Whether you’re launching a large outdoor event, running a high-volume catering business, or experiencing a commercial kitchen disaster, keeping your products cold should be one of your first concerns. Losing an afternoon’s worth of cooling power can cost thousands in beverages, upset hundreds of customers, and tarnish years of professional reputation. When temporary refrigeration solutions like styrofoam coolers full of loose ice cubes aren’t cutting it, it’s time to consider portable freezer trailers.
Portable freezer trailers contain commercial-grade temperature controls and ample storage space to keep drinks cold (or frozen) wherever you may need them.
What Are Portable Freezer Trailers?
Portable freezer trailers are towable trailers with enough insulation to keep items frozen or cold on-site. Also known as mobile refrigeration trailers, these convenient assets can be delivered to your desired location and filled with anything you need to keep frozen or chilled. Unlike your typical trailer rentals, freezer trailers allow you to customize temperature settings to match your cooling needs, from deep freeze to everyday refrigerator temperatures. This allows you to quickly change temperatures to keep ice frozen or adjust settings to keep white wine cooled without risking spoilage.
Renting a portable freezer trailer can be preferable to typical refrigeration solutions. Standard reefers or refrigerated trucks require experienced drivers with commercial licenses, take up more space on-site, and can be difficult to park. Because mobile freezer trailers are small enough to fit into most parking spaces or bar/back-of-house alleyways they allow businesses to experience the benefits of a walk-in freezer without being confined to one location.
Why Would Beverage Businesses Rent Portable Freezer Trailers?
Running out of cold drinks at a bar, event, or restaurant can be disastrous. Sweaty bottles, overflowing beer lines, and puddles of melted ice can slow down your service and upset customers. Portable freezer trailers allow businesses to avoid these issues by creating on-demand drink chillers that can go wherever your event is located. Here are some of the top reasons companies in the beverage industry utilize portable freezer trailers.
Avoid Ruining Inventory and Wasting Profit
Many mixed drinks and craft beers require unfiltered ingredients that can easily spoil. Milk-, cream-, and egg-based mixers are vulnerable to warm temperatures and can go rancid if left outside for too long. Draft beer lines should be fully chilled before use to avoid foamy overflow. Portable freezer trailers allow companies to safely store their ingredients at the proper temperature until it’s time to be used.
Ensure Customers Always Receive Their Drinks at the Correct Temperature
Serving anything at the wrong temperature can take away from the consumer’s experience. Brew lines need to be chilled beforehand to avoid gushing foam, and chilled champagne keeps fingers from getting sticky. With mobile freezer trailers, businesses have the ability to store drinks at their ideal temperature for serving right from the get-go, ensuring every drink is top-notch.
Efficiently Service Large Groups of People
During peak hours at festivals and ballparks, you cannot have your employees running back and forth to an off-site storage facility to get more soda. By placing a high-volume freezer trailer behind your bar, you ensure you’ll always have stock on hand and minimize the time customers wait during rush periods.
When to Use Portable Beverage Refrigeration Trailers
Businesses across many industries find value in portable refrigeration trailers. Whenever existing cooling methods aren’t available, it’s time to consider a mobile cooling unit.
Music Festivals and Other Outdoor Events
Outdoor festivals, farm markets, and county fairs create extreme cooling environments for vendors. Hot weather, direct sunlight, and sandy grounds will quickly deplete your ice chests. By delivering portable freezer trailers to an event site, you give food vendors a secure place to store case after case of soda, water bottles, and bags of ice.
Weddings and Catering
Luxury caterers often find themselves working in remote locations without the luxury of built-in refrigeration. Having the ability to store decor dishes, cold-outside-wine, and ice for cocktail cub full right next to your portable kitchen makes it easy to provide a 5-star service experience for clients.
Bars and Restaurants
Your business shouldn’t have to close down if your main freezer goes out. Portable freezer trailers allow you to place a rental fridge full of your inventory behind the bar while you wait for repairs. This ensures your bar or restaurant stays open and saves you from trashing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars’ worth of product.
