Top Reasons Why Steel Shelving Is Better Than Aluminum

There are many parts to making sure that a restaurant, hotel, or brewery is safe and built to help the business make money. From the floors to the seating to the kitchen, everything has a purpose in making the establishment successful. But one area overlooked and skimped on is shelving.

And when it comes to the shelving for a walk-in cooler, having cheap aluminum shelving can cost a beverage business on many different levels. Here’s why having steel shelving constructed by Cooler Concepts helps your staff and your bottom line.

Safety Matters

Stacking kegs onto commercial aluminum catalog shelving may seem like a way to keep your beer organized without spending a lot of money. The aluminum racks appear sturdy enough, and it’s something that every other brewery, hotel, or restaurant has been using for years. But that doesn’t make it safe.

A full keg of beer weighs 165 pounds, while an empty barrel keg weighs 30 pounds. Imagine that weight (force) being thrust multiple times onto a lightweight shelf during just one week's time. With a simple 16 faucet operation, 38 kegs will be replaced every week. That equals 6,270 pounds of force on that aluminum shelf every week. Over time, the aluminum shelving will wear down and fail (break apart). It is just the nature of their design and material composition. We routinely replace these types of units after 4 -5 years of regular use. We have never replaced a single piece of shelving built by us for any reason. Cooler Concept shelves has the most workable design and shelving construction composition.

Cooler Concepts” keg shelving is constructed from steel, allowing them to withstand more weight than traditional aluminum racks. Available in 10”,17”,24”,29” and 33” deep, we can customize them to your specific wants and needs. Cooler Concepts keg racks are built to hold the right amounts of kegs appropriate for your business. Kegs need to sit on a flat surface and aluminum shelving does not offer a truly flat surface. Kegs can tip over when being moved from side to side or front to back. Customers deserve what they need and not what they get with catalog aluminum shelving that is poor fitting at best and wastes valuable space in the cooler. 

Durability and Savings

Using suitable materials when building keg shelving is essential not only for safety purposes but also for value. Regularly replacing equipment isn’t budget efficient. The typical aluminum shelving used to hold kegs must be replaced every four to five years due to deterioration from rust, bending and other wear and tear. 

Using Cooler Concept steel keg racks can also help your beverage business by optimizing the space in your walk-in cooler. Using our equation for Beer Math, we can determine how much beer you sell every week. Allowing you to manage inventory and maximize storage space by reducing your walk-in cooler’s footprint by up to 40%. 

Steel shelving from Cooler Concepts is built to last. In our 27 years of business, we’ve never had a warranty claim. This helps prevent downtime for your business and, over time, costs you less than if you had initially purchased aluminum shelving.

Use The Safest Shelving In The Industry

At Cooler Concepts, we know that every beer cooler presents its own set of challenges. To help get a better understanding of what obstacles you face on a regular basis, we want to hear from you! Click below to get started.