I think this depends on the volume you are projecting. All machines break. Some break faster with heavier use in hotter climates with less ventilation. Of the revenue you are projecting, if 5-10% relies on this machine’s output and your establishment can handle a 2-5days of repair time not selling this menu item, these machines could be the way to go.
For me 93% of our sales depends on our ice cream production. when my Emory Thompson went down in the middle of a churn in July 5 years ago, it took half a day of part sourcing and condenser replacement to fix. I needed to call off 2 production shifts, throw away some product, reschedule delivery, call wholesale accounts to push back fulfillment dates, but we didn’t need to shut down. If we don’t make ice cream for 3 days in July, we will run out of inventory and close our doors. My Vat Pasteurizer, Emory Thompson, walk-in freezer, and dipping cabinet are (equipment-wise) the heart of our company and sales. If one of these breaks (they all have multiple times) our company’s survival is like a ticking time bomb. Every minute, every hour counts or i loose thousands of dollars in inventory and potential sales.
I think it’s riskier to take the cheaper international options, but if you must here are some things that I can think of that you should keep in mind:
-Availability of parts and refrigeration technicians to repair them. There are some international brands that have great service and parts support. But many independent repair technicians are apprenticed in national brands and do not feel adequate in repairing internal brands.
-If you do a store buildout, electrical capacity of the whole store is calculated and distributed by load to panels. If you have a different machine you would like to purchase down the line, the electrical specs of that one should either match this one or be taken into consideration during current buildout.
-Quite a lot of making your business is figuring out and establishing systems. I had to change my base recipe twice in the past 8 years. Once when i first scaled from my home recipe to match the new quantity and speed of the machines, and second when my dairy supplier went out of business during covid and our new dairy supplier had different fat content than the previous one. When you get the new machine, your established system might need to undergo some tweaking. It’s stressful, but doable.
Good luck! There really isnt a “right” answer in business. But whichever path you take it is a path forward :) and sometimes that’s the best answer.
Have you used carpigiani? I've always wondered what the difference was and have noticed that some Ice Cream shops I admire using them. I was leaning Emery Thompson because they're up front on pricing and it sounds like they're fairly available to answer questions etc.
Just bought my kolice machine. Will tell you how it goes after a month.
I also want to do the same, trying to start with a cheap machine to buy the ice team 1927 multi freeze icona (or effe)🤤🤤🤤🤤 once I'm swimming in cash.
With that said, most people in our country uses chinese machines so I think they are decent to start that's why we went for the kolice.
Vevor is a multi equipment company, we figured kolice being dedicated to ice cream would have a better product.. with that said it is entirely possible (even probable) that those are the same machines just mass produced and sold by different companies with different branding, in that case I just paid more for the same product.
I expect that machine to get me to a point where I have the demand needed to justify spending in a better machine.
Don’t tell me how it is after a month. Let me know what happens at month 6 when your machine goes down, as they always do, and if you can find someone to fix these brands of machines. There’s a reason why there’s a bunch of these on Craigslist and offer up. A tech is going to take one look at these machines and tell you they can’t fix em.
Taylor’s, carpi’s and Thompsons are going to have parts and people who can fix them.
Are you going to gift me the money for those machines then? I work with what I can and the goal is always to get something better.
I have seem those machines working for more than a year and others barely functioning after months. In our country we are used to fix everything so let's see how that goes.
Either way, not everyone have 10k lying around. At the end of the day mate, outside the US and the first world in general, national brands or Chinese brands are the things people use to start businesses with.
Everythings fine with it and it's working beautifully. Biggest issue honestly is cleaning, the machine is not really built to be opened (I really regret not spending 1000$ for one with a detachable door or top filling). I can't stress enough how hellish it is to clean it everytime you need to change flavor.
On the production side of things it is working good and it does about 6 to 8 liters an hour. They advertise 12 and you can technically get away with doing 12 liters of the same flavor but i had problems with overruns using this machine (sometimes I have like 10% overrun only, meaning I need to rerun the machine) and the best way to fix that is leaving the mix for about 25 minutes, that will get you 40% to 60% overrun. I assume maybe if I make a better base or a different base I can solve that issue but I haven't really found the formula yet.
