Ice Cream & Dairy
Refrigeration for juice bars and shake counters
A juice bar in India lives on fresh fruit, milk and ice cream. Customers order mosambi juice, watermelon, pineapple, mango shakes, falooda and cold coffee, often in a small street-facing shop with an open front and no air-conditioning. Fruit is both the stock and the display: a cooler full of bright fruit tells passers-by what is fresh. Cut fruit and fresh juice are among the most perishable items in any food business, and milk and ice cream add their own requirements. Summer is both peak season and the hardest time for the equipment, with shop temperatures that can pass 40 °C.
What the equipment has to cope with
- Open-front shops with no air-conditioning put refrigeration in 40 °C plus air through summer, the busiest season.
- Cut fruit and fresh juice spoil quickly and must be kept cold and covered between orders.
- Different fruits want different temperatures; some tropical fruits suffer chilling damage if stored too cold.
- Milk shakes, falooda and cold coffee need both chilled milk and frozen ice cream at the same counter.
- Mango pulp, frozen fruit and ice cream stock need freezer space that holds through power cuts.
Typical temperatures
| Cut fruit and peeled fruit | +2 to +5 °C |
|---|---|
| Fresh juice held for service | +2 to +4 °C |
| Milk for shakes and falooda | +1 to +4 °C |
| Whole citrus, pomegranate, apples | +4 to +8 °C |
| Bananas and unripe mangoes | Cool room, +12 °C or above |
| Ice cream for shakes | −18 °C or colder |
| Frozen mango pulp and fruit | −18 °C or colder |
Equipment
What to buy, and why.
Most juice bars use a glass-door cooler or two as both fruit store and shop display, facing the street. Under the counter where juices are made, an undercounter refrigerator holds cut fruit, milk and prepared shake bases in covered containers. A chest freezer, often glass-top so customers can see the ice cream range, holds ice cream, kulfi and frozen mango pulp. Larger outlets keep an upright reach-in in the back for bulk milk and fruit stock. Fruits that dislike cold, such as bananas, are kept outside the refrigerators in a shaded, ventilated area.
- +2 to +10 °CGlass Door Refrigerator / Visi CoolerFruit display and store: whole fruit and bottled drinks on show to the street, kept cool and visible.Set-up guide
- +2 to +8 °CUndercounter RefrigeratorThe counter fridge for cut fruit, milk, shake bases and fresh juice held for service.Set-up guide
- −18 to −60 °CDeep FreezerIce cream, kulfi and frozen mango pulp storage, often as a glass-top display freezer at the counter.Set-up guide
- +2 to +8 °CReach-in RefrigeratorBack-store bulk storage for milk crates, fruit stock and prepared bases in larger juice bars.Set-up guide
Questions
- How long can fresh juice be kept in a refrigerator?
- Fresh juice is best served immediately. If it has to be held, keep it covered at +2 to +4 °C and use it within the same shift, since flavour and vitamin content fall and spoilage risk rises with time. Avoid making large batches in advance for the day.
- Should bananas and mangoes go in the refrigerator?
- Bananas and unripe mangoes are sensitive to cold and can darken or fail to ripen if refrigerated. Keep them in a shaded, ventilated area. Ripe mangoes can be refrigerated briefly to slow further ripening, and cut mango should always be refrigerated.
- Can a juice shop use one cooler for fruit display and milk?
- It is better not to. A display cooler facing the street is opened often and runs warmer near the door, which is fine for whole fruit but not for milk. Keep milk and cut fruit in an undercounter refrigerator at the counter, and use the glass-door cooler for whole fruit and bottled drinks.
Before you buy
All guides- Visi Cooler Buying Guide: Size, Glass, Placement6 min read
- Reach-in Freezer Guide for Commercial Kitchens5 min read
- Worktop Refrigerator & Counter Chiller Guide5 min read
- Visi Cooler for Kirana & FMCG Shops: What to Know5 min read
- Open Multideck Merchandiser Guide for Supermarkets6 min read
- Ice-Cream Dipping Cabinet & Gelato Display Guide6 min read
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