When selecting a cold room for your hotel and restaurant business, it is important to consider what you are storing in your cold room. This will impact several factors : the size of your cold room, the temperature of your cold room, access, flooring and more.

Do your products need to be chilled or frozen?

In hotels and restaurants you will most likely be storing food and drink products, so dependent on whether you require your products chilled or frozen will result in whether you have a chiller cold room or a freezer cold room. We can also supply and install food safe ambient rooms which are ideal for food preparation areas.

• walk in chiller cold rooms – +0°C to +8°C
• walk in freezer cold rooms – -0°C to -20°C
• ambient rooms – +15°C

The amount of products stored in the cold room will impact the size of cold room you require – modular cold rooms are ideal for small capacity cold rooms and are available in a range of size. They are built using a camlock system (where the panels lock together with a male / female system) meaning they are easy to install and expand upon if required.

MTCSS can also supply and install bespoke cold rooms to fit into and insulate an existing area, utilising the space you already have available more effectively.

So what else do you need to consider when choosing a cold room?

The type of cold room door you need depends on the access you require and the size of your hotel and restaurant cold room or storage area  :

• personnel doors – personnel or service doors are hinged doors which are semi-insulating, these are ideal for use in ambient areas which require pedestrian access. For example, separating a food preparation area and a corridor area.
• hinged doors – insulated hinged doors are ideal for pedestrian traffic and access required for trolleys, these are suitable for both chiller and freezer cold rooms.
• sliding doors – suitable for both chiller and freezer cold rooms, sliding doors are ideal for areas of high traffic access and for cold rooms which have pallet access and storage.

Some cold rooms may not need a floor, for example a chiller cold room which is being installed on top of a flat concrete surface wouldn’t need an insulated floor. However if the floor where the chiller is going to be installed is unsuitable (eg. bumpy, non flat) an insulated floor will be required.

Freezer cold rooms are always installed with a form of floor – for smaller rooms and modular rooms which require predominantly pedestrian access and are used for food storage, an insulated floor is normally suited for this application.

So why would you need a different type of floor?

In chiller or freezer cold rooms that have heavy items stored them, a more sturdy and reinforced floor may be required dependent on the weight of what is being stored.

Chiller cold rooms which have high risk of spillage, or that need to be washed out frequently, may suit an altro type floor as these are easier to clean and maintain.

Does your hotel and restaurant need a new cold room, or can your existing chiller or freezer cold room be refurbished?

MTCSS can survey your existing cold room to assess whether the room can be refurbished – improving the aesthetics of your chiller or freezer and ensuring the cold room adheres to health and safety regulations.

The key elements of refurbishing your chiller and freezer cold room are :

• Changing door and sweeper gaskets
• Checking and changing heaters
• Repairing or replacing handles and door furniture
• Adjusting door operations
• Floor replacement and overlay if required
• Hygienic planking to internal walls if required
• Door and wall protection if required

You can find out more about cold room refurbishments and see before and after photos here!