How to Make Ice for Commercial Sale | Bizfluent (2024)

Ice-making can be very profitable if your business is run efficiently and your product is marketed well. Since water is the only raw material, producing ice seems fairly simple. However, because ice must be safe for human consumption, your local health department may have a number of requirements you must meet if you are going to make and sell ice. Once you have met all the necessary requirements, you can produce both standard ice and specialty shapes. With smart, fun and interesting marketing campaigns, you can turn ice-making into a profitable business.

Establish a food-safe production environment. Have the location certified as food-safe by your region's department of health. Food-safe kitchens must meet a long list of requirements concerning preparation and storage of food and ice.

Buy food-safe plastic bags in various sizes. This will allow you to sell ice in a variety of quantities.

Install a water filtration system. The taste of ice can be easily tainted by the chemicals in city water or by the minerals in ground water.

Buy a commercial ice maker. It will be a major investment, but it will be the key to your business.

Buy more than one kind of ice maker if you want to sell various types of ice, such as crushed, cubed and spherical.

Purchase a few novelty ice molds, such as those in the shapes of hearts, stars and fish. Specialty ice is more labor-intensive to make, but you can sell it at a higher price. Corporate parties, weddings and holiday celebrations are great events for specialty ice.

Fill your plastic bags with ice and store it in a large freezer, stocking up for days with high demand. Do not allow the ice to melt and stick together. This will significantly decrease the quality of your ice.

How to Make Ice for Commercial Sale | Bizfluent (2024)

FAQs

How is ice made commercially? ›

Chip ice is manufactured by flowing water inside the ice-making cylinder, which is surrounded by an evaporating coil. The water is frozen inside the cylinder at an evaporator temperature of -12 to -30 °C and removed with an auger revolving inside the cylinder and pushing the ice upwards.

Why is my commercial ice maker not making enough ice? ›

Some of the most common issues that arise with commercial ice machines include: Low ice production: If the ice machine is producing less ice than usual, it could be due to a number of factors, such as a clogged water filter, a malfunctioning thermostat, a faulty water inlet valve, or a refrigerant leak.

How do you make commercial ice cubes? ›

The Ice Making Process

In commercial ice machines, water circulates over a cold evaporator, formed as metal trays. Ice cubes are built up in layers as heat is continually removed. Once the ice is thick enough, the ice machine switches to harvest mode.

How do I choose a commercial ice maker? ›

  1. Select your ice type. Commercial ice machines may produce full-cube, half-cube, nugget, flake, or gourmet ice. ...
  2. Pick your configuration. ...
  3. Calculate your production needs. ...
  4. Choose your condenser. ...
  5. Find your filter.

What are the steps in ice making? ›

The ice-making process is a combination of two steps. In the first step, water is cooled by coming into contact with a low-temperature environment and is then frozen. In the second step, water is cooled by passing through a secondary circuit.

How much ice does a commercial ice machine make? ›

Commercial Ice Dispensers

Produce between 500-800 lbs. of ice a day. Some dispensers also dispense water as well. Commercial ice dispensers are popular in a number of industries.

How do commercial ice makers make clear ice? ›

How Is Commercial Clear Ice Made? At Block Ice, we use a commercial piece of equipment that slowly freezes water from the bottom up. The water is 7x filtered using a reverse osmosis process to remove as many impurities as possible and then circulated at the top using a pump.

Why commercial ice doesn t melt? ›

A commercial ice maker uses more filtration, plus a different way of making ice, and is usually between 6 and 10 degrees below zero. It makes a harder ice with less air in the water. Clear ice will melt much slower than whitish looking ice.

How do restaurants make big ice cubes? ›

The ice in a restaurant or bar is made by a large commercial machine that circulates water over a plate and the ice forms layers at a time. This circulation relieves the water of its gases...

Is ice cubes business profitable? ›

If you start an ice cube business with Rs 1 lakh, you can earn around Rs 30,000 per month. At the same time, due to the increase in demand during the wedding season, you can earn up to Rs 50,000 per month. However, this earning can vary according to the sales and demand of your product.

Do commercial ice machines need a water line? ›

Yes, all commercial ice makers require a dedicated cold water line (preferably filtered). Remember ice is a food, so installation of a water filter is not only highly recommended to protect the ice machine, but also the ice it produces.

Do commercial ice makers need a drain? ›

Commercial ice equipment requires a lot of water, and any leftover water from the ice-making process will need to be drained out of your business.

Do commercial ice makers use a lot of water? ›

Commercial ice-makers typically use 15 to 25 gallons of water to produce 100 pounds of ice flakes or cubes, depending on the quality of the ice. Older water-cooled ice machines may use as much as 90 gallons to produce the same quantity of ice. These quantities do not include the water used to cool the machine.

Is making ice profitable? ›

The beauty of ice is that it's a high profit product – it costs about $0.25 – $0.35 in raw material to produce an ice bag that might sell for $1.50 and $3.

How is ice naturally formed? ›

ice, solid substance produced by the freezing of water vapour or liquid water. At temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F), water vapour develops into frost at ground level and snowflakes (each of which consists of a single ice crystal) in clouds.

How long does it take for ice to be made? ›

A high quality refrigerator will complete an ice maker cycle time of about 90 minutes, producing anywhere from 8-10 ice cubes. This cycle time does vary a bit, as does the volume of ice produced, depending on the size of the tray the cubes are being dumped into.

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