Your kitchen is cramped. Your counter space is limited. Your budget is tight.
For all of these reasons, many foodservice operators opt for a single back-of-house blender. They throw in everything from soups to smoothies and hit Blend. What’s wrong with that?
Well… There really is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all commercial blender for a restaurant kitchen. Blending frozen drinks is a lot different from emulsifying a vinaigrette. Here’s what you should know about the differences between culinary blenders and beverage blenders.
Commercial beverage blenders feature preset programs.
The timer function on a beverage blender is a bartender’s best friend. If they know a perfectly blended strawberry daiquiri takes 15 seconds, they can hit the button and start working on a different drink.
For more specialized beverage blending, the Eclipse™ and Summit® Edge high-performance blenders have pre-programmed cycles for everything from frozen cocktails to complex smoothies. If you need even more customization, both models accept custom programs as well.
Commercial food blenders feature precision controls.
Foodservice professionals know that there’s no such thing as un-blending. If your chunky tomato sauce becomes a smooth puree, there’s no going back. That’s why Hamilton Beach Commercial EXPEDITOR™ culinary blenders have a variable speed dial and CHOP function, to give the chef consistent control over what they’re making. Our culinary blenders also include a 120ml/4 oz. dosing cup to precisely measure small amounts of ingredients.
In contrast to beverage blenders, culinary blenders aren’t limited by time. If a chef wants to make a perfectly silky asparagus soup, they might run the blender for 3 full minutes — something a beverage blender just can’t do unless you keep your finger on the controls.
Commercial beverage blenders are built for consistency.
If the first green smoothie you serve to a customer is perfectly creamy, the second one should be exactly the same— and so should the seventeenth. That’s why you need a high-performance beverage blender with the power and speed to deliver a consistent results.
Auto Blend, available on the Summit® Edge blends any drink to the right consistency with a single touch. This feature adjusts to different ingredients and detects cavitation.
Commercial food blenders are built for versatility.
Beverage blenders blend.
Culinary blenders chop, grind, blend, puree, and emulsify.
The CHOP function is a special feature available on Hamilton Beach Commercial culinary blenders. This feature shines when making all kinds of salsas, whether chunky or fine consistency. Traditionally a food processor is used for hummus, but the EXPEDITOR can make beautiful hummus from virtually anything: chickpeas, black beans, edamame.
Commercial beverage blenders are built for the front of the house.
Nothing stops a conversation quite like a loud, rattling blender. That’s why Hamilton Beach Commercial high-performance beverage blenders are built to go easy on customers’ (and employees’) ears.
The Tempest® has a jump cycle, which starts on low speed to minimize noise until large chunks of ice have been blended. Then, it revs up to high speed to achieve a creamy drink profile. The Eclipse and the Summit Edge high-performance blenders both feature two advanced sound-dampening technologies: Quiet Blend™ and Quiet Shield™. A BPA-free copolyester sound enclosure plus a double-wall motor base means both blenders can go full speed and never cause a ruckus.
Commercial food blenders are built for the back of the house.
Chefs don’t want sound enclosures on their culinary blenders. Why? Because they’re perfectionists, and because they’re in a hurry. Chefs like to be able to check on their blend, add ingredients, and make small adjustments. They don’t want to have to put on and take off a sound-dampening shield every time they use the blender. Also, they aren’t typically running a food blender back to back to back, the way a front-of-house bartender or smoothie shop employee might do.
What do Hamilton Beach Commercial food blenders and drink blenders have in common?
Here’s something you may not realize: Blender jars are interchangeable on some Hamilton Beach Commercial’s EXPEDITOR culinary blenders and beverage blenders.
The EXPEDITOR™ 510 and Tango® and Rio® beverage blenders share the same BPA-free copolyester jar and leak-resistant lid.
The EXPEDITOR™ 600R, Tempest®, and Fury™ are in the same family, sharing the 64 oz./ 1.8L BPA-free copolyester jar with leak-resistant lid.
Extensive testing revealed that our proprietary Wave~Action® jar and blade works equally well for blending foods and beverages, so we use it across multiple models. This simplifies restaurants’ ordering of replacement parts and gives chefs flexibility, too.
Most importantly, all Hamilton Beach Commercial blenders are made with the same commitment to durability and quality. The EXPEDITOR, Fury, Tempest, Eclipse and Summit Edge all have a lifetime warranty on the blade and the motor drive coupling. And all models have our 2-year Express Care (in the U.S.) or Global Care (worldwide) warranty.
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