Commercial refrigerators form an essential part of any food service establishment. Australia has over 44,679 restaurants and cafes operating in the country. The type, door style, layout and temperature of the refrigerator significantly affect the functionality and subsequent food quality. For example, new restaurants require closed cold storage space, and a fast-food place requires a merchandising station.
Therefore, the commercial refrigerator market size is over 365 million AUD. There are numerous commercial refrigerators available among the best brands like Skope refrigeration in the market. However, having a thorough understanding of the needs of the commercial establishment and fridge functionality, businesses can make an educated decision about their choice.
Reach-in Refrigerator
It is the most basic refrigerator type seen among hotels, restaurants, cafes or other commercial kitchens. They are a larger version of the regular fridges with shelves covered by a door, providing larger space and higher cooling power. The doors come in the form of glass or metal, and they can be hinged or can slide. Some also have pass-through or half doors that provide access to both sides.
The freezers are also similar and utilize solid metal doors to reduce temperature loss. Restaurants usually use them in the prep area to store and prepare food items and sauces as they provide easy access. Similar to reach-in refrigerators, these provide easy and quick access to ingredients in the work line. Restaurants, concessions stalls and food trucks usually use them to store meats, garnishes and sauces.
Walk-in Refrigerators
These refrigerators provide ample space for businesses to use for cold storage. Their significant feature is the size that extends up to a large room. Larger commercial establishments can benefit from this refrigerator as they can store more items. As they can close the door behind them, employees waste less energy browsing for products on shelves. Generally, restaurants place walk-in fridges near the loading area, where they deliver fresh food every day. It enables the staff to move bulky ingredients into the refrigerator without creating a bottleneck situation in the kitchen.
Merchandising Refrigerators
Many businesses opt to showcase their products in the open to allow the customers to explore their collections and choose what they like. Sweet shops, chocolate shops, bakeries, fast food places, convenience stores, beverage establishments etc, opt to have merchandising refrigerators.
They come in various sizes and shapes, from the countertop fridge grab-and-go models to a traditional glass-door model. So, the businesses have a variety of brands like Skope refrigeration to choose from.
Bar Refrigerators
Bar refrigerators provide the perfect solution to keep sealed beverages cool. Typically, they have a black, vinyl or stainless look, which blends superbly behind a bar. Depending on the requirement of a business, they can go for one with a glass door that allows them to access the inventory or a solid door quickly. These refrigerators also come with sliding tops, dispensers and other customized features to help with the business’s efficiency needs.
Prep Table Refrigeration
These are also known as mega top refrigerators, which act as prep tables allowing chefs to assemble ingredients and quickly prepare the food. These refrigerators are best suited for ice cream parlours, pizza joints, fast food places that serve salads and sandwiches.
They have a refrigeration prep rail and a series of slots to place containers for ingredients. They ensure that the food items are at a precise temperature and have easy access. Employees can serve multiple customers and their customized requests at once. They also have a reach-in refrigerator under them to store additional ingredients.
