The post Cool Scenes Featuring Refrigerators appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

Contact us if you need a purchase order or quote, if not you can purchase online. Put in the promo code HOLIDAY to receive your discount.

The post Buy 2 Units and save $200 + Free Shipping appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

The post Enter to Win eReader Kobo + $100 eBook gift card appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

However, we know that some of you (ok me) can’t seem to grow one of those fun, elaborate mustaches, so we’ve created a PDF you can print out and put in your staff room or front of house for people to get their own mustaches despite and genetic issues with not being hirsute.

Click Here to Download or Print Your Own Mustaches Now!

We’re trying to draw more attention to the event so please feel free to link to it or post it  from your own website.  Clearly, we sell commercial refrigeration not mustaches so we’re not competing LOL.   Here’s the link.

Wikipedia describes Movember:

Movember (a portmanteau of the slang word “mo” for moustache and “November”) is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other male cancer initiatives. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com.[1] The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health.”

Let Us Know What You Think! Happy Mustaching!

Ceri

www.coldtechcommercial.com

The post Free Mustaches for Movember appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

THIS PROMOTION HAS ENDED.  Please go to coldtechcommercial.com for the latest offer. Get $100 free gas card with every commercial refrigeration unit purchased.  It includes prep tables, undercounters, restaurant fridges and freezers – all products.

Enter to win now…

The post Get $100 Gas Gift Card with Every Unit Purchased appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

VIDEO: Cleaning ColdTech Commercial Fridges & Freezers

Here are some top tips to make sure you get the most energy efficiency out of your refrigeration:

1. Door gaskets and seals: make sure they seal properly.  You can lose a lot of energy and also have health issues if your food isn’t being kept to a consistent temperature.  They need to be clean.  Any trapped food particles also can affect health and get in the way of a proper seal.  We recommend getting a reach in refrigerator with removable (and easy to replace) door gaskets that you can take to the dish pit and hose off with mild soap.
2. Clearance:  make sure you have the right amount of clearance defined by the factory specifications.  Make sure the unit is level.  If your refrigeration unit doesn’t have those two things your compressor will have to work harder – costing you more on your energy bills.  (And if the unit isn’t level it may be annoyingly noisy).
3. Location, location, location:  try not to put your commercial fridge or freezer near a heat source.  This makes your compressor work harder.
4. Temperature controls:  digital temperature controls are a great modernization.  Look for units with temperature gauges on the outside so you don’t have to open the door wasting energy.  Follow health and safety and factory suggested recommendations about the best temperatures to save money and be safe.
5. Warranty:  make sure your warranty includes parts and service.  Do what you do best and let refrigeration professionals make service calls or repairs.  If there’s a problem with the sealed system – you could be robbing energy.  Always follow the factory specified settings.  It does testing for a reason.
6. Opening and closing doors:  try and make the least amount of visits to the fridge or freezer.  Choose a model that “locks down” when the door is opened too much to ensure the unit gets back up or down to the required temperature.  It’s easier on the system and uses less energy if there are only a few degree variances it needs to move to.
7. Unplug:  I know this is a no-brainer, but if you’re not using your unit for extended periods of time, simply unplug the unit.

Also make sure your unit is eStar rated.  If you’re buying used equipment make sure you look at the life-cycle costs including purchase price, annual energy costs, maintenance costs and other associated long-term costs before purchasing.  Check out the condenser coils and make sure the unit is well maintained.

About ColdTech Commercial: ColdTech Commercial is a Culinary Cool, North American commercial refrigeration manufacturer servicing the restaurant and food service community directly from its online store www.coldtechcommercial.com. From prep tables to fridges and freezers, ColdTech Commercial has the best warranty in commercial refrigeration. It is a division of one of North America’s largest residential appliance companies, Danby, that is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year. ColdTech Commercial is a member of the National Restaurant Association and the Canadian Restaurant and Food Service Association. Follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook.

The post 7 Tips to Conserving Energy with Reach-In Refrigerators and Freezers appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

Remember the top five tips of surviving a zombie attack:

#1. Cardio:  you need to be able to outrun Zombies…put a treadmill in the lobby of your restaurant with small signage explaining that you are helping to keep-up cardio in case of a zombie attack.

#2: Beware of Bathrooms:  put signs on your bathroom doors to tell people to look to make sure no Zombies are in there.

#3: Seatbelts: on the way out of the restaurant post Rule # 3…wear your seatbelt (no one wants to be ejected into the arms of a Zombie) and check your back seat.

#4: Stock Commercial Fridge Full of Meat:  use a ColdTech Commercial Fridge and stock the fridge with meat as a diversion to the blood lusting thugs and for sustenance to keep going (ok, I made that one up. It could work though, think about it; especially if it was filled with offal)

#5: For Corporate Restaurants Only: make sure you have a Zombie Attack Disaster Preparedness Plan (seriously look at the link – one of the best things online ever) easy for the back of house to read, like the one designed by The University of Florida which includes Infected Co-worker Dispatch Forms that you can send back to head office. You could create your own and hand out with guest checks to ensure they are compliant as well.

