When shopping for commercial blenders, most restaurateurs focus on horsepower, capacity, and price. These things are an important factor, but you need to ensure that you purchase the right tools to help your business succeed. To ensure that you’re buying the right commercial blender model to suit your needs, check out this list of things to look for. The best commercial blenders on the market have most of these features in common.
• Easy to use controls: Toggle control blenders and paddle control blenders are a huge benefit to users in fast-paced settings, because they can be controlled without having to stop and look. Both are simple and durable, perfect for hands-on applications like blending smoothies or making mixed drinks. Touchpad controls, like the ones in the Hamilton Beach HBH850 blender, free up the chef’s hands and allow for precision in busy kitchens.
• Minimal Noise Level: If you plan on using your blender frequently behind the bar or in the front of the house, you want it to be as quiet as possible to avoid your customers to have to pause their conversations each time the blender is in use. Look for noise-reducing features like a sound enclosure shield. Some models have a noise-reducing feature, making it a good choice for those who want to keep their establishment silent.
• NSF certification: The NSF certification mark on a commercial blender signifies that it meets the highest safety and sanitation standards. These standards include “requirements for material safety, to ensure the product will not leach harmful chemicals into food; design and construction, to ensure the product is cleanable and is not likely to harbor bacteria; and product performance.”
• Maintenance and Cleaning: To avoid spending a large part of your day washing a piece of equipment that is a hassle to get cleaned up. Make things easier for your staff, by looking into units that have removable shafts, removable blade assemblies, and removable pads. This way, you won’t have to spend the day washing the entire unit.
• Durable Jars: When you’re buying a high-performance commercial blender, look for durable jars that last at least a year, instead of cheap ones that need to be replaced every four months. Depending on how often you plan to use the blender, some materials may be more durable than others. Stainless steel is easy to clean, durable, and may handle foods of all temperatures, but at the same time, it is not see-through like other jars are. Polycarbonate is practically unbreakable, so it can handle a commercial kitchen daily use, but since it contains BPA, you might not want to use it for hot foods. On the other hand, we have glass and copolyester. The latter is a good choice if you want to deal with different temperatures, but also want to see what’s going on in the blender.
