So, you want to start making rolled ice cream, but you don’t know what machine to get! Where do you buy one?

The rolled ice cream machines were originally built in China, like where many things began. So much of what we use is made in China, so it’s no surprise that they make ice roll machines too. Unfortunately in our experience, we have found that the ice roll machines coming from China are poorly built, and even dangerous.

When I first started rolling ice cream I used an Ice Plate which I imported from China. The buying processes itself was a nightmare. Not only was there a language barrier between me and seller, but it seemed like the Chinese manufacturers were constantly trying to rip me off. I had very little trust for them. Of course this is just my experience, people may have had different outcomes. But with so much competition in the country it seemed like all the sellers were promising the world, when in fact they couldn’t deliver.

When my machine eventually arrived in my country (3 weeks late) I had to pay almost £1000 in taxes and fees which the manufacturer never told me about. I originally thought I was getting a bargain, but when I added everything together, it wasn’t value for money.

I opened up the delivery and was really excited to start making some amazing ice cream. It didn’t take long for me to notice the quality of workmanship, it was really disappointing! When you spend a lot of money on something, you want it to look and work well. That was far from the case.

It only took 1 day for the plugs to melt. As you can imagine, this was very worrying! But I was confident this was just a small mistake. The Chinese manufacturer had all the safety certificates including the CE European Union marking.

I opened up the machine and saw this inside:

I later found out from a refrigeration engineer that the quality of the pipework and the components they used was terrible. The CE safety mark didn’t mean anything, they just printed it on the paperwork. The metal frame wasn’t stainless steel (despite being advertised as that) which meant you couldn’t use it in a food environment. It wouldn’t take long for the metal to rust! All the components were the cheapest available and the engineer was correct; 2 months later and the machine broke down!

I had a warranty with the Chinese manufacturer though, so I contacted them. The warranty wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on though, they only offer to ship out parts which I then have to pay another engineer to fix. When I looked closer at the machine I could see that for the insulation, the manufacturer used Chinese newspaper. This must have been a joke!

I realised that these manufacturers were doing one thing: ‘selling & forgetting’. They didn’t care if the rolled ice cream machine broke down, it wasn’t their problem. Once the unit was out the door, that was the last you heard from them.

I needed someone who would be able to look after me along the way and help me with my business. I would need to speak to someone if my machine broke down, or if I needed tips on how to make ice rolls and if I’m doing it properly.

It was after this experience that we decided to start our own venture to design, build and manufacture our own ice cream roll machine. We consulted with the very best experts from the industry. We built, tested and improved until we developed the best ice plate on the market. Ice Roll Pro is a product of that uncompromising vision to bring the very best quality to this amazing concept.

With Ice Roll Pro, you can trust our products to exceed your expectations in quality, reliability, performance and power. We provide you with a full comprehensive warranty so you know that we believe in our products. The Ice Roll Pro machine is smaller, lighter and as its a drop-in unit, you can place it anywhere you like. It uses less power, uses an environmentally friendly refrigerant and has a genuine CE mark.

Do you have a nightmare story from buying items from a dodgy manufacturer? Write your comments below, or contact us with your story and we’ll add it to our blog!

Find out more about the Ice Roll Pro machine here. Ice Roll Pro truly is the professional’s choice.