Ice production can be an integral part of many businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, bars, and healthcare organizations. Many business owners, faced with an impending purchase of an ice maker, already know what they may actually need to get the job done for them. Often however, the person making the decision doesn't know what they need to know before making a buying decision. Here is a quick rundown of information you need to consider when you look for a commercial ice maker:

How much ice do you need in a day?

When you choose an ice system, keep in mind how much ice you will need during peak consumption, and once the ice has been used how quick of a recovery time you need. The last thing you want is to have a day with exceptionally heavy usage and discover that you've run out of ice.

Once you find a model that interests you, make sure you check the ice harvest rate listed in the specs. This specification is the calculation of the total lbs of ice made in one 24 hour period. When looking at that, remember that you also need to factor in a couple other questions in your computations. First, is your ice consumption likely to increase in the future? Second, how nugget countertop ice maker non-beverage ice do you need for displays, food packaging, salad bar, and so on?

If you need ice for a salad bar or display of seafood, figure around 30 lbs per cubic foot.

If you operate a restaurant, your daily usage of ice is about 1.5 lbs per seat.

Fast food places generally require about half the size of the serving cup multiplied by the number of cups sold in a day. That means you would need approximately 8oz of ice for each 16oz size cup you sell a day.

A healthcare organization should figure about 10 lbs per patient and 2 lbs per employee.