I'm starting to think about starting to look (LOL) for a used mixer. Hoping to have a small special order bakery by early 2009. (If I can even afford the real estate --no home baking in CA) The place I'm working now has a 30 quart Univex which works really well and can mix a lot, but I'm wondering if a 20 quart would do as well. We never actually fill this one to capacity. I'll want multiple bowls and paddles and the parts for the 20 quart are a lot less expensive, as is the mixer itself. What do those of you who have shops use? Is a Hobart a whole lot better than the other brands out there. And did you all buy new or used?
Thanks for any words of advice you might have
Hobart
Used
20-qt
I wouldn't want one bigger (at least not now). You need to factor how heavy the bowl will be when it's filled with batter or dough, and how easy it would be to manage as you pour batter, as you wash it in the sink, will it fit thru your commercial dishwasher.
I look at it this way: I can make choc chip cookie dough and get 200 cookies out of one batch ... and I still have room left over. If you consider a 2-lb bag of p.sugar "one batch", then I mix 5 batches at once and have LOTS of room in the bowl. I can get the equivalent of 8 cake mixes in the bowl and have room left over ... it only takes 7 to bake a 3-tier wedding cake for 100.
I'm *this* close to buying a used 60 qt. Hobart...
Not sure if I'll need that much room or not - but the price is right (less than a new 20 qt.)
In the bakery I worked in a few years ago, we had a 30 qt, which I really liked. I don't think I would buy less than a 30 qt. myself. But I like to bake in large quantities and freeze.
I have the hobart 30qt which i bought "used" but they had never even plugged it up, it was literally still bond and stapled to shipping papers.
I love it, but i bake more than cake, i have a lot of dough to fight with, and i don't have a problem with the bowl getting to heavy because i scoop the mixture out with a scoop. hth
i'm lovin my 30 quart...i make tons of icing, and a smaller one just wouldn't do, as it is i gotta fill it up 2-3 times every saturday
I have a Hobart 20 that I picked up used... But, I haven't had a chance to actually USE it yet, OTOH, I grew up with a 60 I believe for my parent's business...
Like others have mentioned you need to first factor "can you move/lift/etc. it when it's FILLED by yourself?" If you're doing enough production that you've got a support staff so two people lifting isn't an issue that's one thing, but if you're a one woman show, the 20 is going to get the job done.
The other thing is, how much space do you have for the thing??? A 20qt mixer is still small enough that you can actually MOVE the mixer or put it on a rolling cart, a 30 is pretty much going to be where you put it and never move again. There is a huge size difference between the base unit of the 20 vs. the 30... Also, from talking with used equipment dealers, Hobart is the way to go because you can get parts far easier than other companies. It's something to factor into your purchase.
When I first opened I bought a new Hobart 20 qrt, around 1800.00 if I remember correctly. On my first attempt to use it, it did not run! I tried everything, my husband tried also. I called the company I bought it from and they said they would send someone out to fix it. What! Its brand new! No, you come pick this thing up and return my money. I was so disappointed I could cry. My DH did some electrical work for this guy in his garage and noticed he had an old 20 quart mixer sitting in the corner. My DH asked him if it worked and he said yes. So, he bartered for his work and brought it to me. I almost died when I saw it, it had to be at least 50 years old, with the old shifter and transmission, belt driven. My DH took it apart, greased it, cleaned it, painted it and it looked so much better, and by golly it worked!!! It had all the attachments, that baby has been a work horse since then, it has now been steadily going for 8 years,I wouldn't trade it for no money. We tried to find out more about its history, but came to a dead end. I have had some old bakers look at it and their best guess is 55-60 years old. I like the 20 quart size, I have worked with up to 80 quart and thats just too big for me. I can't tell you how much icing and cake my good ole mixer has made. It has been very dependable. Hobart is traditionally a good brand, I think I just got a lemon in the beginning.I use my 6 quart KA for small mixing.
LOL... Cupcake, that sounds EXACTLY like MY 20qt. mixer!!!!! My brother said when he brought it up here "The thing looks like it came over on the Titanic, ARE YOU SURE this is what you wanted????" (his BIL is in charge of equipment for a large bakery that was no longer using it so I picked it up for $300(!!!)... We were at my niece's b-day party and I was asking him about mixers because I knew he worked with them and in general knew them better, when I signed what size bowl I wanted he was like "Oh, we've got one of them sitting in the stack..." and I said "if it works, Anything under six and I bring green" LOL but it IS pretty rough looking and the bowl/paddle need to be replaced so I think it was a good compromise)
O.k. my question for you Cupcake is... how do you get it ready for the paint job and where on earth do you take it??????????? Mine is in DESPERATE need of a paint job (I'm thinking red with flames airbrushed LOL - JK my inspector probably would make me get it redone LOL) but I haven't the first clue on what to do or where to take it...
Thanks, ladies! So happy to see all these answers as I didn't get notified anyone had posted.
Sounds like Hobart is the way to go. No one ever says anything bad about them. The Univex rattles a lot and I worry about getting metal in the mix. So far that doesn't seem to happen, but... The weight and size is definitely something I had thought about, as I'm not a big person and not as young as I'd like to be (LOL) so lifting could be an issue if not right now, then a few years along. I can handle the 30 quart, but it has never been more than half full, and I am hoping to have the same sort of special order business, so I'm thinking the 20 quart might be fine. I'm thinking that the bowls are likely to be the largest things to go in my sink, so perhaps I could get away with a smaller sink too. I guess I'll see what comes along at auctions and on craigslist near here. I will definitely put the 20 quart in the running.
Indydebi, I like the thought of a commercial dishwasher, but I'm afraid I'll have to wash by hand. I think if I have money after the bare basics, I really need a sheeter more. Which brings me to another question. ( About to hijack my own thread. ) Do any of you have fondant and/or dough sheeters? I've used sheeters with both and am positively sold, but they sure are expensive!!!!! But boy do they cut down on production time!!!!! Any words of wisdom on that topic or does anyone have additional on mixers?
I have a 20" somerset dough roller... love it. Wish I had the 30" sometimes, but getting a used 20" for $800 was too good to pass up.
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