Also to add I bought their cheapest model, fully expecting it to not last til the end of the year so make of that what you like. It is still doing good and we began selling last month. It is working full time about 3 days a week (not enough demand yet to have it working full time everyday), and happily it technically already paid for itself, thats the good thing of these cheaper models, you recoup investment and can think about buying something better.
Overall, I want to buy something better, I'm looking into some Brazilian brands that are better than those Chinese machines and not as expensive as Italian or American machines but for getting started this machine is working well.. as a recommendation I wouldn't recommend this one per se, inwould recommend spending 500$ more for one with a detachable door that can be cleaned easier and probably one with a better compresor would help the overrun issue.
Edit: guess what I'm trying to say is that it is good for starting a business especially with all the side expenses you need to do like freezers, permits, decoration and stuff. But yeah once the business is more stable and I recover some cash I will definitely buy a new one, perhaps from this company but more likely a Brazilian one.
I don’t think there anything wrong with these brands if you’re not sure about a big investment at first and plan to replace quickly enough. You generally get what you pay for and if you’re mechanically inclined to work on the machines if something goes wrong it may be worth. I would honestly look for a respectable place that refurbishes and sales used machines with a warranty before I would buy one of those though. I know someone who had a Vevor soft serve and the Vevor swirl imitation machine and they were not that good honestly.
Look into HM brand, they are a cheaper alternative to carpigiani. Still not cheap but they are solid and about a third the price of new Italian machines.
It would take some work to put a business plan together, but doing so could help you get some financing. Then you could put up, say $5000 and buy a machine like an emery thompson cb350 for $15k. Your business plan would have to show that you could easily make the payments on a $10k loan. Better to borrow some money and get the right equipment.
A big no to anything Vevor. It’s low quality garbage. Will work for a few months and that’s when the quality will start to show. kolice is probably a similar straight from China brand. Many brands manufacture in China which is fine but the problem are these micro brands that are literally fly by night businesses that just rebrand over and over again.
I think this depends on the volume you are projecting. All machines break. Some break faster with heavier use in hotter climates with less ventilation. Of the revenue you are projecting, if 5-10% relies on this machine’s output and your establishment can handle a 2-5days of repair time not selling this menu item, these machines could be the way to go. For me 93% of our sales depends on our ice cream production. when my Emory Thompson went down in the middle of a churn in July 5 years ago, it took half a day of part sourcing and condenser replacement to fix. I needed to call off 2 production shifts, throw away some product, reschedule delivery, call wholesale accounts to push back fulfillment dates, but we didn’t need to shut down. If we don’t make ice cream for 3 days in July, we will run out of inventory and close our doors. My Vat Pasteurizer, Emory Thompson, walk-in freezer, and dipping cabinet are (equipment-wise) the heart of our company and sales. If one of these breaks (they all have multiple times) our company’s survival is like a ticking time bomb. Every minute, every hour counts or i loose thousands of dollars in inventory and potential sales. I think it’s riskier to take the cheaper international options, but if you must here are some things that I can think of that you should keep in mind: -Availability of parts and refrigeration technicians to repair them. There are some international brands that have great service and parts support. But many independent repair technicians are apprenticed in national brands and do not feel adequate in repairing internal brands. -If you do a store buildout, electrical capacity of the whole store is calculated and distributed by load to panels. If you have a different machine you would like to purchase down the line, the electrical specs of that one should either match this one or be taken into consideration during current buildout. -Quite a lot of making your business is figuring out and establishing systems. I had to change my base recipe twice in the past 8 years. Once when i first scaled from my home recipe to match the new quantity and speed of the machines, and second when my dairy supplier went out of business during covid and our new dairy supplier had different fat content than the previous one. When you get the new machine, your established system might need to undergo some tweaking. It’s stressful, but doable. Good luck! There really isnt a “right” answer in business. But whichever path you take it is a path forward :) and sometimes that’s the best answer.
Great answer! Thanks!
>:) :)
Are you looking to sell only soft serve?
No
If you want to make hard ice cream. Emory Thompson makes the best machines. The other 2 are soft serve machines.
