Blenders have become an essential kitchen appliance due to their sheer versatility. Homemakers and commercial food establishments alike use blenders for a variety of foods - soups, purees, milkshakes or smoothies, mixing cocktails, creating sauces, and for crushing frozen ingredients or ice. Blenders or drink mixers have been popular since the 1920s when the Polish-American chemist Stephan Poplawski designed the first drink mixer. In the 1930s, Hamilton Beach Company used Poplawski’s invention to produce and sell commercial blenders. Blenders have become popular in bars, restaurants, cafes, and juice parlors since they can churn out any kind of beverage in a matter of seconds. In this article, we discuss the types of commercial blenders, the factors to consider while buying a blender, and the top commercial blenders available today.
What is a Commercial Blender?
A commercial blender or a restaurant blender is a tool that transforms or processes solid food and mixes liquids/soft foods into smooth purees or liquids. The commercial blender has an electric motor base, over which you can place a jar or a container with sharp blades to liquify various types of ingredients. Commercial blenders are perfect for creating smoothies and juices as they create a smooth, delectable mix of ingredients.
Different Types of Commercial Blenders
Commercial blenders usually fall into four major categories: Bar commercial blenders, high-performance commercial blenders, culinary blenders, and specialty blenders. Every blender provides a plethora of advantages for your commercial kitchen:
Commercial Bar Blenders:
Commercial bar blenders are quite popular in taverns, pubs, bars, restaurants, quick-service restaurants, and juice parlors. Bar blenders come with several advanced features, like digital timers, speed adjustments knob, and even a pulse function.
Bar blenders use a motor that provides less than 2 HP (Horsepower) of power, which is powerful enough to deliver 5-10 drinks per serving. Bar blenders are extremely easy to operate as they have a simple on-off switch along with a high-low switch to adjust the power. The core goal of a bar blender is to blend ice and fruits, into creamy and smooth cocktails.
Commercial Culinary Blenders:
The commercial culinary blenders or commercial food blenders come with a high-performance motor that is around 2 HP or more. These blenders have a variable speed function to give you the utmost control over your food ingredients. The variable speed functionality helps in preparing salad dressings, soups, and similar food items.
High-Performance Beverage Blenders:
A high-performance blender comes with a more powerful motor than a regular bar blender. These high-performance blenders are powered with a motor that can deliver 2 HP or more. Restaurants and commercial food establishments that need to blend back-to-back drinks should avail a high-performance blender. These are best suited for kitchens that need a high-capacity blender with a shorter turnaround time. Usually, smoothie shops, cafes, juice bars, and specialty bars require high-performance blenders to quickly deliver beverages. These high-performance blenders come with a durable motor that can run throughout the day.
Some of these high-performance blenders also boast a programmable feature or preset feature. This one-touch programmable preset function adds to the versatility of the high-performance blender, allowing you to deliver different types of drinks without having to adjust the speed or timer for each drink.
Specialty Blenders:
Specialty blenders come with a wide array of innovative features, like heated blenders that can be used for blending and cooking, immersion blenders that are handheld and can blend food directly in a bowl or vessel, and personal blenders, that are small jars or cups with an intrinsic blending feature. Personal blenders are quite popular in offices and small commercial establishments.
Factors to Consider When Buying a Commercial Blender
There are a lot of factors you should consider before buying a restaurant blender or commercial blender.
