For a butcher, the van is the shop on wheels: meat leaves cold and has to arrive cold, whether it’s going to a restaurant down the road or a farmers’ market an hour away. Here’s what to look for in a refrigerated van for meat.
Temperature
Fresh meat travels in a chiller, which holds 0 to 5°C. Chilled food must by law be kept at 8°C or below in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Food Standards Agency recommends 5°C or below. If you sell frozen products too, they need -18°C or colder, so look at a freezer van or a van with two compartments. See chiller, freezer or deep freeze?
Keeping products apart
A fixed bulkhead divides the van into two load areas: for chilled and frozen products, or to keep products segregated to avoid contamination. A moveable bulkhead does the same job but lets you change the size of each compartment to suit the day’s orders.
An interior you can keep clean
The insulated lining gives a smooth, easy-to-clean load space. Clean it after every round, and deal with any damage quickly: a crack or hole lets water into the lining, the insulation stops working and the fridge has to work harder.
Securing the load
- Load lock restraint: metal tracks on the sides of the load space, with spring-loaded poles, stop crates and boxes moving in transit.
- Shelving: fixed or folding, designed into the conversion.
- Pallet protection runners: if you load heavy crates or pallets, they slide over aluminium strips instead of your floor.
Holding temperature on deliveries
Curtains across the side and rear doors hold the cold in while you’re making a drop, and a load temperature recorder prints a record of the temperatures in transit for customers who ask. See all of these on our accessories page.
Size
Choose the size for your heaviest regular load and the places you deliver to. Meat is heavy, so payload matters as much as space: the conversion adds weight, and we check the payload left after conversion against what you carry. See what size fridge van do you need?
New or used
Used vans are converted and checked by our engineers before delivery, with a warranty on the van (what’s left of the maker’s, or 12 months, which can be extended), plus 12 or 24 months on the fridge unit. New vans come as cancelled factory orders, or built to your spec in 7 to 10 days once the van arrives with us. Finance is available for business customers from a £500 +VAT deposit, subject to status.
See our butchers’ fridge vans and every fridge van in stock, or call us on 01444 245555 and tell us how you work.
