Weigh Everything Correctly And Precisely With Commercial Scales

Commercial scales are food prep equipment for correctly measuring ingredients, goods, and portions. Precision is the primary feature of commercial food scales because they require certification. They ensure that all the price-per-pound products have consistent weights, or the same amount of ingredients go into each recipe. Accurate and fast measurement, easy-to-read displays, removable dishwasher-safe parts, and durable construction are other standard qualities of commercial weight scales. They can help you reduce product waste and prevent buying excess foods.

Types Of Commercial Scales

1. Hanging Scales

Hanging scales, or crane scales, are handy and portable commercial scales. They usually have a top hook to hang the scale from a ceiling or hold it with your hand. The item to be weighed is attached to the bottom hook, sturdy enough to carry very heavy loads. They also have a digital or analog face to read the weight. They are ideal for irregularly-shaped items or objects with an attachment for lifting. They do not occupy any counter or floor space during operation or storage, and newer models have remote control operation features for safely weighing bulky loads from a distance.

2. Baker’s Scales

Baker’s scales, commercial scales used by bakeries, serve two purposes. Some models are used for measuring bags of flour or other dry ingredients. These floor scales have a large weighing surface and a tower screen to reflect the weight. You can use a commercial digital scale for the second task, portioning dough balls consistently. There are also balance beam scales with two platters. You place the dough ball in a scoop on one platter and a beam on the other to balance the weight. All baker’s scales are made of FDA-approved materials for food safety.

3. Counting Scales

Counting scales are commercial scales that can both weigh and measure the number of items. They are ideal for inventory control activities or selling products by quantity rather than weight. When you put an item on the platter, they take it as the sample weight and then divide it by the total weight to calculate the number. They do piece counting of hundreds or thousands of objects in no time, which would otherwise take hours. They also remove human error.

4. Portion Scales

Portion scales help you control the size of each dish. Serving equally-sized portions each time minimizes costs. Plus, customers will not experience disappointment because their plate is too light or heavy. You can track the weight of all ingredients in any recipe and achieve menu consistency. These commercial scales are simple. They have a square, rectangular, or round platform and a digital or dial display. Platform width can be a crucial factor. Consider the largest ingredient in your portions to find the right match for you.

5. Legal For Trade Scales

Legal for trade scales calculate the price of items by weight. Customers can put the product to be measured on the scale’s platform and push a pre-programmed button to select the item on the scale. They can see the weight and price on the screen. Some price computing scales can also print labels. When buying these commercial weighing machines, remember to check PLU. PLU (Price Look-Up) refers to the number of pre-programmable items you can assign to each button on the scale.

Receiving Scales

Receiving scales measure the weight of any incoming produce, poultry, meat, seafood, or other items to check if you have received what you ordered. Their usually large weighing platform is close to the ground to easily load heavy packs. Most receiving commercial scales save inventory data and send it to a computer. Therefore, no information or product is lost in your receiving department. Some of these industrial food scales also have legal trade approval.

Are Mechanical Or Digital Commercial Scales Better?

All commercial scales have digital and mechanical models based on the display mode. Commercial digital scales weigh an object through sensors and show the exact result electronically. In mechanical or analog scales, a dial spins to indicate the weight. Your choice depends on four key points in commercial food scales: precision, accuracy, durability, and affordability. Digital scales are unmatched in the first two, while analogs are the winner in the other two. Digital scales have the bonus of additional features like memory storage, remote control, connectivity, and more.

Commercial scales help you maintain menu consistency, measure portion sizes accurately, know the exact weight of your merchandise, and price your products correctly and fairly. All of these add to a cost-effective and code-reliant operation of a foodservice facility. Browse the broad range of commercial weight scales at Chef’s Deal from elite brands, Alfa  International, Edlund, FMP, Tor-Rey, and more. You can also browse our other food prep equipment for better results with measured ingredients.