Things to consider when buying a new commercial fridge

For many catering, hospitality or food and drink businesses, their commercial refrigeration is almost as essential as their cooking equipment. It keeps ingredients fresh and safe to eat, stops food from spoiling and prevents any potential health & safety hazards. 

So, while commercial refrigerators represent one of the most important investments you’ll make in your food business, knowing what to look for and finding the right equipment for your needs is crucial. When you’re thinking about buying new commercial refrigeration, there are a few things to think about. Here, we take a closer look at the things to consider when buying a new commercial fridge. 

The different types of commercial refrigerators

When you’re in the market for a new commercial fridge, there are several things to keep in mind.

However, first and foremost, understanding the different types of refrigeration available, and which will best meet your needs, is essential. Here’s a handy guide to the different kinds of units you can buy: 

Upright Glass Door

Upright commercial refrigerators are perfect for food and drink retailers, bars, restaurants, cafés and takeaways. They’re ideal for creating eye-catching chilled food displays, including pre-packed meals, sandwiches and snacks, dairy products, bottled or canned drinks, and other products. 

They offer a sizeable merchandising capacity and flexible shelving options, so you can tailor them to your service, menu and operations.

They also come with a wide range of options and finishes, including one, two and three-door units, hinged or sliding doors and a host of colours to complement your brand and blend with your customer service environment. 

Undercounters

Commercial undercounter refrigerators are ideal for retail outlets, hotels, cafes and canteens, bars, restaurants and delis. Whether you’re using them for storage or display purposes, they can help you make the best use of your available floorspace, stowing them away under your countertops or prep areas. 

They’re great for storing ingredients that need accurate temperature control and for keeping ‘grab and go’ food products, ready meals and drinks chilled and ready to serve.

Like with uprights, they’re available in a wide range of sizes and finishes, so can be configured to best suit your operations. 

Countertops

Countertop display fridges are perfect for shops, convenience stores, pubs, bars and restaurants. 

As their name suggests, they can be placed on counters or tabletops to help you create eye-catching food and drink displays in your customer-facing areas, increasing impulse purchases.

They are great for holding your food and drinks at their optimum temperature for maximum product freshness while providing easy access to your best-selling products. 

Again, they come in many shapes, sizes and finishes, so you’re sure to find one that’s the perfect fit for your business. 

Multidecks

Multidecks – or multi-tiered display fridges, to give them their full name – are perfect for food and drink retailers, convenience stores, supermarkets and takeaways. 

They combine large merchandising capacity with variable temperature control to help you create eye-catching and convenient food and drink displays.  With no doors customers can easily reach in and grab what they need quickly. 

Multidecks are available open-fronted or with glass doors, and flexible shelving can be configured to create tiered, chilled displays that are attractive to customers and easy to access. 

If creating dazzling displays is essential to your overall customer experience, then multidecks are a perfect choice. Multidecks can increase impulse purchases  considerably.

Serve-overs 

Serve-over counter displays are ideal for delis, cafes, canteens, shops, supermarkets, butchers, bakers and fishmongers. They’re great for displaying your fresh ingredients – such as cheese, meat, fish, dairy or fruit and veg – while you interact with your customers. 

They can help you create a real focal point in your front-of-house operations that makes your food the star of the show.

Serve overs are also available in a wide range of sizes, shapes and capacities to suit any service area and create additional display or prep space while displaying your food in the best light.

Prep tables

If you run a sandwich shop, deli, salad bar, pizzeria, burger joint, noodle or sushi bar, takeaway, ‘grab and go’, or buffet-style catering outlet, then food storage and preparation space are essential. 

Refrigerated prep tables provide the perfect solution. They combine storage and hygienic preparation surfaces with proper temperature control, helping you optimise your operations, keep your ingredients fresh, and create and serve tasty food that delights your diners.

Available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, you can configure prep tables to your service, menu and operations to ensure you always have quick and easy access to your fresh and chilled ingredients. The stainless steel finish also speeds up the cleaning process.

The things to consider when buying a new commercial fridge

When it comes to buying a new commercial refrigerator, there are several things you need to consider. The type of business you run – and what you need your refrigerator for – will go some way to determining what kind of fridge you need. Here are the all-important questions to ask yourself before making a decision: 

What type of fridge do I want? 

Now you know the types of refrigerators available, you can ask yourself what kind of unit you want. Consider your needs and preferences when deciding which type of fridge is best for you. For example, if you want easy access to all your food items, then a prep table or undercounter may be the best bet. If you want to maximise your displays, go for an upright or a multideck. 

What size do I need? 

Before you start shopping, take measurements of your current fridge and workspace to determine what size refrigerator you need. Consider how much space you’ll need for food storage and whether you’ll need room for a freezer.

What features should I consider? 

When shopping for a new commercial refrigerator, you should look for a few features, including door configuration, interior shelf space, temperature control, lighting, warranty and energy efficiency. 

The latter is a crucial point. Units that are more energy efficient are not only cheaper to run – so will help keep your energy costs low – they also help enhance the quality of the ingredients you’re storing. Cooling food as quickly as possible can help maintain freshness and prevent food from spoiling, keeping your food and customers safe, protecting your reputation and minimising food waste. 

How can Fridgesmart help?

If you’re looking to invest in a new commercial refrigerator, Fridgesmart can help you make the right choice. We’re one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial refrigeration products to businesses and have been selling shop and refrigeration units for more than 40 years. 

We aim to offer the best deals possible on the highest quality products.

Our customers range from small corner shops to supermarket chains, and we also supply a wide range of independent cafes, delis, restaurants, takeaways and tea rooms. 

We deliver across the UK and pride ourselves on our great products, backed by unbeatable customer service. 

So, whether you’re looking for a new commercial storage or display fridge, or multiplexed freezer system, we’re happy to help. Why not give us a call today?