Commercial Food & Smoothie Blender Machines
Want to deliver the best raw smoothies in town, serve legendary frozen drinks, or make epic sauces for your signature dishes? If you need to chop, blend, or liquefy, we’ve got powerful, efficient equipment to make you a food and beverage rockstar.
Commercial Blenders: Stand Out while Blending In
In a nutshell, every epic food and beverage kitchen, bar, or counter needs one of these bad boys. Whether you’re serving up delectable daiquiris or making decadent lobster bisque, a commercial blender machine is an essential tool for creating your signature menu.
No matter what kind of commercial blender machine you need, Eleven36 ensures you get the best blender to fit your kitchen needs and meet your food quality standards.
Commercial food blenders are a jack of all trades in the kitchen. If you’re wondering what you can do using a powerful blender, here are some common uses – especially in commercial kitchens:
- Smoothies and Milkshakes: Blend smooth, creamy mixtures to serve at a juice bar or on the dessert menu.
- Crushing Ice: Use a high-power blender to crush ice for a variety of uses around your kitchen.
- Pureeing Frozen Ingredients: A commercial blender can handle solid, frozen ingredients with no prep or thawing necessary, saving precious time.
- Cocktails and Frozen Drinks: Bar blenders are ideal for whipping together frozen drinks like daiquiris, frozen Mai Tais, or a tasty blended margarita.
- Soups: Ideal for handling hot ingredients as well, you can blend roasted ingredients for thick, creamy soups.
- Sauces and Dressings: A high-speed blender is the perfect emulsifier for homemade pesto, aioli, or vinaigrette.
Modern restaurant blenders are far from the simple kitchen appliances of the past. With accessories like food processors and features like a digital display and programmable automatic functions, your blender is far more than just a blender. While you can still buy a classic blender like the Harvest Gold Hamilton Beach blender with buttons on your mom's counter, you can also choose a multifunctional masterpiece of culinary delights.
Master the Mini Blades: Types of Culinary Blenders
Commercial blenders have many different purposes, and the type of blender you choose will be influenced by what you need it for and what kind of business you're running. Bar? Restaurant? Ice cream shop? Fresh juice bar? Don't worry; we can help you make easy work of all of it. So, what types of blenders do you need?
Food Blenders: Your Back of House Robo-Sous Chef
Commercial food blenders are built to take a lot of punishment. Their high-performance, powerful motors make short work of breaking down hard foods for bulk batches of your favorite recipes. If you have a busy commercial kitchen that churns out a lot of salsa, sauces, hearty soups, or dressings, this one’s for you. And with one of these babies, you might even think about expanding your menu!
Pros:
- Versatility: With their stainless steel blades and peak horsepower motors, these professional blenders can handle anything, even the toughest ingredients.
- Variable Speed Control: Full speed ahead doesn’t always have the best results. You may need low speed to process a big batch of salsa (who wants liquified tomatoes?), high speeds for a hearty soup, or a combination for an olive oil-based salad dressing.
- Made for High Volume: An industrial food blender has a peak hp motor as tough as you are. Many can shake, rattle, and roll all night without burning out.
Cons:
- Noise: Like the party animals they are, restaurant blenders are noisy.
- Limited Visibility: Since they need to handle hot foods, the blending containers in some models are stainless steel. There are lots of great things about stainless steel for food prep. Stainless steel is easy to clean, it lasts forever, can handle hot or cold foods, and doesn't develop its own distinct leftover food odors. But you can't see through it, so we're going with con (even though some do have see-through lids).
- Size: Yep, a commercial food blender needs a lot of real estate in your kitchen. Fortunately, it'll be such a huge help, you won't mind.
Bar Blenders: Grinding up the Good Stuff
Get a commercial smoothie blender to make signature frozen drinks for your bar or pub or to create thick smoothies packed with fruits and leafy greens for the juice crowd. While they aren’t quite the powerhouses as a restaurant food blender, they have all the power you need for everything from a batch of palatable pina coladas to yummy raw recipe fruit smoothies.
Pros:
- You’re in Control: With some models, you can program your choices for automatic control. What a time-saver to choose a preset blending program and keep pouring! Other models have electronic controls or a toggle switch with only a few settings. If you only do one thing, simple might be just the ticket!