#6: Know Your Way Out:  in common areas put a map of the exits just in case.

#7: Strategically Placed Cricket Bats:  make sure they blend into the décor of the restaurant not to freak people out, but put those weapons where they are in easy reach.

Zombies are trendy. Over 24,900,000* search for zombie-related keywords a month on Google compared to 1,830,000* searches for Chinese restaurant related keywords, globally.  You know you need to do it… you need to do it now and it can’t be tacky.  Zombies hate tacky…

Other links to Zombie Preparedness:

FEMA: From CDC – Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

British Columbia Government: Zombie attack? Have no fear, the B.C. government is here

*Google Stats Oct 1, 2012

The post How to Zombify Your Restaurant appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

There seems to be some confusion around separate brands, Coldtech and ColdTech Commercial.  Jimex Ascend had a similar brand called, simply, “Coldtech” that ceased production last year. We at ColdTech Commercial has in no way ever been affiliated with Jimex Ascend or its “Coldtech” brand. Jimex Ascend has recently posted on their site that they have ceased ALL production.

Our brand and company name is ColdTech Commercial.  We are a division of one of North America’s largest residential appliance companies that celebrated its 65^th anniversary in September 2012.  ColdTechCommercial.com launched August 2, 2011 (any “Coldtech” product produced before that date we are not affiliated with).  You can see our product listings here.

On Ascendmfg.com the website incorrectly states you can get parts from us at ColdTech Commercial for their old “Coldtech” units; however, our units are manufactured in a different country, use different parts that are not compatible with Jimex/Ascend units.  We are currently trying to get them to remove our name off of their parts listing on their website so there is no confusion.

If you have placed an order that was cancelled by Jimex Ascend, please contact us or call us Toll-Free 1-855-241-3251 and we’d love to help you find an alternate solution – you can call us 24/7/365 and speak to a real person.   We do have the best warranty in the business, free shipping and competitive pricing.

For more clarification (we know it’s confusing):

Our Logo/Badge                     

ColdTechCommercial.com / ColdTech Commercial Products is still in business.  Our badge featured here and our 1-855-241-3251 number is located on our commercial refrigeration units.

Not Us

We are not affiliated with Jimex/Ascend or the old brand “Coldtech” identified by this logo.  For more information regarding their cease of production or parts please go to Ascendmfg.com.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me kkelley@coldtechcommercial.com directly.  I’d love to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Kevin Kelley

Marketing Manager, eCommerce

www.coldtechcommercial.com

The post We’re Still Here! We are not Jimex / Ascend appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

Oh wait, that’s us.  Just follow us…

ColdTechCommercial.com loves Pinterest, loves; seriously loves it.  There are so many great ideas and obviously pretty pictures (and not just of kittens) for every restaurant out there.  I’m not just talking about design of restaurants or pictures of food, but so much more.

Here’s an example of some of our ColdTech boards on Pinterest.

FOLLOW US on PINTEREST

We also post our pins on our Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook accounts.  We always follow and love to repin, post and listen to you… we love being a part of this restaurant and food service community (except we spend the whole day drooling at your food pictures, menu ideas and so much more).

ColdTech Commercial’s Chef Tattoo Pinterest Board

Chefs have never been cooler and with the increase in the number of people getting tattoos there are some really culinary cool ones. My favorite Chef tattoo is a stand mixer with a lot of reflection detail in the stainless steel bowl. You need to see it.

Doing a search online for chef tattoos was tough – if you see any or have a tattoo you’d like to add to our collection, please send it to us (details below) and we’ll post it and give you a shout out on here and all of our social media outlets.

You follow us and we’ll follow you…

Great Restaurant Branding Pinterest

We have two restaurant branding boards on Pinterest.  There is some really great packaging, logos, take-out container ideas, signage and so much more.

Even if you’ve got spectacular branding it’s always good to see where other people are using their branding and copy.  Copying is the highest form of flattery, right?

Or you can brag by posting your own or even if you’re starting something new or rebranding put up a few samples / mock-ups and ask your own community what they like and don’t.

Great Décor for Restaurants on Pinterest

Some really great decorating ideas for your restaurant curated by our ColdTech Commercial team – well worth a look.  Some restaurant design ideas come from simplicity and some are grandiose.  Follow our boards on Pinterest and we follow back – we’d be happy to spread your great restaurant décor ideas.

Some are cheap and cheerful and some are very involved and downright sexy.

Cool Food Design

ColdTech only chooses the most inspiring food designs, usually based on pure imagery and not so much taste.

From cucumber shapes to charcuterie boards and desserts, we’re very picky and hope we’ve chosen the items you think have wow factor and make your tummy grumble.

We update our Pinterest all the time, let us know if there’s something you love and think it should be added to our boards.  We love greatness.

On the other hand, we created a yuck board it has one item: Snake Wine – check it out.  It’s gross and we think cruel.

