For many of you, juice dispensing equipment is an oddball category. You count on your dispensers to work reliably, of course, and help merchandise your beverage program. But oddly, you often don’t spec or even purchase the juice dispensers that come through your doors.

That’s because the category’s evolved in a curious fashion. Juice dispensing machines aren’t cheap, typically running as much as $2,000 or more. To help distributors sell their products, juice makers encourage you to get into a juice program by offering dispensers “free” with a two- or three-year contract. Instead of paying for the machine upfront, its cost is built into the price of the juice itself.

So as you may have discovered over time, the folks on the food side of your purchasing department are buying juices and juice concentrates, and you end up with whatever dispenser comes with that program. If you buy Minute Maid or Vitality, for example, you must use their proprietary dispenser.

The upside is that contracts usually include service. Anytime a dispenser goes down or the juice doesn’t taste right, a phone call gets a service technician out at no charge. The downside is that you’re stuck with a supplier for two or three years, making it difficult to change your beverage program.

But the deals don’t stop there. Other beverage companies have lease and service agreements only with certain equipment makers, and then some juice providers don’t care which dispenser you use.

Of course, you can always negotiate your own deal with beverage companies. McDonald’s Corp., for example, chooses to buy its juice dispensers outright, but handles service through a contract with Coca-Cola.

Either way, it’s in your best interest to understand the various models of juice dispensing equipment and how they work, because even if you aren’t buying them, you’ll have to work with servicers, and you’ll want to be conversant.

And remember, the type of juice dispensing machine you use comes down to the taste and quality of juice you want to serve. But it also comes down to value, or how much you’re willing to pay for a certain level of quality or particular flavor profile. The two major types of dispensers are pre-mix and post-mix. Within each segment are juice products that range in quality and price, so you have a lot of options. Maybe more than you thought.

]Pre-mix Paradigm

Pre-mix dispensers very simply dispense ready-to-drink juice, or juice that is pre-mixed. Ready-to-drink juices range from fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemonade to bag-in-box, not-from-concentrate juice or juice drinks. Many are available in either refrigerated or aseptic shelf-stable packaging. Ready-to-drink beverages usually have a higher finished per-ounce cost than juices from concentrate because you’re paying for shipping and packaging costs on the extra weight and volume.

Perhaps the simplest of all ready-to-drink beverage dispensers is an insulated beverage container. These containers hold product temperature for hours, don’t require power, and are fairly inexpensive. While they’re great for catering, banquets or off-site foodservice like food carts, they aren’t that practical for all-day use in a typical restaurant. Non-insulated “designer” versions, often in clear polycarbonate, are great for merchandising juice on buffet lines or hotel complimentary breakfast set-ups, but won’t keep juice cold for long

The two principle styles of ready-to-drink juice dispensing machines are bubblers or fountain spray dispensers and bag-in-box dispensers.

Bubblers are basically clear juice containers that sit atop a refrigerated base. The juice is agitated with either a magnetic impeller, a spray pump or both, and is constantly circulated over the evaporator coils in the base, keeping the juice cold.

The advantage of bubblers is that they’re terrific merchandisers. Put one next to any other type of dispenser and sales of product in the bubbler are inevitably higher. A number of chain operators are using them to merchandise signature beverages such as lemonade or a fresh juice. Your staff can fill them with ready-to-drink juice, or batches of your own signature drink.

Bowl sizes range from 5 gals. to 15 gals., and machines are available with two or three bowls to merchandise more than one type of juice. The largest units have a water inlet that allows you to mix a juice right in the bowl rather than removing the bowl or pouring juice in from the top.

Bag-in-box dispensers are basically refrigerated cabinets that accommodate ready-to-drink juices and beverages. Packaged in 2½-gal. sizes, bag-in-box drinks are simple to change when juice runs out. They also make it easier to try new flavors without a substantial investment. Dispensers are available in sizes that accommodate two or three flavors.

Post-Mix Paradise

Post-mix juice dispensers are similar to post-mix soda dispensers in that they mix juice concentrate and water in a chamber right before the dispensing valve. The major difference is that soda dispensers mix syrup with carbonated water while juice dispensers mix water with juice concentrate, which often is more viscous and may contain particulate like orange pulp.

Here again, there are two main types of dispenser. The first is a remote bag-in-box dispenser, which functions much like a post-mix soda dispenser. Three- or five-gal. bag-in-box concentrates can be stored in a remote location and pumped to the dispenser where they’re mixed with water. These juice or juice drink concentrates are shelf stable, and offer you tremendous variety as well as convenience and cost savings. They’re typically available with four or more dispensing valves.

