Mean Machines
Today's blenders are in your corner
by Daniel M. Hall

Today's commercial blenders are fast, friendly and efficient. They have shiny, noise-canceling enclosures and programmable digital touch pads. And their high-tech presentation even adds another performance element to the barista's job.

With all this technology, blenders are cranking out coffee and tea drinks and smoothies at a rate that meets a growing market. Demand for smoothies, for example, has been particularly strong over the past six years as time-starved Americans seeking healthier lifestyles look toward nutritious foods they can consume quickly. Smoothie sales rose 82 percent to $2 billion between 2001 and 2006, according to market research firm Mintel, and the smoothie market is expected to increase to more than $3 billion by 2011.

Blenders have come a long way since demand for smoothies and iced/blended coffee drinks exploded more than a decade ago. Until then, blender motors had little more than 1/2 horsepower. "The old machines could not stand up to today's demands for fast production of beverages," says Jason Reed, group marketing manager for Hamilton Beach Brands in Richmond, Va. Toggle switches were more common than they are now for blending. Other units had buttons marked low, medium and high or had numbers on them for mixing specific ingredients. With loosely defined mixing speeds and times, product consistency was difficult to achieve, says Dave Kolar, a senior engineer at Vita-Mix in Cleveland.

In many cases, carafes were made of glass or stainless steel. Glass is an undesirable material in foodservice because it can break into small pieces. While more durable than glass, stainless steel keeps blender operators and consumers from seeing the blending process. In addition, stainless steel containers can present difficulties in measuring ingredients because they can't be seen as easily as they can in glass or plastic units. For the last decade, blender carafes have commonly been made of polycarbonate, a durable and transparent material.

Today's blenders are much more powerful, with significant advancements in carafe and blade design. Changes have been driven by retailers who want machines that can make drinks quickly, and with consistent taste and texture. Manufacturers now offer machines with special features—such as plastic shields that cover the carafe—that make less noise when in use. However, some retailers don't want silent machines because of a contingent of consumers who liken the noise and the sight of a drink being made to a theatrical experience. That could interest them in moving up to a more expensive beverage in their next visit, says Reed.

According to Blendtec, a manufacturer based in Orem, Utah, the company has been intimately involved in the evolution of blenders. Blendtec claims that more than 10 years ago it developed the first blender with a microprocessor to govern a blender's motor. The company says it subsequently offered an enclosure for containers to reduce the noise generated during drink production and the first blender with programmability.

Blendtec now makes several machines for producing beverages sold at coffeehouses and smoothie shops, such as the Q-Series blender that was introduced two years ago for retailers seeking a quieter model. Its motor features sound-reducing fan technology, a sound-dampening motor base, a vibration-dampening motor gasket and a sound-reducing container enclosure. Blendtec blenders are available with 30 pre-programmed blending cycles. If those cycles are not sufficient, retailers can add their own programs to a Blendtec machine. "We use the latest technologies to give customers what they want for their operations," says Jeff Robe, director of marketing.

Programmability aids in product consistency, and other design features assure it. Blendtec's 96-ounce carafe has a fifth side—the area under the handle is angled. "That design helps to create a better blending vortex to mix ingredients more thoroughly," says Robe. And then there are the blades. Many blenders have four-prong blades, while Blendtec's has two prongs with a wing tip (an upward projection at the end of the blade), which gives the ingredients more space to blend together and be pulverized, aiming to eliminate any grittiness and creating a smooth texture.

Hamilton Beach also has become a serious contender among high-performance blenders, including the Tempest and Summit models. Both have a three-horsepower motor, standard in today's commercial market. "That amount of power is needed by big chains that make blended drinks all day long," Reed says. The two machines also have a 64-ounce polycarbonate container, a timer with automatic shutoff to prevent overblending, and the Wave-Action System that incorporates a unique blade and carafe configuration that was developed for producing consistently smooth beverages. The Tempest and the Summit are capable of producing smoothies and other beverages in 10 to 20 seconds, on average.

In January 2008, Hamilton Beach added Auto Blend technology to its Summit HBH850 blender. The feature monitors the blender's power use and speed to determine when perfect drink consistency has been achieved. The Summit also has the Quiet Shield sound enclosure for the carafe, dual fans to keep the motor cool during times of heavy use and numerous pre-programmed cycles. By testing the cycles, retailers can determine which ones create the drink profiles they prefer.

