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THE FOUR MAIN QUESTIONS WE ARE ASKED
How much ice do I need? This largely depends on what you are going to use it for. You may have a container to chill drinks, usually two or more if your event is for more than 25 people. Perhaps one for chilling wine and one for chilling beer. Maybe another for soft drinks and water. And Champagne too if it's a wedding or special event. Also consider how long the event will last. After about two or three hours you will need to add more ice to your containers. What kind of people are attending your event? A rugby club disco lasting from 7pm to 3am will usually drink more than a corporate annual dinner, but not always.
Estimated amount of ice required for cooling and serving.
Click here to view the Ice Buckets we provide, and to see How many bags fill each ice bucket and containers visit our Online gallery.
How big is a 12 Kg bag of ice cubes? See below.
Two normal sized bottles of champagne.
50 bags of ice cubes and 5 x 45 litre ice buckets.
How long does ice take to melt? Many people think that ice cubes need to be delivered just before an event starts because the ice will melt very quickly. But surprisingly, ice melts quite slowly if kept in one pile, out of direct sunlight. Our ice cubes are solid, deep frozen and delivered at -18c. We carried out an experiment on a Bank Holiday weekend in August a few years ago and we stacked 10 x 12Kg bags of ice together outside against a wall, covering them with a bath towel. This was on a Saturday afternoon about 4pm. The following Tuesday morning there was still about 15% of ice left. Each day and night was warm and the ice was even in direct sunlight for part of each day. This means that if your event starts at 8pm for example, We can delivery during the afternoon for our Standard Delivery charge and you should lose relatively little ice through melting. Alternatively we do offer an evening or Timed delivery service at extra cost 24 hours a day. If booked in advance.
How long does ice take to chill a bottle of wine from room temperature? There are two answers to this question depending on whether you use water in your containers with the ice, or use ice without water to chill your bottles/cans. We recommend using water because it chills down drinks very quickly. If you don't use water it can take hours to chill down bottles. This is because ice chills the water, the ice water chills the bottles. Using this method, the chilled ice water will chill a bottle of wine or a can of beer or soft drink in 20 minutes or less from room temperature. If you don't use water the ice cubes only touch about 5% or 10% of the surface of the bottle/can. That means it will take 10 to 20 times longer to chill the drinks. That's OK if you have plenty of time. If your event is at 3pm we can deliver in the morning. If it starts at 7pm we can deliver in the afternoon.
If you use water we can deliver up to 20 minutes before your event starts. We recommend that your container is filled half to two thirds full of ice cubes and water is added AFTERWARDS up to the level of the ice. Then add the drinks you want to chill. Perfect! If you don't use water you MUST put the drinks in the container first, then pile the ice on top. Not the other way around. Otherwise you will have the bottles and cans just sitting on top of the ice. Burying them is better.
We also suggest that if you use water, leave the ice bags in one pile and only take bags as required. Half an hour before your event starts usually, maybe an hour. That is because ice melts 10 to 20 faster in water than it does not using water. TIP: We keep seeing customers or their caterers fill up the containers with ice and water as soon as we arrive, even though their event doesn't start for eight hours.
IMPORTANT TIP: If there is one thing to remember it's "Keep the ice bags in one pile until you need them." THREE HOURS (If not using water to help chill the ice) THIRTY MINUTES (If using water).
**************** Why use us? Proper ice cubes! Deep frozen solid cubes that last longer. Not hollow cylinders of ice and not delivered dripping wet because they haven't been stored or transported properly.
A lot of "ice companies" are here today, gone tomorrow pop-up companies. They may be cheaper (but not always) because they are just a private individual with a refrigerated van. And it may have been used to transport raw meat, fish etc. May have traces of blood on the walls and floor. Ours haven't. Sometimes they don't even have a freezer van. We have heard stories of dodgy deliveries (and illegal ones) delivering melting ice from the back of a car! These "ice companies" do not even produce their own ice. They buy from industrial factories that often stop supplying them when the weather gets hot. This means you could be let down badly, when you need the ice most. We manufacture ice cubes ourselves. We have several ice machines so we are not reliant on others. That means it is very unlikely we will let you down.
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OTHER COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS Can you delivery at weekends? Yes. Weekends are our busiest days of the week. Especially Saturdays. And Saturdays are often fully booked so to avoid disappointment please book as soon as you know you need ice. And because Saturdays in Summer are busy it is usually unlikely that we can deliver to your event is it is more than 30 miles from our base in Slough (SL1 4JG). So if your event is on a Saturday and you are a long way from our factory, we can offer delivery during the week. If you have storage.
Can we collect? Collection can usually be arranged during the week by appointment. Our factory is usually manned in the mornings. At weekends our factory is usually closed except for the drivers to load up and go out on deliveries. It may be possible to arrange collection in conjunction with a driver being there but usually not as it is often difficult to know the exact time we will be in attendance and cannot wait if you are not there. We are trialling a collection service from one or two freezers situated outside our premises. If you require to collect at weekends or out of normal hours, you can often arrange this via phone. We will send you an invoice which you can pay by PayPal. Once we receive notification that payment has been received we will send you the combination number to access the freezer/s.
Can you deliver 24 Hours a day? Yes, if booked in advance. We are not a large company. We do not have factories and distribution centres throughout the country. And we do not have a nationwide fleet of refrigerated vans parked strategically near every town centre 24 hours a day, just waiting for a pub, club, or hotel ice machine to break down. Although, judging by the phone messages we receive, a lot of people think that we do. Our phones are generally not manned 24 hours a day either. But we will get back to you early the next day if you ring in the middle of the night looking for a delivery in 10 minutes or sooner, in Bristol, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Basingstoke, Blackpool, or Brentford.
Whilst we can deliver all these places, we are based in Slough (SL1 4JG). The standard daytime delivery charge to Brentford would be £30 + Vat, Birmingham, £100, and Belfast, £450 at least!. One day to get there and another to get back. Normal standard daytime delivery within 10 miles is FREE!!!! (even at weekends) if booked at least 24 hours in advance.
TIP: All major supermarkets sell ice in their freezer departments. But be warned. They only sell 2Kg bags or smaller and they often have a rule that the maximum they will deliver is 5 bags. You may only find this out when they deliver on the day. If you need large quantities ice don't let your supermarket let you down. They often sell out when it's hot too and may not deliver any ice at all.
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