TIP CHILL OUT

 

The easiest and cheapest way to avoid melted chocolate products is to use "Blue Ice". A standard ice chest or picnic-type cooler can hold enough chocolate products to fill several machines. Simply freeze the Blue Ice the night before and pop it into the ice chest before you head out to your locations. One word of caution: Milk chocolate changes color when exposed to temperature change. This is referred to as "whitening". The chocolate is still perfectly good, but many consumers are still reluctant to eat it. So, don't let your chocolate products come into physical contact with your Blue Ice (or regular ice, for that matter). Many ice chests allow the Blue Ice pack to screw into the lid; this not only solves the problem of whitening, but also increases storage space.

There's an alternative, as well, if you have quite a large route. While big vending companies use refrigerated trucks, they also use small cooler units, such as the Omnicube, a heavy-duty aluminum cooler that uses ice packs or cold plates that recharge overnight. Omnicubes come in many sizes; model TC-12-11, the smallest, keeps 50-60 boxes of candy between 60°-70° all day. You can order the Omnicube direct through Equipment Innovators at 1-800-733-3434, or on-line at www.equipmentinnovators.com.