What you need to know:

How to Choose a Commercial Juicer: Cold Press, Centrifugal or Citrus

Comparing brands is where a lot of people start when they’re investing in a commercial juicer for their food business. What may actually be a more helpful question is what your venue is juicing and how much of it.

This is because a machine built for squeezing oranges at a hotel breakfast won’t do much for a juice bar’s kale, or a juice bar only serving cold press. To make it easy for you, this guide matches each type of juicer to the menu and the volume it suits.

How to Choose a Commercial Juicer: Cold Press, Centrifugal or Citrus

The Three Types of Commercial Juicer

There are three types of commercial juicers you need to know about. Each one uses a different method to separate juice from pulp, which also decides what ingredients it's most suited to juicing.

Type	How it works	Best for
Citrus juicer	Squeezes juice from halved or whole citrus fruits, depending on the model	Making orange juice and cocktail citrus
Centrifugal juicer	Grates produce on a fast-spinning disc	Handling hard fruit and vegetables in bulk
Cold press juicer	Crushes and presses produce with a slow-turning auger	Processing leafy greens and juice bar menus

Citrus Juicers

Commercial citrus juicers may only work with citrus fruits, but they get through it faster than any other appliance. How much of the work they take off your staff also depends on the model, such as:

Manual lever presses that squeeze one halved fruit per pull.
Electric presses that spin a cone while staff hold the halved fruit against it.
Fully automatic machines that take whole citrus fruits from a hopper and handle the whole cutting and squeezing process themselves
Self-service models designed for breakfast buffets so guests can make their own fresh juice.

If you’re running a breakfast service that only really focuses on orange juice or a bar that squeezes fresh limes and lemons for cocktails, you won’t really need much more.

Centrifugal Juicers

Some of the other benefits include:

Juice coming out within seconds of the produce going in.
Continuous pulp ejection sends pulp into a separate bin, so your staff don’t have to stop mid-service to empty a basket.
Wide feed chutes that can take whole apples with no pre-cutting, saving your staff more time.
It can handle hard produce, like carrots and beetroot.

Leafy greens are a no-go in a centrifugal juicer though. Kale and spinach simply pass through the grater too quickly and give up less juice. That higher speed also whips air into the juice, so it’s foamier and separates sooner, requiring immediate serving.

Cold Press Juicers

A commercial cold press juicer uses a slow-turning auger to crush produce and press the juice out through a screen. This helps to:

Get more juice out of leafy greens and herbs.
Makes thicker juice with very little foam.
Produces the style of juice most juice bars tend to sell.
Can run continuously through service, which many domestic models can’t handle.

Manufacturers also claim its low speed helps reduce heat and oxidation, which helps juice retain more of its nutrients.

Speed, Yield and Juice Quality

The speed and amount of juice appliances can make is where the differences really show up. Citrus and centrifugal machines are the quicker of the options, with slower cold press machines that tend to be able to get more juice from every box of produce. Let’s compare.

	Citrus	Centrifugal	Cold press
Speed	Fastest for citrus, but can only handle oranges, lemons, limes, etc.	Fast	Slowest
Yield	High on citrus	Lower on leafy greens	Highest on leafy greens
Juice quality	Fresh citrus juice	Foamier juices that separate sooner	Thicker with little foam
Produce	Can only juice citrus fruits	Hard fruit and vegetables	Leafy greens and most other produce

This is where looking at cost per litre can help you choose a juicer. When a juicer can get more juice out of every kilo of kale, your produce costs are going to drop with every bottle. If you have a green juice menu, those savings can add up quickly.

Cleaning and Daily Maintenance

Your team should be stripping down and cleaning any type of juicer at every close, so how long it takes them can make labour costs something you need to pay attention to. It can be a deciding factor if you’re torn between two types of commercial juicers.

Type	Clean-down time	Why
Citrus	Quickest to clean	Manual and electric presses only have a handful of parts, making them quicker to clean than automatic machines with more to remove.
Centrifugal	Moderately fast, but not the fastest to clean	The mesh filter basket traps fine pulp and needs scrubbing by hand with a brush.
Cold press	It takes the longest to clean	The auger and the screen both come out, and fibrous produce like celery can clog the screen.

Before you invest in a juicer, also look at which parts come off without tools and check which ones the manufacturer rates as dishwasher safe. Your team will thank you in the long run.

Power, Bench Space and Noise

Most commercial juicers run off a standard power outlet, so they rarely need you to bring in an electrician.

Where they do tend to differ is in size. A manual lever press can fit easily on a back bar, while some automatic citrus juicers are large enough that they come with their own stand.

There’s also the noise level to consider, especially if the juicer is sitting out front where you’re serving customers. A centrifugal motor is usually the loudest, so just keep it in mind.

Which Juicer Suits Your Venue?

Venue	Common juices being made	Which type of juicer usually suits service
Hotel breakfast service	Large volumes of orange juice over a few busy hours	An automatic citrus juice, plus a self-service model on the buffet
Café with a short juice menu	A few apple, carrot and orange juices each day	A centrifugal juicer, with a small citrus press if orange juice is popular
Juice bar selling cold pressed juice	Leafy greens, celery and ginger all day	A commercial cold press juicer, often with a centrifugal machine for quicker made-to-order juices
Cocktail bar	Limes and lemons in small batches throughout the night	A manual lever or electric citrus press

Many kitchens or venues will have two types of juicers. This is something to consider if you sell or offer a mix of juices, such as fresh orange juice and green juices.

Shop Commercial Juicers at AGC Equipment

Browse AGC Equipment’s range of commercial juicers, including popular models from leading brands Santos, Zumex, Kuvings and Robot Coupe.

How to Choose a Commercial Juicer: Cold Press, Centrifugal or Citrus