty, should have a high performance blender on their counter. The heavier duty motor of a high performance blender will perform efficiently and effortlessly under the high volume production demands.
Culinary Blenders – commercial culinary blenders are similar to high-performance blenders in their design and capacity but have one main difference; variable speed capability. Culinary blenders provide a chef with the ability to have more precise control over the way the blender processes ingredients allowing a chef more complexity with his recipes. When preparing soups or sauces and blending hot ingredients the use of variable speed capability can prevent a kitchen disaster. Hot ingredients must be blended slowly and in batches to avoid an explosion or in the very least, having the lid blown off the blender, hence the need for variable speed functionality.
The additional power that’s offered by culinary blenders is used for tasks like making fresh hummus by blending tahini, chick peas and other flavorful ingredients. Additionally, culinary blenders can handle these tougher ingredients without becoming overworked or overheated, making them an excellent appliance for the busy commercial kitchen.
Specialty Blenders – this category accommodates a wide variety of blenders that are outside the realm of the traditional countertop bar blender. Products in this category include Immersion Blenders which are handheld blenders with the benefit of letting you blend food directly in the pot it is cooking. Heated Blenders are another type of specialty blender. These blenders allow your chef to blend and cook at one time.
Next time you’re in the market for a commercial blender, spend a few minutes to determine what the right type of blender that will best suit your operation and you’ll have an easier time getting the right piece of equipment for the job.