The first three factors to consider before buying a commercial blender are as follows: Horsepower, capacity, and price. Additionally, you should pay heed to a few more factors before buying a restaurant blender:
| The Use | The type of commercial blender you choose depends upon your usage and utility. If you want to make smoothies throughout the day, you will need a different type of blender than those used for mocktails or cocktails |
| Power | You will need a blender with ½ HP power output to deliver 50 servings a day. For 75 servings a day, you can use a 1½ HP blender. For more heavy-duty usage, you will need a 2 HP+ power output |
| Jar | The jar or the container is one of the most essential elements of a blender A jar can be made of stainless steel/polycarbonate. A stainless steel jar is highly durable and can be used with hot food items. You may find the opaqueness of stainless steel jars limiting, since judging the quantity of the ingredients or final output is difficult. Polycarbonate jars are also extremely durable but are not recommended for hot foods as they contain BPA |
| Capacity | If you want to make one serving per day, you can buy a personal blender or a small blender. Anything with less than a 48-ounce capacity is well-suited for a single serving or occasional usage. Anything above 70 ounces would be better suited for a more versatile setting where you need high outputs with fast turnaround times |
| Controls | Blenders in the market come with a variety of controls, some of which are as follows: Toggle – perhaps the simplest control feature, the toggle feature is known for its easy operability |
| Electronic Blenders | These blenders come with digital timers, presets, and power level adjustments |
| Programmable | A programmable blender is an advanced blender with which you can define a preset and use it multiple times. These are also more expensive than other blenders |
| Noise | Noise is an essential factor to consider before buying a blender because a mid-high-performance blender can produce a lot of noise due to multiple reasons. You should choose a blender that has noise reduction and also comes with a variable speed option to make it more customer-friendly |
| Maintenance | You should choose a blender that’s easy to maintain and clean. Blenders that come with removable blades, removable pads, removable shafts, and assemblies are best for daily usage. Since cleaning a blender is a tedious job, you can save a lot of time by buying a blender that’s hassle-free |
The Top Commercial Blenders for Your Restaurant
Waring BB155 Bar Blender
The Waring BB155 Bar Blender is a super-speed blender that comes with a two-speed motor. It boasts a 44 oz capacity and includes a polycarbonate container. The 3/4th HP motor is powerful enough to blend fruits and ice instantly. Cleaning the blender is a hassle-free process as its one-piece sharp stainless-steel blade can be removed for cleaning. The blender also boasts a hi/lo toggle switch to control the power setting.
Vitamix 062828
The Vitamix 062828 is a versatile and professional blender. Its easy operability and cost make it popular amongst small restaurants, juice parlors, and bars. The 64-ounce container is paired with a 2.3 HP motor that’s designed for commercial usage. The Tritan container has a wet blade design that is highly efficient as it pulls ingredients towards itself during the blending process. The blades and the powerful motor can crush 48 oz. ice in a few seconds. It comes with a 2-speed controller that lets you have more control over the blending process. The Vitamix blender is an excellent choice for a variety of foods - frozen fruits, veggies, and ice.
Hamilton Beach HBB250S-CE (International) Rio Bar Blender
The Hamilton Beach HBB250S-CE Rio Bar blenders come with a 32 oz. or 0.95 L stainless steel container. The Wave-Action System utilizes a unique blade and container design that deliver super-smooth output. The highly durable stainless-steel blades can cut through ice and hard food materials in no time. The Hamilton Beach blender can deliver smoothies in less than 20 seconds, and the two-speed pulse feature makes it more versatile. The removable filler cap also lets you add ingredients during the blending process.
Blendtec EZ 600™ Countertop Commercial Blender
The Blendtec EZ 600 countertop commercial blender is one of the best restaurant blenders in the market. It is an affordable blender that is perfect for commercial kitchens, as the blender comes with a 75 oz high-volume impact-resistant FourSide Jar, and 3” safety-tip blade that is 10x more powerful than other traditional blades. The Blendtec commercial blender boasts of a 3 HP powerful motor that can blend dense or tough ingredients consistently. The feature-rich blender can be programmed with presets to deliver milkshakes and cold coffee instantly. It is also an easy-to-use blender that comes with preset buttons for small, medium, and large beverages.
Buying the Best Commercial Blender for Your Business
Commercial blenders come with a plethora of benefits, like easy operability, high-performance motors, programmable controls, and noise-reduction mechanisms. The challenge lies in selecting the right restaurant blender for your food business. At Chef Buyer, our job is to make sure that you make an informed decision before buying any kitchen appliance.
