How to get your display fridges ready for the festive season

The temperature is dropping, and Christmas is just around the corner. There’s that buzz in the air. Everything’s just that little bit more rushed than usual. 

So the last thing you need is for the lights in your display fridge to start flickering. Or, even worse, for the compressor to give up the ghost, and for the alarm to begin sounding on one of your units. 

Display fridges are your backbone during these busy pre- and post-Christmas weeks, holding everything from party drinks to festive snacks. And the last thing you need is for those issues to start piling up right when you’re so busy. 

Here’s how to get your display fridges ready for the festive season, and why it pays off to get prepared now. 

What steps should you take to prepare display fridges for Christmas? 

A display fridge has dual purpose, to ‘display’ and to ‘refrigerate’. 

Let’s focus on the ‘display’ aspect first. Kick things off with a full clean. Have your staff remove the stock, switch the unit off and wipe each shelf with hot water and a mild detergent. Let the surfaces air dry before you restock anything. Use glass cleaner to wipe down the inside and outside of the doors, especially around the handle and wherever customers may have left their handprints. 

The lighting within a unit can also make a big difference to how your customers interact with it. Inspect all internal LED lights and replace any faulty bulbs before things start getting really hectic. Even a flickering light might signal a red flag to a customer, so the sooner you fix it, the better. 

Next, a refrigeration unit depends on its compressor and coils. The better these can exchange heat from the interior into the environment, the better the cooling performance. Go over the coils with a vacuum and a damp cloth to remove dust and grime. 

Then, check the door seals for gaps, cracks or wear. Test for this by closing a piece of paper in the door. If you can pull it out with no resistance, it’s time to replace the gasket. 

Finally, you must, of course, ensure your display fridges comply with food temperature safety legislation. Place a fridge thermometer on the middle shelf and check the readings at scheduled intervals, recording the results in a log. This way, your staff will know the actual temperature inside a fridge and how well it matches the displayed temperature. And if the temperatures ever shift outside your target range, call an engineer as soon as possible. It’s a busy time around Christmas, and the last thing you want is for your fridge to be left out in the cold, as it were. 

How should you stock and display drinks during the festive period? 

As always, start with your customers. Think about how their behaviour shifts during this particular time of winter. For example, soft drink sales tend to rise in December because people are hosting and going to more social events. You’ll also see a similar spike in other party foods and drinks. 

People naturally gravitate towards anything they notice first that’s within easy reach. As such, place anything you expect to be a high seller on the middle shelves, somewhere around eye level, with slower-selling products on the lower shelves. This is, of course, the same principle as the rest of the year, it’s just that the products on display are different. 

As we get closer to Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year, you’ll go through those last-minute shopping rushes. At this point, it’s best to adjust your stocking strategy. Now it’s time to restock little and often, because a full fridge looks more attractive during peak trading. If you can, track sales patterns hour by hour, so you know the optimal times to restock everything. 

What display ideas attract customer attention during winter? 

There are many ways to spice up your display fridges for the festive season. Here are a few suggestions: 

• Place red or green packaging near the centre shelf, then place smaller white packages around them. This supports a festive theme without changing the product range. 

• Create groupings. Add a shelf-edge strip that reads ‘party drinks’, ‘movie night’ or ‘gift picks’, just the sort of thing people will be looking for. 

• Design and implement colour-coded shelf edge tickets. Use red tickets for December deals and gold tickets for standard pricing. This gives your products a festive look without adding stickers to them or the glass. 

• Place seasonal products in a straight, horizontal or vertical centre line. This kind of thing catches a customer’s eye without interrupting the airflow. 

• Use a narrow silver shelf tape along the bottom edges of shelves. It reflects fridge lighting, creates a festive glint, and stays below the products so nothing blocks your labels. 

At the end of the day, your brand is your brand, and you know what works best, even if that means very few display changes around Christmastime. 

If your team needs a new display fridge, speak with our specialists at Fridgesmart. We supply a range of display units for food and drink businesses across the UK, with delivery options, warranty support and expert advice on installation and maintenance. 

Email hello@fridgesmart.co.uk today or call 01792 677169 for help with your next display fridge order. We look forward to chatting with you about the best way your business can thrive as the year draws to a close once again.