The tasty alternative

Before you invest in a soft serve ice cream machine, you might want to read the latest scoop on fwip’s powerful and tasty offering: the Portobello.

Weighing in at just 14 kg and measuring 72 cm in height, the Portobello is a commercial ice cream machine capable of delivering a dynamic range of lip-smacking (not to mention award-winning) yet simple ice cream treats and desserts.

Dispense gelato, sorbet, and frozen yogurt (“froyo”) from the comfort of your very own business. Whatever your industry: retail, catering, or leisure and entertainment, fwip’s classically-styled commercial ice cream machines are here to help.

Once you get over the machine’s curves and classic good looks, you’re sure to be curious about its palette-tingling array of fabulous flavours – the perfect  buy for customers looking for a quick fix of ice cream heaven.

And because of its diminutive dimensions, compared with traditional soft serve ice cream machines, it’s easy to find counter top space for the Portobello – or why not look at one of our specially-designed compact or premium units if your site is self-serve friendly?

Expensive soft serve ice cream machines

If the Portobello was a car, you’d be looking at a retro-stylish super mini from a luxury Italian manufacturer. So it’s understandable if you’ve fallen in love but are suddenly worried about the possible price tag.

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We don’t blame you - those soft serve machines are known to be expensive! But put on the brakes for a moment. Pull over safely. But keep that seat belt on because there’s some surprisingly good news around the corner. (Well, in the next paragraph anyway).

The Portobello itself was invented to solve all those pesky soft serve problems you keep reading about - size, price and quality!

Depending on your chosen configuration, the Portobello works out at between two and ten times less expensive than a traditional commercial ice cream machine. And that’s before you even begin to factor in the costs for servicing, cleaning, managing wastage and buying the spare parts required to maintain a soft serve ice cream machine.

With the Portobello, fwip can diagnose and repair 85% of any issues remotely, which means you’re up and running again in minutes, not days. And because the machine can be carried under one arm, any courier, anywhere in the world can deliver, swap or exchange with Amazon-type speedy service. So when it comes to fixing or servicing heavy-duty industrial or commercial kitchen equipment and those bulky metal soft serve machines, just remember - “if you can’t even push it, how do you imagine the Fedex guy (or girl) is going to carry it!”

So far we’ve saved you money and we’ve saved you a headache when it comes to servicing complexity. But startup investment costs and maintenance are not the only metrics where you can see real value from installing the Portobello machine on your premises, whether that’s a fixed location or a mobile one.

What about a "plug'n'play" installation?

With a three-phase power requirement, vibrations like Mount Vesuvius in its prime and 360 degree air circulation venting requirements, you need to plan carefully for that soft serve ice cream dispenser. Do you have the space for it? Do you have the nerves to stare at it, listen to it and then clean it every day (more on that soon)?

With fwip’s Portobello, things are a little more straightforward. Decide on a suitable space, find an available plug socket, and... well, that’s it (that was fwippin’ easy!).

With the plug ‘n’ play Portobello installed, you’re ready to get some serious dessert making going! And taking an average time of 0-30 seconds to serve, your customers will be waiting as long as the next Fast & the Furious sequel takes to come out - not long!

As the fwip Portobello ranks top of the table of the competing soft serve competitors, the big difference is that with its easy-to-load, 100% recyclable capsule system, it’s capable of fwippin’ up over 200 delicious desserts per hour.

Fancy spending 2-4 hours cleaning per day?

Neither do we. That’s why we built the Portobello. You might think all those servings make for a long and complex clean up. But the Portobello is built for speed and an easy clean. In fact, it typically takes between 5 and 10 minutes to clean the Portobello.

The difference? The time it takes you to get to your sink!. Compare that with the two to four hours and the 97 (we didn’t even have to exaggerate that number) parts you have to clean on a conventional pump soft serve machine.

They call it ‘Netflix and Chill’ not ‘Netflix and Clean’ - just think of everything else you could be doing with that extra time.

Only 1-2 flavours with soft serve ice cream machines

The area where Portobello really takes a scoop (or swirl) out of the competition is the sheer choice of flavours. A typical soft serve machine can offer your customers only one flavour. Pay about 5,000 dollars, pounds, euros more and you can offer a grand total of two.

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If you’re like us, then we think that’s a pretty sad existence when it comes to the wonderful world of possibilities in the world of ice cream flavours. With the Portobello, choice is limited to whichever flavours you’ve ordered. In other words, it’s unlimited.

They can be changed and rotated as you wish and depending on geography, local flavours are all the rage!

In the UK, we currently have six flavours on offer and a long list of Great Taste awards. In 2021, the star of the show was the Vegan Mango Sorbet, which was the only ice cream sorbet to win three gold stars! fwip fwip hurray!

The cherry on top? fwip products are manufactured with a 24 month shelf-life, not the typical 2 days associated with soft serve machines.

So, from busy restaurants to mobile catering trucks, there really is no excuse not to whip in a fwip! Want to find the right ice cream or dessert solution for your business? Self-serve, staff-serve or flexi-serve? We’ve got them all.

What we’re trying to say at the end of all this is (yep, it was a bit long… ), please don’t make the wrong choice.

If you are curious to learn a bit more of what we have to offer, please have a look at our business solutions pages for more information: Retail, Cafes & Restaurants, Leisure & Entertainment and Catering. 

Or, just get in touch.

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