What Are the Benefits of Chest Freezers and Upright Freezers for Your Restaurant?

If you are a restaurant owner, you have many decisions that you need to make. You need to decide on the menu, the design of your restaurant, your commercial kitchen layout and what catering equipment will make your chef’s job more efficient. Another important decision that has to be made is that of your restaurant’s commercial refrigeration. Should you opt for a chest freezer or an upright freezer? What is the difference and benefits of the two industrial freezers?

Let’s take a look at chest freezers from a chef’s point of view.

Chest freezers have a capacity to hold large quantities of frozen foods. You will find chest freezers with a capacity of 110 litres up to 567 litres. That’s quite a variance but it shows you that whatever your frozen storage requirements, there is a chest freezer that can accommodate you. With such a large capacity option, you are able to store large quantities of meat products over a period of weeks. You can rest assured that the meat products will be just as fresh when you remove them. Then, you also need to decide on whether you would prefer a glass top chest freezer, a granite top or a solid top. If you have a need to see the contents regularly, a glass top is better. But if you are storing frozen goods for a long period of time, there is no need for this option. If you require additional kitchen surface area, then the granite top is better.

Upright freezers also have their benefits and various options available to the chef. These units take up less space in the kitchen opposed to the space that the chest freezer takes up. Upright freezers also have the option of having a solid door or a glass door for the same reason as the chest freezer. So which one you choose will depend on your requirements. These upright units have different capacities from 315 litres to 494 litres. There is more than enough room for large quantities of frozen foods. These are beneficial for storing a variety of frozen foods as you can place them on different shelves. On each shelf you can store a different category of frozen item such as vegetables on one shelf and fruit on another shelf. The added benefit with the upright version is that you can easily see what is inside due to the shelving system; as opposed to the chest freezer where you have to stack everything on top of each other. To find a particular frozen food, you’ll have to remove the ones above it and this could prove to be inconvenient.

These are the two types of catering equipment that you would need to make a decision on whether you choose the upright version or the chest version. Each has its benefits and it all depends on how you run your kitchen as to which one is better for you.

Check out our favorite Best Chest Freezers 2016

Igloo FRF472 Chest Freezer, 7.1 Cubic Feet, WhiteCheck PriceHaier HF11CM10NW Chest Freezer, 11 Cubic FeetCheck PriceSummit CF07L 7.0 Cu. Ft. White Chest Freezer – Energy StarCheck PriceHisense FD90D6AWD Dual Zone Chest Freezer, 9 cu. ft., WhiteCheck Pricemidea WHS-65LSS1 Single Reversible Door Refrigerator and Freezer, 1.6 Cubic Feet, Stainless SteelCheck Price