Tony Ciepiel, vice president of Vita-Mix's commercial division, says the company "has made quantum leaps in improvements in all key blending areas over the past 20 years. Vita-Mix's Advance machines are fully programmable. The larger chains all use customized programs to ensure consistent delivery of iced/blended drinks and smoothies to customers."

Well-blended drinks are important. Over-blending can make them watery and cause the ingredients to separate, while under-blended drinks can contain ice chunks. These are not pleasant experiences to customers who pay around $5 for a smoothie, says Ciepiel. Vita-Mix has a team of engineers that works with retailers to develop the highest-quality beverage blends, he says. "Seasoned operators understand that the quality of the blend is their brand, and they strive to make sure that the consumer experience with regard to their beverages is the same every time, regardless of store location. The quality of the blend will impact what customers will pay. Better drinks garner greater sales and profits." Vita-Mix makes machines that can produce some 16-ounce beverages in about 10 seconds or less. Sound-reducing components include a muffler for motors and a specially designed blade/shaft assembly.

Waring also has made changes to its blenders in response to the popularity of smoothies and cold coffee drinks. "Smoothies have gained broad appeal over the years because of their fruit contents and the variety of healthy additions offered by coffee and boutique shops. The specialty coffee drink explosion in the last five to 10 years has had an especially big impact on the industry," says Mary M. Rodgers, director of marketing communications for the Stamford, Conn.-based company.

Among the company's current offerings is the MX1500XT blender, with four one-touch beverage programs that can be customized for making frozen drinks, ice cream drinks and smoothies. The Waring 1100XT series has a 30-second timer that allows store personnel to perform other tasks while the machine is producing a drink. With a 3.5-horsepower motor, "Waring's Xtreme Blenders are well suited to specialty coffee retailers because they are one of the most powerful blenders in the half-gallon size category," says Rodgers.

What do coffeehouses and smoothie shops think of all the features on the modern blender? In general, they are quite pleased. Los Angeles-based The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf features blended drinks prominently on its menu. "The biggest change for us came with technology: automated and programmable blend cycles," says Debbie Sassoon, director of product development. "Prior to that, a team member would have to watch the entire blend cycle to determine when the beverage was blended to perfection. Now, each blend cycle is customized to suit the specific type of beverage. This new feature greatly improved product quality and consistency and speed of service. Due to the automatic shut-off features, a team member could be freed up to do something else in the time it took a blend cycle to be completed. The high-tech features of the machines have also reduced training time. "

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf started making its Ice Blended beverages in the late '80, followed by smoothies. Overall, the Blendtec blenders have been meeting the chain's needs and expectations and have become a key component in day-to-day operations. "Blenders are such an important and integral part of our business that we have for many years incorporated them into our store design," Sassoon says. "Our blenders fit into concealed blender boxes. This helps to mitigate noise and mess."

It's A Grind Coffee franchise in Long Beach, Calif., also has had positive experiences with Blendtec blenders. They suit the company's interests in noise reduction, product consistency, ease of use and speed, says Rick Kowalski, vice president of operations. "Coffeehouses are expected to have coffee-based ice blended drinks. Because of that, a blender is not an unusual piece of equipment from customers' perspectives. Stores are designed with a station for blenders."

At It's A Grind, blenders tend to be placed at the back of counters to minimize noise, and near a sink for convenience in cleaning the carafes. Ingredients are kept in a storage area near blenders. Specifications for a beverage, such as its blending time, are programmed into a blender. "It is easy to do," says Kowalski.

For Salt Lake City-based TCBY, the most favored change in blenders is reduced noise. At Smoothie King Franchises in Covington, La., co-founder Stephen Kuhnau says the biggest changes are noise reduction as well as motors that have more power. Their blender of choice is Vita-Mix. "About eight years ago, we switched from machines with two-horsepower motors to blenders with three-horsepower. The benefits of the change were quicker blending times and more product consistency. In addition, we have been able to streamline training because of the machines' technological advances."

While a blender is no cheap investment—sometimes costing more than $1,000—it can offer quick payback with the popularity of the drinks it makes. Although she doesn't have a record of the amount of the company's last investment in blenders, Sassoon of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf says, "I'm quite sure that it would have been quite a fast return on investment." It's A Grind gets immediate payback from its blenders, which range in price from around $700 to $1,100 each. Products made by the blenders account from 20 to 35 percent of the company's total store sales, says Kowalski.

At Atlanta-based Planet Smoothie, Brad Williford, franchise support consultant, notes that the price of a blender is small compared to other operation costs. Williford says cash output for a blender can be made up in a couple of months—another clear difference from blenders of 20 years ago.

 

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