Keeping your wine chilled to perfection is an essential requirement for any modern food and drink establishment, but whatever the size of your cooler, it’s not just bottles you can store in there. As the temperature can be easily controlled, the sealed protection of your cooler is ideal for lots of other items.

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Best Use of Space

Whether it’s a counter top, under the counter or one of the free-standing commercial bottle coolers, it’s good to maximise the space inside, so why not also store beer or non-alcoholic drinks?

It could be that you are waiting for a wine delivery, which means you have extra cool storage for other produce.

Plan how much space you want to dedicate to refrigeration equipment and look at units which complement each other. You might like to have a look at the wine coolers, display units and commercial chest freezers from FFD, available online.

Cheese

Experienced cheesemongers will tell you that it should not be kept at too cold a temperature because the flavour can be spoilt. Most businesses are unlikely to have a separate cheese fridge which is set at a higher temperature than a refrigeration unit, but a wine cooler could be ideal. Be careful with strong aromas, though, which could impair your wine.

Fruit and Veg

It’s not something you might have thought of, but a wine cooler can also be used for fruit and vegetables which don’t necessarily need to be refrigerated but will keep for longer if kept cool. Suitable produce includes grapes, apples, pears and herbs.

Olive Oil

Olive oil manufacturers recommend it is kept away from heat, air and light, as these may cause it to oxidize and lose its flavour. According to the Olive Oil Times, a wine cellar is ideal.

Chocolate

If you really have a lot of spare room, you can turn up the temperature to around 18°C-20°C, which is the ideal storage temperature for chocolate. A constant, even temperature, which is hard to achieve in cupboards, is the perfect storing condition for chocolate, which will turn white if put in a refrigeration unit.

Chill Glasses

Have beautifully chilled glasses quickly to hand by using your wine cooler, removing them just before you need them. Or put in a jug or carafe if you use those.