The more traditional post-mix dispenser houses smaller cartridges (1-gal. or 3.5- liter) of juice concentrate in a refrigerated cabinet. This type usually comes in two- or four-valve models. Originally designed for frozen juice concentrates (that you first thaw then put in the machine), several models now accommodate both frozen and ambient (or shelf-stable) juice concentrate cartridges. The reason is that there’s been a move among beverage companies toward higher-quality ambient concentrates as an alternative to frozen.

Both types of post-mix dispensers have water inlets (typically 3/8”) for direct hook-up to a water source. If your water isn’t filtered, most makers offer filter cartridges as an option. Best operating pressure is around 50 psi, and steady water pressure is very important. If your water pressure fluctuates, it will affect the mixing ratio, which obviously affects taste of the finished drink.

Dispensers chill finished drinks either by directly refrigerating the water or with an ice bank. The latter is more typical because it’s more efficient. Refrigerated coils in the dispenser chill a water bath to the point of forming ice on the coils. Incoming water runs through tubing immersed in the chilled water bath. Dispensers are designed to hold juice concentrate at 40º F and chill incoming water to the same temperature. (Older machines were designed to serve a finished drink at 45º F, but changes in health codes have led manufacturers to program lower temperature limits in the controls.)

Makers play with both the capacity of the ice bank and the water flow rate to come up with a dispensing rate. To match a machine with your volume requirements, look at how many drinks a machine can dispense per minute without exceeding 40º F. One machine, for example might be able to dispense 100 12-oz. drinks at a rate of two per minute before finished drinks exceed 40º F. Adjust the water flow to allow the machine to dispense four 12-oz. drinks per minute, though, and capacity may only be 40 drinks before they come out warmer than 40º F.

Your current juice program likely is influenced most by flavor profile and cost per finished drink. In the past, that’s meant that folks in development picked a juice product first and you ended up with whatever dispenser the beverage company or distributor cut a deal with. Today, however, with all the improvements in beverages, particularly in ambient concentrates, you can assess both equipment and juice products and come up with the program that suits you best.

How They’re Made

A couple of notes about juice machine construction:

Valves are important. Valves on the machine you purchase/lease may vary depending on the type of juices or beverages you serve. More viscous juices or juices high in particulate (orange, tomato, grapefruit, etc.) may require a different valve than clear juices like apple or cranberry. On some machines, valves can be serviced independently.

Be sure that whoever installs and services your machine properly adjusts the Brix (a measure of sugar content) for each type of juice. Common dilution ratios for juice concentrates are 4:1 or 5:1, but can range anywhere from 2:1 to 11:1. They may have to be adjusted slightly for local taste or to accommodate your water type. You adjust Brix on some machines by controlling the amount of concentrate, on others by controlling water flow. One maker allows you to adjust both water and concentrate.

Pumps are another component to take into consideration. Again, because some juice concentrates can be a lot more viscous than soda syrup or beverage concentrates, they’re more difficult to pump to the mixing chamber and more difficult to clean out of the internal working parts. Some dispenser makers use a vane pump to meter concentrate into the mixing chamber. At least one uses a peristaltic pump with rotating rollers that squeeze concentrate through a tube. The advantage, says the maker, is that concentrate never comes in direct contact with the pump’s moving parts.

Controls are generally simple. Dispensers are preprogrammed to hold the proper cabinet temperature and create ice in the ice bank. Most models are available with direct pour or portion control pour controls. Some have the option of switching between the two. Direct pour is good for self-serve applications or in the back of house where servers need to fill carafes or pitchers. Portion control works well in quick-serve operations where servers can push a button for different-size drinks.

Newer machines also have electronics that alert you when the machine needs to be cleaned or serviced. Some also have a special connector for sanitizing or rinsing the interior of the machine.

Refrigerated dispensers, whether pre-mix or post-mix, should have an NSF or equivalent seal of approval. Cleaning and sanitation is relatively simple on most machines. Pre-mix bag-in-box machines usually just require exterior cleaning and sanitizing periodically. Most use pinch tube valves, so the tube is disposed of when the container is empty. Post-mix machines should be rinsed with hot water at least once a day or once a shift, depending on volume, to keep valves clear and working properly. You should run sanitizer solution through them weekly.

Options on many machines include lockable cabinets to prevent customers or employees from removing juice or concentrate or from adjusting internal controls. Some also are available with lighted merchandising displays to help attract customers. Most also offer optional legs to raise the height of the dispenser for filling pitchers or carafes.—MS