Juicer vs Blender: Choosing the Right Appliance for Your Business

There are a variety of factors to consider when deciding between any appliance for your restaurant, hotel, or commercial kitchen. From consumer preferences to operational efficiency, budget, and how you choose to expand or evolve your menu. With more consumers prioritizing healthy and fresh whole foods, you may be trying to decide between a juicer and a blender. Let’s dive into the key deciding factors between a juicer vs blender.

What is a juicer?

A juicer effortlessly extracts the juice from fruit. It rapidly transforms produce into a silky smooth and nutrient-dense beverage. The skin, seeds, and pulp are separated with little to no preparation other than washing and trimming stems.

Types of juicers

Another factor to consider is what fruits you want to juice. You need to ensure the appliance you select juices what you want to serve. Depending on your menu, you may require more than one juicer—or a larger juicer than you already have.

• Citrus juicers: Citrus juicers squeeze oranges, lemons, and limes without peeling or slicing. Zumex offers self-serve citrus juicers that are ideal for hotels.
• Centrifuge juicer: Centrifuge juicers extract juice from all produce, including peeled citrus fruits. It also juices vegetables for green juice and custom juice recipes.
• Cold press juicer: A cold press crushes the fruit, then presses it to extract juice. Crushing and pressing generate less heat, retaining more of the nutrient value.

What is a blender?

Where a juicer extracts juice from the fruit, a blender mixes your ingredients together. The consistency is thicker than juice as the pulp and fiber remain. After washing your produce, you’ll need to manually remove peels, pits, cores, stems, and seeds. There’s less food waste, but more prep time.

Types of blenders

The next factor to consider when deciding between a juicer vs blender is what your commercial blender options are. With blenders, you aren’t limited to fruits and vegetables, but countless foods, spices, and ingredients.

• Countertop blender: A commercial countertop blender is larger and higher-powered than standard at-home blenders. You’ll need to chop and add water or a liquid when juicing dense items such as carrots.
• Immersion blender: Handheld stick blenders aren’t a top pick for juicing, but they can be used for juicing soft or defrosted fruits. This includes pineapple, cherries, peaches, berries, and leafy greens. They’re a better fit for smoothies or fruit puree. Being handheld, they aren’t ideal for commercial juicing.

Pros and Cons of Juicer vs Blender

Versatility

• Juicers only make juice for freshly squeezed juice and recipes that call for fresh juice.
• Blenders are far more versatile, creating juice, soups, dips, salad dressings, and other food items.

Yield

• Yield varies greatly depending on the juicer and blender models. Zumex commercial juicers can extract more juice from fruit than any blender, which means you can save money on your fruit costs.

Consistency

• Juicing ensures a silky smooth consistency.
  Blending creates a thicker beverage.

Nutrient value

• Juicing and blending both contribute to daily fruit and vegetable intake, providing a diverse range of vitamins and minerals. Juice is easier to digest.

Is it better to use a juicer or a blender?

Which appliance is better for your restaurant, hotel, or commercial kitchen depends on what food items you plan to serve. A blender is more versatile, but a juicer adds a new line item to your healthy snack and beverage menu. You may prefer to invest in both!

Can a blender be used for juicing?

Yes, however, the juice won’t be as smooth as using a juicer. There’s also more prep time when using a blender as you must wash and remove citrus peels, pits, cores, and seeds—then chop to size.

Is it better to juice or blend green juice?

This depends on the consistency you prefer. A juicer will produce a smoother and mildly sweeter green juice. A blender creates a thicker beverage that rivals a green smoothie, with a richer flavor profile.

Where blenders offer versatility, juicers attract and retain health-conscious customers. Which is right for your restaurant, hotel, or commercial kitchen depends on your business’s specific needs and goals. The tips above will help you narrow down your appliance options.

If you would like to learn more about commercial juicers, reach out to Zumex. We offer a wide range of juicers and juice extractors, leading in performance.