Milkshake machines: what to consider before buying a milkshake machine

There are many types of commercial frozen drinks machine; and depending on your business, there are some machines more suitable than others.

As with every piece of equipment being bought for a business, and especially for a food business, there are multiple considerations at play.

Milkshake machines represent one of our core product lines here at Dairyglen, so let’s take you through the various factors.

Milkshake Machine Factors

If you’re thinking about adding milkshakes to your menu there are a number of elements to consider, including what volume you intend to sell and the placement of the machine. 

Obviously the initial purchase cost will always be a factor as well, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you consider when you make a final decision. If you prioritise choosing the right machine, you could have it paid for within its first year.

Choosing the wrong machine could mean losing thousands in lost turnover, and the opposite is also true. The right piece of equipment can compliment your business and staff resource, and quickly slot in to facilitate further growth in sales.

Machine Volume

Potentially one of the most important factors is milkshake machine volume. Here, the most important question you need to ask is - How many portions do you need?

How often do you plan to use the machine? How many portions do you expect to sell per hour, per day, per week?

There are various influences here. The size of your store or food outlet, high street position and footfall, seasonality, and staff resource and rota can all impact your projected volumes both positively and negatively.

If you’re unsure, let us help you. We can help you estimate the pace needed to serve your customers and recommend a machine best equipped to cope with this level of demand. Not all machines are equal in size or capacity but the Dairyglen team has 30+ years experience working with businesses of all shapes and sizes, and this means we can project what you’ll need and then react accordingly moving forward.

Machine Features

Choosing the right machine also means investigating the controls and cleaning features of the machine.

The machine spec (specifications) will always be an important consideration as certain models have more or less options and functionality available to them.

Consider what you’re trying to do. Do you need a machine that’s top of the range, or are you simply trying to address the basics for your customers?

Machine Maintenance & Cleaning

Milkshake machines have necessary cleaning procedures that must be done daily including: wiping down all visible touch-points on the machine and keeping the machine topped up with mix.

This might not seem like a huge factor when you haven’t committed, and the machine is currently sitting in a warehouse, but when you do make your choice it will have an impact on staff, management, and customers. You’ll need to ensure proper cleaning can become part of your team’s remit across any given day and week.

Maintenance is a different story, and we would highly recommend that all milkshake machine maintenance is carried out by relevant, experienced professionals. Ignoring this could result in damage, accidents and/or warranty or insurance voids.

For our clients, all machines supplied by Dairyglen are maintained and serviced by our team of qualified service engineers.

Visibility & Space

You also need to consider the visible space available for you to place the machine.

Whether you decide to leave the machine back of house or place it visibly on your front counter, you’ll need to leave adequate space to easily access and operate it. 

This generally results in a balance between required volume (output) and available space.

As experienced retailers and hospitality operators will know, creating a welcoming and aesthetically pleasing space for customers and guests is just as important as any output, so keep this in mind when choosing your next piece of equipment.

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This list of considerations isn’t exhaustive but it should give you and your team a clear insight into the types of questions to ask both yourselves, and any machine distributers or suppliers.

As we’ve mentioned, at Dairyglen we provide thousands of businesses across Ireland with top quality ice cream, milkshake and slush machinery. This includes maintenance and support packages to guide them along the way as they grow and increase business performance.

If you’d like to view our machines click here, or to chat to our team click here.