Quality and consistency should be the goals of every frozen yogurt store. Frozen yogurt machines that are clean and well maintained produce consistent frozen yogurt. Routine machine maintenance procedures are easy and help avoid costly problems that require a service technician visit. We’ve asked Spaceman USA to create guidelines for machine maintenance that any shop can use.
Frozen yogurt store advice contributed by Spaceman USA:
All frozen yogurt store operators want a consistent product every time. The key to a consistent product rests in keeping your frozen yogurt machine cleaned and maintained. A dirty machine leads to bad tasting product that can sicken your customers, damage operations, lead to costly downtime, and get you in trouble with the health inspectors. There are still some owners out there who forgo regular maintenance for expediency.
Catching the machine issues when they’re small and fixing them in house means that you’re able to avoid getting a service technician. There are some companies out there who will not even send out an experienced technician if the problem can be traced to a piece which was supposed to be maintained by the customer. Routine machine maintenance procedures are quite easy, even the ones that involve changing parts.
Here’s what frozen yogurt machine operators have to do to keep their machines running smoothly:
Cleanliness
For the best product, it is vital that your machine is cleaned and sanitized regularly. Most manufacturers say that a machine should be cleaned three times a week minimum, but many state health officials demand more regular cleanings due to dairy products. You may need to break it down d aily.
Your owner’s manual will have the recommended cleaning and sterilization procedure. Usually this involves a set of brushes and a sanitizing product. Make sure that the sanitizer product you use is compatible with your machine type.
Lubrication
Lubricating all the moving parts is also essential. This is an easy procedure that keeps your machine working properly and cuts down on maintenance calls. Frozen yogurt companies will have recommended lube types. Check your owner’s manual for your application schedule.
Replacing blades
Blades wear down over time, and when this happens a number of quite noticeable symptoms appear. The machine will run louder or make a thumping noise, and take longer to freeze the product. A ring of ice may appear around the hopper where the blade cannot reach. The machine may also go into a continuous run mode.
The simple fix to these problems is replacing the scraper blades every quarter or so. If you haven’t changed your blades in a while, give it a try and see how much better your product is. The quality of your blades has a direct correlation to the quality of the product. It will also increase the longevity of your machine.
Replacing O-Rings and Gaskets
The last parts that customers need to worry about are 0-rings and gaskets. When these go bad, leaks happen. This can cause damage to parts that do need an experienced service technician, like 
the compressor or the beater motor. If the leak is traced back to this, your company may not cover the cost of repair since it was something you were supposed to maintain. It can also cause massive downtime. Look at your owner’s manual for the replacement schedule.
It’s a good idea to always have extra sanitizer, lubricant, blades, o-rings, and gaskets on hand so you don’t have to wait for deliveries. Companies often sell these products in packages or in subscription plans so you’ll always have what you need.
Don’t let your valuable investment go to waste. Keep your machine clean, sanitized, and maintained. Your machine will work better and your customers will appreciate the quality of your product.
About Spaceman USA
It all started for Spaceman Company in 1991. A group of aerospace industry experts decided to utilize their knowledge of precision machinery to begin a business dedicated to the designing, developing, manufacturing, and distributing of high quality soft serve frozen yogurt machines and commercial ice cream machines. Over the course of 20 years, the company grew and expanded into one of the largest and most successful manufacturers of soft serve machines to frozen yogurt franchises around the world. Today, Spaceman is highly regarded. It is world-renowned for its top-notch quality, ethical standards, customer service, continuous innovation and improvement, environmental consciousness, mechanical safety of its products, and its highly competitive prices.
In 2013, Forte Supply began working with Spaceman Company to manufacture private label equipment used to develop new frozen yogurt and soft serve ice cream machine models that would be marketed in the United States. Forte Supply currently has a 20-year contract to sell Spaceman USA products in the United States. Spaceman, LLC is listed under the parent company Forte Supply, LLC.
The partnership between Spaceman USA, which produces high quality, safe, reliable and innovative products, and Forte Supply, which is dedicated to product reliability and unparalleled customer support, has resulted in a Super Power in the frozen yogurt, soft serve & frozen beverage industry that will continue to assist and propel the success of frozen yogurt franchisees and independent store owners across the United States for many years to come.
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