- Sound Dampeners: If you want to keep the noise down, look for a model with a sound enclosure to reduce motor madness.
- Your Choice of Materials: Blender jars might be glass, plastic, or stainless steel. Pick the right one for you.
Cons:
- About That Choice of Materials: Commercial jars are sturdy but not created equal. Stainless steel containers last forever and are easy to clean, but you can't see through them. Glass containers are heavy and last a long time – unless somebody drops them (and somebody always drops them). Plastic blender containers simply don’t have the same lifespan…and can stain. But of course, you can replace the container without buying a new blender, so it's all good.
- Risk of Burnout: Unlike a food processor, most bar blenders aren’t made for constant use. If you consistently make a lot of blended drinks, look at high-performance blenders designed for more frequent use.
- Cleanup Hazards: It’s hard to ensure a 4-prong blade assembly is thoroughly and safely cleaned between uses in a busy bar. Who wants a rogue strawberry that got wedged under a blade in their frozen mudslide? Nobody, that’s who.
Immersion Blenders: Take a Quick Dip in a Hot Pot
Sometimes, you need to smooth while you’re cooking, and an immersion blender with a long shaft is exactly what you need. It's made for chopping soft foods, and you can use it right in the pot as you're cooking to puree or blend sauces. A model with a shorter shaft is great for whipping cream at the bar.
Pros:
- Blend While Cooking: Who wants to pour hot liquids into a blender when you can stick the blender right into the pot? It’s the easiest way to get a rough blend.
- Easy Cleanup: The shaft and blades rinse clean and are ready for action in seconds.
- Small and Portable: They come apart and can be stored anywhere, so you won't need much room.
Cons:
- Splatter Danger: Careless cooks can splatter their hands or face with hot liquid.
- Not Nearly as Smooth: Immersion blenders require more manual processing, and you won't get a consistently smooth texture like you would with a classic industrial blender.
- Corded Operation: Using an electric appliance with a long cord over a hot stove... Let's say it takes finesse.
Don’t Grind Your Gears: Key Considerations When Buying Commercial Blenders
We have already talked about what you need a blender for, but what else do you need to know when selecting these essential tools for your commercial kitchen?
- Size Matters: How much do you need to blend at once? For big batches, you need a big container. It’s pretty simple: more capacity = more production, and an opportunity for menu expansion. Soup is both cheap and profitable. Think about it.
- Rev it Up: How much power will you need? A commercial blender has a powerful motor ranging from ½ HP for up to 50 servings daily to 3 ¾ HP for busy commercial kitchens. But you also need to consider what you’re blending. Juice bars making smoothies with raw ingredients need a more powerful food blender than a restaurant serving milkshakes. Of course, higher horsepower means faster blending, and that makes for efficient service and happy customers.
- Names You Can Trust: Quality brands deliver quality results. That's why Eleven36 is proud to carry the top names in the industry, like Hamilton Beach and Waring.
Clean, Lean, Liquefying Machine: Commercial Blender Maintenance
Cleaning a device with sharp blades might seem hazardous, but some have features that make life at the end of a long shift much easier.
- Removable Jar Pads: Some commercial blenders have removable jar pads to prevent gunk from building up on the base. It's easier to remove and wash the pad than scrub the base itself.
- Removable Blades: Most models have removable blade assemblies you can pull off and wash.
- Removable Shafts: Many immersion blenders can be taken apart so you can put the shaft and blades right in the dishwasher.
You’ll also need to wipe down the base with soapy water and make sure any residue is removed. With good cleaning, a heavy-duty commercial blender can last up to ten years, while less powerful models will hang in there for about three to five years.
Choose Eleven36 for Your Blending Success
At Eleven36, we're here to help you succeed. We’ll help you find the blender that’s the perfect fit for your needs; whether you're serving drinks or crafting house dressing, expanding your menu with new craft offerings, or replacing an old unit, we've got you covered.
If you’re ready to grind out deliciousness, let’s get started! Take a look at our incredible selection of blenders for any purpose, and contact us today to learn more about how we can help you find the commercial food blender that fits your needs! Or check out our countertop blender buying guide to answer any of your questions.