05/09/2026
Hey everyone,
I wanted to share a case study that highlights why working with a self-employed technician might be a better fit for you than using a large service provider.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been helping a local bar and grill that’s been through some significant changes. They’re working hard to get things back on track, and I’ve been assisting them one refrigeration issue at a time.
I know the photo isn’t the best quality, but it was taken while I was on top of their ice machine! 😅
The most important thing to notice is the brown color of the foaming cleaner. The coil that removes heat from the water to make ice was heavily clogged with grease and dirt.
They had been using another “bigger” service company for scheduled maintenance on their ice machine. It wasn’t making ice well on the morning of Cinco De Mayo, and it was going to be almost 80 degrees out, with a large outdoor bar area. Yikes!
This machine was “cleaned” within 1-2 months ago. I’m concerned that someone might have missed something, and I’m really sorry for my new clients. I’m not accusing the previous providers of intentionally doing something wrong. I actually interviewed with that company a while back, and they were in desperate need of skilled technicians. The issue is that sometimes these larger companies are so overwhelmed with their overhead and so on that they will send younger workers to handle tasks like this, and the result is that clients don’t receive the service they need.