These are the best water machines to use in your restaurant. This includes the best of the common items that use dispenserssstaurants (water filtering system, ice maker, drink dispenser, hand washing sink, tea dispenser) for making beverages that are a must have. They will keep the store running efficiently for a very long time with little to no maintenance in the long term.
1. Crathco Refrigerated Drink Dispenser
This is one of the best drink dispensers for restaurants. It is refrigerated, which means that it can keep any beverage cold under the 41 degrees to 135 degrees Fahrenheit danger zone, making beverages safe for inspections all day long. Our restaurant uses it to keep real lemonade made at the restaurant, cold and fresh for the entire day. We also use it for sweet and unsweetened tea.
It has fountain circulation that can be turned off or on with a switch on the right side of the machine. It has two separate ones for each side to work independently. The aerator circulates the beverages placed in it and keeps it fresh all day, or until it is shut off.
Water, tea, juice, soft drinks, coffee, milk, and basically any other beverage can be placed in the refrigerated dispensers and kept cold and fresh. The only things that cannot be placed in it are beverages that have pulp in it or seeds, as they can damage the dispenser.
The dispenser is plug-in, and comprehensively easy to clean, take apart, put together, clean, and use. We basically clean it at the end of the day, set it back up, and pour our beverages for the drinks we are selling in the morning when getting started for the day. We plug it in and hit the switch, and it does its job. The tea stays fresh all day because of the circulation, so we don’t have to waste the tea after 8 hours.
I highly recommend using this for any liquids you need to stay cold and fresh while running your restaurant in the long business hours of your restaurant. It easily dispenses the beverages and has a lid that comes off to refill if needed at the top.
2. Everpure Water Filtering System
The Everpure water filter is what our restaurant uses to filter all the water in our kitchen, sinks, ice machine, and fountain drinks. It has worked very well over the years, and has saved us from unnecessary clean up and repairs from the residue left over in tap water that gets into the equipment over time. None of the water machines have had any build up yet, as compared to other water filter systems that have been used.
The water filtering system is pretty easy to install, and does its job very well.
3. Foster Commercial Ice Maker
This commercial ice maker is the one we use at our restaurant. It makes ice very fast, so we never actually run out of ice. The ice we use to fill each cup for each order fills about 75% of the entire cup regardless of the size, so we use a ton of ice. The ice it produces is also very small, so it is easy to consume. This ice machine has a storage for holding an extra 265 pounds of ice, but we don’t use it since we also have a bin on wheels that we use to fill up half that amount as well. There are other places where we store large amounts of ice for drinks at our restaurant using this ice machine, and this ice maker has never ran out of ice.
It also comes with a built in water filtering system, so we don’t have to hook up a water filter to the ice machine.
4. Commercial Restaurant Hand Washing Sink With Knee Pedals
This restaurant hand washing sink comes with a faucet that is controlled by pressing hot or cold water respectively with the knees. It prevents contamination of the sink before and after the employee washes their hands. This is what makes it one of the best sinks to have in a restaurant.
Usually when a health inspector arrives at a restaurant, the main thing that inspectors always find to take points off of is the hand washing. There always seems to be one or more employees that are working the shift that manages to touch the sink to turn the water off after they wash their hands. Well, this is contamination, since they are supposed to use the paper towels to do it so they don’t dirty their hands again.
This sink works great for us at our restaurant, because it completely removes the opportunity for health inspectors to catch anyone, since they don’t use their hands to turn off the faucet when they are done washing. Also, it is one less sink to have to periodically clean as often as the others, since no one ever touches it when they use it.
5. BUNN 3 Gallon Tea Dispenser
This is the best tea dispenser that I actually come across occasionally in many different restaurants. It is very simple to use, and has space in the middle of it where a large tea urn can be placed. It has hot water that dispenses at a push of a button along side the tea that dispenses at the top from the tea packet. It can be used to make coffee too.
Restaurants usually get two of the tea dispensers and set them side by side as one whole piece for brewing tea. Two seems to be the sufficient number that restaurants buy of these to keep their tea fresh on demand. One is used for making unsweetened tea and the other for sweetened tea. Just in case both have to be made simultaneously, neither is waiting on the dispenser to finish before they can start the next.
These are all the best water machines to have in a restaurant for its type. They all make great additions that increase the efficiency in a restaurant and save money in the long run. Of these, the best investment is by far the refrigerated water dispenser, as it can be used to sell tons of drinks in mobile restaurants too, keeping them cold and fresh all day, even in the hot weather.
