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Permalink Reply by John P on April 16, 2013 at 12:09pm

I believe shape matters.

I prefer the Hoshizaki crescent shaped ice. Not a fan of the cubes.

Can't say yay or nay on Manitowac, but Hoshizaki is one of the best ice machines you can get. We've had our same air-cooled unit for going on 9 years. 

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Williamson on April 16, 2013 at 12:30pm

I'm happy with our under counter Manitowac.  Not sure which shape it makes, but it's great for our needs.

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Permalink Reply by nick placakis on April 16, 2013 at 12:37pm

I just purchased this one. Fair price, it is serving as a second machine for our shop. The other was an ice-o-matic, a little smaller and not putting out enogh ice, but a good reliable machine. I have heard great reports on this one. We'll see. I will let you know.

 

 

Cube-Style Ice Maker w/ 145-lb/24-hr Capacity & Bin, Air-Cooled, 115V

Manitowoc Ice QD-0132A 161 Undercounter Ice Makers

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Permalink Reply by Mike Mistur on April 17, 2013 at 8:22am

The Manitowoc is the exact machine we are looking at.  Are the cubes too big?  We don't do blended drinks now, but if we do, do you think they'll be too big?  We're mostly using the ice for iced coffee, and iced pour-overs.....

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Michael Arnovitz on April 17, 2013 at 2:29pm

Question - how much ice do you guys find that you need per day (or per customer)?

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Permalink Reply by nick placakis on April 17, 2013 at 2:41pm

on an average summer day about 200#

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Permalink Reply by nohoana on April 17, 2013 at 7:07pm

If I was buying a new ice machine, call up Graffiti coffee in LA.
They have the best ice I've had in an ice coffee!

Crystal clear, consistent size, stayed hard and didn't melt. 

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Permalink Reply by Mike Mistur on April 18, 2013 at 5:15pm

We are using about 20-30 lbs/day.  We only sell coffee and iced coffee so it cuts down on our useage...

Michael Arnovitz said:

Question - how much ice do you guys find that you need per day (or per customer)?

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Permalink Reply by oliver jean on August 4, 2013 at 7:42pm

i can only recommend the Hoshizaki. we have, besides the espresso bar business, a cocktail bar. high quality and high volume. no other machine can beat the hoshizaki in terms of ice quality and reliability. the kold draft makes better ice but will break down almost weekly. the manitowac wouldn't be considered by a high end bar. the ice is too 'watery' and it will dilute drinks very fast.

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on August 4, 2013 at 8:50pm

We have the Hoshizaki DCM-270BAH-OS which is a combo cubelet-nugget ice and water dispenser. Counter top with convenient hands free LED triggered dispensing. We don't do any blended either, straight cold brewed over ice or bar shaker bevs. Customers love the ice, very "munchable" yet doesn't melt fast.

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on August 5, 2013 at 11:49am

An important factor in terming which ice machine isn't just daily production capability but more importantly storage capactiy. Storage capacity should be close to equal one hours estimated maximum slammed usage.

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Permalink Reply by Marci Elliott on August 16, 2013 at 12:02pm

I'm no expert, but we use Manitowoc machines with the half-dice shape in all but one of our church coffee bars. We opened our first one 6 years ago and we currently have 4, increasing to 6 within the next month. We do pretty good volume on our frappes and smoothies and for the most part, we get consistent drinks. I would attribute the majority of inconsistencies to operator errors. We had a Scotsman half-cube at first and had major problems with chunks in the blended drinks, so I definitely would not recommend anything with cubes.

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