soda fountain Archives

Soda is a popular beverage choice for those visiting a restaurant or food stand. In fact, the average American consumes over 42 gallons of soda each year, and nearly half of Americans drink soda on a daily basis. One of the more popular types of soda is from a fountain. A critical, though overlooked, aspect of operating a soda fountain is cleaning it. Proper cleaning is necessary to ensure the soda tastes great and is edible. Below, you will find how often you should clean a soda fountain.

How Often Should You Clean a Soda Fountain?

Cleaning a soda machine is critical to ensure that patrons are safe from contaminated drinks and that the soda is as fresh as possible. A soda machine has many parts, and each part must be cleaned at different intervals, including daily, weekly, and monthly. Consider the following recommendations on how to properly clean a soda fountain.

Daily Cleaning

Several parts of the soda machine should be cleaned daily. These include the nozzles, drip trays, and dispensing valves. Each of these parts accumulates buildup fairly quickly, and cleaning them daily can reduce the risk of unwanted grime.

Weekly Cleaning

Busy restaurants should prioritize deep cleaning the soda fountain on a weekly basis. Regular cleaning, which involves cleaning and flushing the entire system, is highly beneficial and an investment in the business. It is also important to deep clean the removable parts of the machine to ensure they are free from buildup and debris. Depending on how often the machine is used, it is also advisable to check the filters. Assess how often they need to be replaced and add it to the calendar.

Monthly Cleaning

Once a month, it can be helpful to fully disassemble the soda fountain equipment to get a deep clean. This includes cleaning the internal and removable components and looking at all of the parts to see if anything needs to be replaced. Soda fountains should last a long time, but regular maintenance is necessary to ensure the machine’s longevity. Be sure to replace any worn-down parts, as this will dramatically improve the longevity of your machine.

Tips for Busy Restaurants

Busy restaurants with many patrons who order soda should clean the machine regularly. In fact, you may need to deep clean more often. Some restaurants clean the machine daily, while others may not need to. Busy restaurants should consider professional soda fountain cleaning. This may be beneficial on an annual or even quarterly basis. Consult with a professional to get their opinion on when and how often your specific soda fountain should be cleaned.

When you clean your soda fountain, have a designated employee in charge of it. Train one to two employees on the procedure and have them do it regularly. Having the same employees clean the machine can reduce errors, as those cleaning will always have been trained. Additionally, having the same people do it regularly ensures that issues are being monitored regularly. Create a cleaning checklist and have them sign off on it each time they clean the machine.

Soda Fountain Supplier in Los Angeles

If you need to replace your soda fountain machine, contact the top soda fountain supplier in Los Angeles. The team at SC Beverage has been servicing the area for years. They offer both installation and services to ensure your soda fountain is running perfectly. Contact their team today for more information!

Do Soda Fountains Use Tap Water?

Soda fountains require quite a bit of carbonated water in order to function properly, and that water can be difficult and expensive to source. Today, experts from your trusted beverage company in Southern California will talk about whether or not soda fountains typically use tap water to carbonate their drinks, and why.

Fountains Function with Fresh Cold Water

In order to understand why the vast majority of soda fountains use tap water instead of bottled or filtered water for their machines, it is first necessary to learn how these machines work. In order to produce the nice, cold, bubbly soda that we so often enjoy with our meals, the fountain needs access to a steady stream of cold water. The machine comes with an interior pump that can be hooked up to many different sources of water.

For many bar and restaurant owners, the easiest and cheapest way to get the machines to work is to hook up the internal pump to the city’s tap water system. That way, the machine can work like a sink, providing instant cold water at the user’s request. The process of carbonating the water also requires that it be cold, which is why tap water is usually the best solution all around.

Is Tap Water Safe to Drink?

Depending on where you live, it is likely the case that your tap water is filtered using a standardized filtration method in your city. You can contact your local government officials to learn more about the safety of your nearby tap water if you are unsure of its source. For the most part, the tap water that enters soda machines is safe enough for folks to consume, especially since the carbonization process filters the water even further.

Most people don’t realize just how much tap water they end up consuming every day. Carbonated water and soda beverages are consumed by millions of gallons in the U.S. alone on a daily basis, and soda fountains are almost universally hooked up to tap water systems. It can be difficult to predict how many people are going to want to use the soda fountain every day, and how many times per day they will return. That is why the best way to keep these machines operational is to keep them hooked up to a tap water system for a steady stream of water at all times.

Keep Your Customers Happy with On-Demand Soda

Your soda fountain is one of the most important staples of your restaurant or bar business. It’s important that it is in continuous operation throughout your store’s opening hours, providing customers with the cool and bubbly drinks they know and love. Learn more about operating soda machinery and invest in top-notch Los Angeles soda fountain equipment when you get in touch with SC Beverage today for an equipment consultation. We can help you with custom or wholesale beverage equipment needs so you can start your food services business off on the right foot. Contact us today to get started!