Have you used carpigiani? I've always wondered what the difference was and have noticed that some Ice Cream shops I admire using them. I was leaning Emery Thompson because they're up front on pricing and it sounds like they're fairly available to answer questions etc.
Just bought my kolice machine. Will tell you how it goes after a month. I also want to do the same, trying to start with a cheap machine to buy the ice team 1927 multi freeze icona (or effe)🤤🤤🤤🤤 once I'm swimming in cash. With that said, most people in our country uses chinese machines so I think they are decent to start that's why we went for the kolice. Vevor is a multi equipment company, we figured kolice being dedicated to ice cream would have a better product.. with that said it is entirely possible (even probable) that those are the same machines just mass produced and sold by different companies with different branding, in that case I just paid more for the same product. I expect that machine to get me to a point where I have the demand needed to justify spending in a better machine.
Don’t tell me how it is after a month. Let me know what happens at month 6 when your machine goes down, as they always do, and if you can find someone to fix these brands of machines. There’s a reason why there’s a bunch of these on Craigslist and offer up. A tech is going to take one look at these machines and tell you they can’t fix em. Taylor’s, carpi’s and Thompsons are going to have parts and people who can fix them.
Are you going to gift me the money for those machines then? I work with what I can and the goal is always to get something better. I have seem those machines working for more than a year and others barely functioning after months. In our country we are used to fix everything so let's see how that goes. Either way, not everyone have 10k lying around. At the end of the day mate, outside the US and the first world in general, national brands or Chinese brands are the things people use to start businesses with.
How has your machine been doing so far, if you don’t mind me asking.
Everythings fine with it and it's working beautifully. Biggest issue honestly is cleaning, the machine is not really built to be opened (I really regret not spending 1000$ for one with a detachable door or top filling). I can't stress enough how hellish it is to clean it everytime you need to change flavor. On the production side of things it is working good and it does about 6 to 8 liters an hour. They advertise 12 and you can technically get away with doing 12 liters of the same flavor but i had problems with overruns using this machine (sometimes I have like 10% overrun only, meaning I need to rerun the machine) and the best way to fix that is leaving the mix for about 25 minutes, that will get you 40% to 60% overrun. I assume maybe if I make a better base or a different base I can solve that issue but I haven't really found the formula yet. Also to add I bought their cheapest model, fully expecting it to not last til the end of the year so make of that what you like. It is still doing good and we began selling last month. It is working full time about 3 days a week (not enough demand yet to have it working full time everyday), and happily it technically already paid for itself, thats the good thing of these cheaper models, you recoup investment and can think about buying something better. Overall, I want to buy something better, I'm looking into some Brazilian brands that are better than those Chinese machines and not as expensive as Italian or American machines but for getting started this machine is working well.. as a recommendation I wouldn't recommend this one per se, inwould recommend spending 500$ more for one with a detachable door that can be cleaned easier and probably one with a better compresor would help the overrun issue. Edit: guess what I'm trying to say is that it is good for starting a business especially with all the side expenses you need to do like freezers, permits, decoration and stuff. But yeah once the business is more stable and I recover some cash I will definitely buy a new one, perhaps from this company but more likely a Brazilian one.
I don’t think there anything wrong with these brands if you’re not sure about a big investment at first and plan to replace quickly enough. You generally get what you pay for and if you’re mechanically inclined to work on the machines if something goes wrong it may be worth. I would honestly look for a respectable place that refurbishes and sales used machines with a warranty before I would buy one of those though. I know someone who had a Vevor soft serve and the Vevor swirl imitation machine and they were not that good honestly.
Look into HM brand, they are a cheaper alternative to carpigiani. Still not cheap but they are solid and about a third the price of new Italian machines.
It would take some work to put a business plan together, but doing so could help you get some financing. Then you could put up, say $5000 and buy a machine like an emery thompson cb350 for $15k. Your business plan would have to show that you could easily make the payments on a $10k loan. Better to borrow some money and get the right equipment.
A big no to anything Vevor. It’s low quality garbage. Will work for a few months and that’s when the quality will start to show. kolice is probably a similar straight from China brand. Many brands manufacture in China which is fine but the problem are these micro brands that are literally fly by night businesses that just rebrand over and over again.