The Difference Between Commercial, Industrial, and Restaurant Coffee Machines
Even a superficial online investigation will quickly show that there are many different people searching for different coffee machines that fall into these three categories.
For those who are new to the coffee game, however, the variety of results might seem overwhelming at first.
Beginners may not even know if there is any real difference between commercial, industrial, or restaurant coffee or if the difference is merely a matter of terminology.
The following description of coffee makers needed for a restaurant, cafe, or any other venue turning out large volumes of coffee should help you to put things in perspective.
Commercial, Industrial, Restaurant?
There are a huge variety of commercial coffee machines – i.e. those needed for higher volumes – available. Accordingly it can be more than a little confusing to pick out the right one from among the seeming infinity of options.
What we can tell you right off the bat, however, in order to greatly simplify the situation for you is to make it clear that “commercial”, “industrial”, and “restaurant”, when applied to coffee machines, all mean exactly the same thing; these are simply different words referring to the same thing.
All three words point to any coffee machine that is designed for higher volume venues as described above, and accordingly all three could be contrasted with “home” or “personal” coffee machines.
Now within these commercial (choosing one term rather than the others from here onward) machines there are also different varieties, the most significant one likely being manual vs automatic.
The manual machines leave a share of the coffee making process up to the individual barista behind the wheel, so to speak, whereas the automatic machines are, as you might expect, more automated. Some prefer manual in order to preserve the individual art of being a barista and because manual machines tend to be much smaller.
On the other hand, others who have the space appreciate the simple touch-of-a-button aspects of the automatic machines.
Once you’ve chosen between automatic and manual, the next most important question you need to answer is how many cups of coffee you expect to produce per day. It is very important to decide this before you even begin shopping and to abide by it once the selection process begins, because it is not only going to be a problem if you are overworking your machine: many machines will get temperamental even if they are being underused.
The ration of cups per day assumes an 8 oz serving.
Generally machines meant for 50 cups per day are labelled as “low volume”, 150 to 200 cups as “medium volume”, and 200-500 cups per day as “high volume”. Narrowing your search down even to low, medium, or high volume will help you to cut down your options immensely.
Hopefully the beginner coffee machine terminology used above will help beginner’s get a better handle on things as they move forward into the world of coffee.
To conclude, commercial coffee machines (or industrial, or restaurant machines, depending on who you talk to) are a great addition to any already established business. It is often recommended for those who are just getting started to go with an automatic machine (unless you already have an established barista in mind to put behind the wheel).
Furthermore, if you’re just starting out and money is an issue, the automatic machine will save you the money you would need to pay said experienced barista or baristas.
Koffeeone are well established and are one of the leading Australian brands importing automatic coffee machines.
From pubs to hotels, small local cafe’s and restaurants to conference centres and venues, KoffeeOne has something for everyone.
No business is too big or too small. With over 20 years experience in the hot beverage industry, Koffeeone are very experienced in providing perfect automatic coffee machine solutions for any hospitality requirement.