Food related Funniness for Chefs and Food Service Workers

These funny Pinterest pins make us guffaw out loud and is likely our busiest board.

Who doesn’t want burger eyeshadow, a miniature butcher shop, 33 animals who are extremely disappointed in you, bacon alarm clocks, salt made of laughter tears (I kid you not) and so much more.

We have a lot of other boards as well.

The post Why Every Restaurant Needs to Follow This Fridge Company on Pinterest appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.

Background & explanation:

This isn’t a new thing.  Google is always changing their algorithm (the recipe behind why which site ranks in what place for what term) and webmasters, website designers and search engine optimization experts (SEOs) should be prepared to make changes at a drop of a hat.

Speaking of hat, did you know there are at least two types of websites, “black hat” and “white hat”?  Huh, right?  Google changes it algo because people try to game the system.

In the year 2000, SEOs put white text on white backgrounds, so the user couldn’t see it but search engines (Yahoo was the biggie at that time) could.  They’d put hundreds of keywords relating to whatever they wanted to rank for and in some cases the page to the user was useless – this is “blackhat” now.  It wasn’t then – things change and algos get smarter.  Do this now and your site will never be found.

Why is this? Google tries to get you exactly what you are looking for when you search for things like “Chinese restaurant Kansas City.” It’s a better experience and it’s what keeps you coming back to use them.  “White hat” SEOs try and do things right, to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, but sometimes Google changes things like the “freshness update”.  Seeing what new content you have as an indicator of if you manage your site, or if you just built it and left it.  You can’t do that anymore.  Think of Google as a pet you need to walk every day.

How do you know if your restaurant’s website has been penalized by Google?

• Check your organic traffic over the next few days/week and see if your site’s traffic has increased or decreased.  If you don’t know, you should get your webmaster to add Google Analytics to your website.  It’s free and there are some great tutorials online to learn it – there is also a beginners guide Web Analytics: An Hour a Dayor Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics.   Make sure you buy this version as Google Analytics has changed since the last version.  In fairness, it doesn’t take long to understand the basics.
• Search in Google for your keywords (like Chinese restaurant Kansas City) and see if anything has changed.  Don’t worry if it’s a few spots down, but worry if you can’t find yourself (especially if you Google your restaurant’s name).  If you haven’t been keeping track, now is a good time start.
• Learn the SEO Basics.  This book is a bit technical but is written by some of the best people in the business and I highly recommend it The Art of SEO, but remember things change, so keep your eye on the pulse of what’s going on online.  Resources list below.

What to do if your site is nowhere to be found?

1. Cry or sniffle a wee bit
2. Wait a few days/week if you can before doing anything.  Wait for the facts.  Nothing is ever 100%, but a consensus is good.
3. Check with your design company and ask what they think? (if your design house has SEO expertise – many,many sadly do not)  careful here because some companies may not want you to know they made have made a mistake.
4. Read some of the eNewsletters below to try and see what they targeting (rumor today is content feeds using other websites’ content – you likely don’t have these.  Waiting for rumour tomorrow.)
5. If you really have no idea, look for a reputable SEO company.  How do you find one?  (There are lot’s of scammers out there) I would go to www.webmasterworld.com and post in their forum that you are looking for someone to audit your site because of the last update.  Ask the community about the person/company – the community knows who are the scammers and who are not.  If ANYONE and I mean ANYONE says they can for sure get you in the top 3 spots on Google. Run or lead them along and squash them at an appropriate amount of time as payback.  Full site audits are expensive worth every penny, but expensive.  You can get a quick audit to simply check for the over-optimization penalties only AFTER you wait a week, or until the penalty buzz quietens down.  Do not pay more than $1500 for a quick audit.  You should get it back in less than a week.  You will have to make changes and this may cost you fees too.  You can always use elance.com
6. Some quick basic links from our blog that may be of interest:

•  Restaurant Homepage Checklist for Restaurants 
• How to Choose a Web Design Company for Restaurants
• The Recipe for On Page SEO for Restaurant Websites

Free Newsletters. PDFs and sites you should follow if you don’t have the budget to hire someone to do this for you:

• SEOmoz  As well as being a thoroughly nice chap, Rand Fishkin’s site is chocked full of information in an easy to use format.  He has a beginner’s SEO Guide that is fantastic (pretty), easy to read, and worth the download.  http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
• Bruce Clay  Bruce has been around forever and in my early days as an SEO (I started in 2000) I learned a lot from him.  Bruce’s company has grown enormously and he’s a speaker and or does workshops at virtually every online marketing/SEO conference.  He’s doing a workshop at SMX Seattle.  Sign up for his eNewsletter http://www.bruceclay.com/web_newsletter.htm
• SEORoundtable A great resource I read first thing in the morning, every morning.  Just sign-up for the eNewsletter, no need to ask why. http://www.seroundtable.com/
• Google Webmaster Blog Right from the horses mouth! http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ca

The post Yikes. Have You Checked Your Restaurant Website in Google Today? appeared first on ColdTech Culinary Cool.