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Convenience store equipment is there to make stock visible, keep it at temperature and let one person behind a counter run the whole floor. Almost everything in a convenience store sells itself off a shelf or out of a display, so the equipment is bought on a different logic from a restaurant's. The related venue range is grocery stores.
Refrigeration is the business. Cold drinks are the highest-turnover line in most stores, and the number of glass doors facing the customer is what sets the ceiling on those sales. That is commercial drink fridges and commercial glass door fridges, with frozen in display freezers.
Hot food to go is the next margin step, and it is where the equipment choice gets made or lost. A pie warmer display and a chip warmer need no cooking line, no canopy and no chef, which is exactly why they suit a store with one person on shift.
After that come coffee and ice, both of which turn a convenience stop into a destination. Tell us the floor area, the lines you want to carry and the power you have, and request a callback — we will work through the order of purchase with you.
These are the top FAQs for Convenience Store Equipment
What should a convenience store buy first?
Drink refrigeration, as much of it as the floor and the power will carry. It is the fastest-moving category and the one customers come in for, and a store that runs out of cold drink space on a hot day is leaving money on the counter.
Then frozen, then hot food, then coffee, then ice. Confirm the electrical capacity before you commit to the layout, because a wall of glass doors is a serious load and the supply is not something you can change cheaply later. The larger-format option is supermarket fridges and freezers.
Glass door upright or open display?
Glass doors hold temperature better and generally cost less to run, which matters when they are the biggest load in the building. Commercial open display fridges shift more stock per metre in a grab-and-go setting, because there is no door between the customer and the product, and they generally cost more to run with no insulated door holding the cold in.
The usual split is glass doors for drinks along a wall and an open unit for the grab-and-go items near the counter. Chilled shelving in the aisles is refrigerated display shelves.
How do I sell hot food without a kitchen?
With holding equipment rather than cooking equipment. A heated display, a hot dog warmer and a sandwich press or microwave behind the counter cover most of the category on a bench and a power point.
What your store is permitted to sell and what facilities that requires — hand basins, temperature records, food handling certification — is set by your local council and state food authority. Ask them before you buy the display, not after. The display range is counter top hot food displays.
Is coffee worth putting in?
It is one of the few lines that brings a customer back every morning, and the machine choice depends entirely on who makes it. A self-serve automatic machine needs no barista and suits a single-staff store; a traditional espresso machine needs someone who can use it.
Count the cups you think you will sell in the morning peak and be honest about staffing. Both formats are in commercial coffee machines, with the automatic end in commercial automatic coffee machines.
Do I need an ice machine or just bagged ice?
Bagged ice in a freezer is simpler and the right answer for a store that sells a few bags a week. An ice machine earns its place once ice is a steady line or once you are using ice yourself for drinks, because the cost per kilo drops sharply.
An ice machine needs water, drainage and somewhere for the heat to go, so it is a plumbing decision as much as a purchase. Storage is commercial ice storage bins, and chilled water for customers is water dispensers.
How do I lay out the refrigeration in a small floor?
Drinks on the back or side wall where a run of doors can be served by one condenser arrangement, frozen next to it, and the impulse items in a small unit at the counter. Keeping the refrigeration together simplifies the services and the servicing.
Leave the clearances each unit's product page specifies for airflow, because a fridge boxed in by shelving runs hot, costs more and fails sooner. Ambient display shelving in the aisles is ambient food displays.
Can I fit out a store in stages?
Yes, and most stores should. Put the money into drink refrigeration first, trade for a few months, then add the hot food and coffee once you know what the customers actually buy. The services are the part to plan for in full up front — power and plumbing to the positions you will eventually use.
Second-hand is a reasonable route for the back-of-house items, less so for anything a customer looks at. The refurbished range is refurbished commercial fridges and refurbished display equipment.
