If you’re running a bar or a lounge, then chances are that you need to have some equipment on-hand to serve up some mixed drinks. Though some bars have limited cocktail menus, others are embracing cocktails as a higher-margin offering that is increasingly popular among the young-professional crowd.
Though it’s possible to make do without a commercial blender, certain cocktails require a blender to make the drink “efficient” to serve in a busy bar (such as frozen margaritas, for example). Blenders come in several different types, so if you’re just starting to look into your options, you might be feeling a bit confused about what to purchase.
Let’s take a look.
Specialized Bar Blenders vs. Food Blenders
Bar blenders are designed for smoothies, blended cocktails, and other mixed drinks that require a quick mix of ingredients. Functions may vary depending on the workflow of a particular bartender. Some bartenders use bar blenders — when available — to quickly shred herbs and bring out a stronger aroma, for example. Others exclusively use blenders for blended drinks, and prefer to keep things “manual” otherwise.
Bar blenders are generally not meant to be heavy-duty blenders. They are not designed to blend different kinds of food, though they are sufficiently powerful to handle some softer foods such as fruit and vegetables.
By contrast, food blenders and processors are more versatile, and can be used to make both drinks and food mixes. Depending on the product, food blenders can be heavy-duty, automated, and extremely flexible — you could, for example, blend some dipping sauce for your bar snacks, do a quick rinse, and then blend up a frozen margarita for a customer, all in the short span of a few minutes.
Food blenders tend to be a bit overkill in many bar settings, however, so unless you have a specific need that you can identify, it may be worth going with a bar blender instead. Further, bar blenders are — on average — quite a bit cheaper than food blenders.
Blender Considerations
If you’ve decided to purchase a blender for your bar, there are a few things to keep in mind as you search through vendor offerings.
Container Material
The material of your blender container matters. Generally speaking, you’ll have three main options: stainless steel, plastic, and glass. Glass is the most vulnerable to breaking and chipping, and is therefore not a good idea if you don’t believe that your employees are well-trained enough to remember avoiding the insertion of food items that could cause damage to the container. Plastic is the cheapest and most commonly seen material in modern commercial blenders, but is not particularly durable — you may have to replace it after a few years. Stainless steel is the most expensive type of container, but you get a high-quality, durable, rust-and-temperature-resistant material that will last for many years, assuming you maintain it properly.
Noise Generation
In the bar and lounge environment, noise generation is a serious consideration. In extremely bustling bar settings, noise may not be a concern, but in more laid-back bar settings, the atmosphere is a critical selling point — a noisy blender could undermine your atmosphere and put off many customers.
Fortunately, many bar blenders are not heavy-duty, and as such, the blender is not so loud as to cause a large disturbance. If the noise is still too much, you may want to consider speaking to your vendor about noise enclosures that suppress the sound coming out of the blender.
Space-Saving Functionality
Some blenders have “stacking container” functionality that lets you store, blend, and replace (and separately clean) sections of the blender. This has substantial benefits for bars with limited space.
