The food truck craze continues to spread, making it possible for far more people to enjoy a variety of delicious, often unusual foods in a very convenient form. But this new food phenomenon has also helped to revive the popularity of an old-time favorite - the mobile ice cream truck.
If you are planning to purchase an ice cream truck and sell frozen treats soon, here are some important commercial refrigeration tips you can use to help keep your equipment working and your product at the correct temperature for your customers.
Have pre-owned equipment examined and professionally serviced
One of least expensive ways for someone to start a mobile ice cream truck business is to purchase a used truck that already includes all or most of the equipment you will need to get started. New commercial refrigerators for toppings, deep freezers to protect packaged treats, and soft-serve or shaved-ice machines are expensive to purchase, as well as costly to set up for mobile use. In addition, ice cream trucks can require the use of generators and other modifications to make them suitable for mobile use.
By purchasing a pre-owned ice cream truck, new mobile ice cream entrepreneurs are avoiding the time, structural difficulty, and installation modifications that are often part of this type of project. The downside is that because the refrigeration equipment has already been used, it should always be carefully evaluated and tested to make sure it is working properly before you begin selling ice cream.
Monitor the temperatures
When the product you are selling is fragile, as ice cream is, it is vitally important that the temperature is kept with a safe range. If the temperatures inside the refrigeration and freezer units are allowed to vary, the product can suffer cosmetic damage, as well as developing an unpleasant texture or taste.
Since your food truck will be parked during the hours in which you are not actively selling ice cream, taking steps to closely monitor the temperatures inside each storage area is an important part of protecting your inventory and your financial investment in your business. A good plan for proactively monitoring the freezer and refrigeration units on your ice cream truck is to install remote temperature monitoring units that feed data to a tablet or smartphone app in real time. These refrigeration monitors work reliably over Wi-Fi to make sure you receive an alarm, should the freezer or refrigerator temperature change beyond the desired preset range.
Keep the appliances level
Ice cream truck owners who want to protect their product from damage and keep their refrigeration and freezer units working properly must also meet the challenges of keeping the appliances as level as possible in a mobile environment. While much of this will depend upon the way the appliances were installed, the terrain on which the vehicle is parked while in operation can also have an effect.
In order to work correctly, the condensate created by the refrigeration process must be able to drain properly. If this is not possible due to leveling issues, the evaporator is at risk of freezing up and preventing the appliance from working properly.
The first step is to make sure that the initial installation process allows the appliances to remain level when the truck is located on a level surface, such as a parking garage. Ice cream truck owners who notice their appliances are noisy while running should suspect that further leveling is needed via shims or other alterations.
To ensure that improper leveling and other refrigeration and freezer repair issues will not affect your success, always opt to work closely with a reputable commercial refrigeration repair service in your area.
Share