Backup During Power Outages
When Mother Nature hits or your breaker breaks, you need a plan to keep items cold. Many hospitals, grocery stores, and evacuation centers use freezer trailers during natural disasters or emergency situations to store ice, emergency water rations, and perishable supplies.
Sports Games and Concerts
Stadiums and concert venues have to increase their production output several times to keep up with the crowds. By placing multiple portable cooling units strategically around the property, you’ll allow crew members to quickly refill water and soda coolers without driving customers away from food vendors.
Select the Right Beverage Trailer Size
When searching for a rental trailer, be sure not to rent one too small or too big. If your trailer is too small, you’ll find yourself squeezing cans and crates into every spare inch of storage space. This can cause improper airflow, and your drinks may not chill properly. An oversized trailer can take up valuable space and cost you unnecessary money.
A good rule of thumb is to estimate how many customers you will be servicing or how many attendees will be at your event. The larger the crowd, the more drinks and ice you’ll need to keep on hand. Our 12-foot trailers are perfect for smaller events like weddings or company picnics. If you need more space, go bigger; our 20 and 24-foot trailers are ideal for major festivals or restaurant freezer replacements.
Popular Portable Freezer Trailer Features
When interviewing rental companies for your next refrigerated trailer, ask about these useful options that can help you work more safely and efficiently.
Insulated Shelves
Deployable shelves allow you to stack drinks while keeping your bottles protected from the cold floor. Shelving also allows for better organization when searching for specific bottles during rushes.
Plug and Play Generator Use
Don’t have power? No problem! Ensure that the trailer you’re renting can hook up to a generator. We’ve all seen movies that show trailers with generators attached to them; those trailers are impossible to maneuver. Make sure the trailer you rent can utilize a generator without one.
Temperature Displays
Don’t worry about digging around to find the temperature display. Make sure the trailer you rent has an external display so you can keep an eye on internal temperatures at all times.
Locking Latches
Drinks aren’t the only thing you don’t want your guests stealing. Make sure your trailer comes equipped with durable locks and security latches.
Flooring Grip
The last thing you want is for an employee to slip and fall while restocking the trailer. Make sure your trailer provides a non-skid grip on the trailer floors.
Keep Drinks Cold, Fresh, and Enjoyable
If used correctly, your drinks will stay colder longer. Here are some tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your rental.
Don’t Pack Against Walls or Ceiling
You should always give your cooler some breathing room. By packing your cooler too tightly, you’re restricting airflow and causing your drinks to warm up.
Load Heavy Items in the Center
Whether you’re stacking ice bags or kegs in the middle will help distribute weight evenly.
Stock Based on Frequency
Place the items you grab most often near the door. This will reduce the amount of time your trailer door is open.
Check Temperatures
I cannot stress this enough. Make sure to frequently check your temperatures to ensure they’re running where they should be.
Contact Emergency Ice for all of Your Portable Freezer Trailer Needs
At Emergency Ice, we offer some of the highest-quality portable freezer trailers in the business. Our units come equipped with all the features mentioned above and more. Our trailers are prepared for any situation you may face. We offer prompt delivery, accurate setup services, and 24/7 emergency service to ensure your business never skips a beat. Our portable refrigeration trailers will keep you productive when your main fridge or cooler goes down. Contact us today to learn more about our trailers and how they can help keep your business chill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How are portable freezer trailers powered?
Portable freezer trailers are either powered by a standard 110V 15amp dedicated circuit or a 220V single-phase hookup. Most portable trailers are also generator compatible.
Will I be able to freeze items in my refrigeration trailer?
Yes, Absolutely! The digitally controlled thermostat allows you to customize your temperature settings. You can crank up the cooling power to keep your ice frozen or chill your beverages at safe temperatures.
Q. How long will it take to get my rental when there is an emergency?
Emergency Ice offers emergency delivery year-round. We understand how crucial time is during an emergency. That is why we can typically get your trailer delivered and set up in 45 minutes to an hour.