Not all commercial slicers are created equal. Meaning certain slicers are designed to best suits your needs. Slicers come in different sizes and have different prices. If you own a small restaurant or run a small deli there is no point in buying a slicer that is designed for a large restaurant. You should try to figure out how often you will be using the slicer and how much slicing you will be doing, before you purchase a slicer.
Light- duty slicers are designed for low volume applications with less than an hour of slicing a day. Many times these slicers are used for slicing meat and vegetables. They are not meant to cut frozen meat or cheese.
Medium- duty meat slicers are great for people who slice for several hours a day. These slicers are not designed for heavy use. Be aware that the blades may become strained if the slicer is being used more frequently than recommended. These slicers can handle a maximum of 30 minutes a day of cheese slicing.
If you determine that you will be slicing a lot of meat, it is recommended to get a heavier- duty slicer. Heavy duty slicers are usually found at butcher shops, meat markets and large restaurants. A heavy- duty slicer can handle just about anything, including cheese. These slicers can be automatic, manually operated, or electric. The electric powered slicers are the most popular type of slicer, even though they can be more expensive than manual slicers. They are popular because all you have to do is plug the slicer into an electrical outlet and run the meat between the blades. This speeds up the process of slicing meat.
Automatic meat slicers are also fast. Cutting up to 60 slices per minute, the slicer does all the slicing by itself. All you have to do is feed the meat into the machine.
One tip when shopping for a slicer is making sure the one you are wanting to purchase has stainless steel blades. This will ensure that the blades do not rust. Another recommendation is making sure the slicer comes with a built-in blade sharpener. This is to help keep the blades razor sharp.
Blade size does matter. When it comes to picking the size of your blade you have to ask yourself the same question as before. “How often will I be using my slicer? How much slicing will I be doing?” For smaller restaurants, blade size should be between 8 and 9. If you are slicing in lager volumes your blade size should be between 9 and 14.
We hope this blog post has made it easier to choose what kind of slicer will work best for your restaurant.
