Ice machine for a buffet restaurant (self-service)

A buffet or self-service restaurant is a refill line. Guests take their own ice, usually more than once, from a station that runs through lunch and dinner. The published row for that job is not the full-service cover. Kitchen Spot’s sizing chart, opened 2026-10-04, prints Self-Service = 2 to 3 lbs per person, and the table is marked add 20%. GoFoodservice’s quick-reference calculator, live header Last updated: Sep 20, 2026, opened the same day, prints Self-Serve (3 lbs/person). That table’s note is “All figures include a 20% buffer.” Ice Machine Sales’ FAQ chart and KaTom’s self-service prose print the same 2 to 3 band. KaTom’s quick-reference Self-Serve column is the 3 lb end, and those cells already include the 20%.

That is a different worksheet from a full-service restaurant at 1.5 lb per guest (Kitchen Spot, Ice Machine Sales, KaTom) or 1.5–2 lb on that page’s other dining-room sources, and from GoFoodservice’s restaurant 2 lb row. It is a different worksheet from a banquet hall sized by one event’s attendees — GoFoodservice’s event-hall row is 2 lb per person, and Kitchen Spot’s extended-events row is 2 lb, not an all-day refill station. It is not a fast-food cup-fill in ounces. It is not a deli sandwich counter that uses those ounces, with salad-bar flake only when a well exists. It is not a school cafeteria at 1 or 1.5 lb per student, not a hotel guest-floor 5 lb per room, and not a church fellowship hall that sits most of the week. A catered buffet cooked somewhere else and hauled in bags is the catering page.

This is a planning page from published application factors and current OEM sheets already in this directory. It is not a dealer quote, not a review score, and not a health-code opinion. Confirm electrical, plumbing, clearance, and sanitation with the people who inspect the building.

Who this is for

• Buffet restaurants and cafeteria-style dining rooms where guests refill their own soft drinks, iced tea, or water from a dispenser or a staffed ice station that behaves like one.
• All-day rooms that turn a lunch and a dinner. Those are two headcounts on one production day. They are not two copies of the same sitting.
• A salad bar or hot-food ice well, only as its own line, and only when the well is actually there. Drink ice and display flake are different ice.
• A hotel breakfast buffet or a lunch buffet inside a larger building, for the guests at that line. Guest-floor buckets stay on the hotel page. A Saturday wedding in a ballroom stays on the banquet page.

It is not a dining room sized only at 1.5 lb per guest. It is not a one-night event hall. It is not a drive-thru window. It is not a sandwich shop. It is not a student lunch period. It is not a corridor ice room.

Published factors

These are dealer and OEM-adjacent application rules of thumb, not a manufacturer warranty and not a lab measurement of your soda valves. Apply one buffer, from the source you picked. Kitchen Spot’s 20% (or 10% once that need exceeds 1,000 lb/day) is not also GoFoodservice’s already-included 20%, and not also KaTom’s already-included table 20%.

Pick one person-method for the drink line. Say which buffer you used. A midpoint of Kitchen Spot’s 2 to 3 (2.5 lb) is arithmetic on their range. It is not a cell they print. GoFoodservice and the KaTom table do not have a 2.5 lb column. Do not shop 2.5 and 3 as if both were owed.

Separate worksheets — do not stack the same guest

• A buffet guest is one self-service person, not a cover plus a refill station. Kitchen Spot’s 1.5 and 2 to 3 are different rows. KaTom’s prose says the dispenser needs more than the standard 1.5, and then gives 2 to 3 as that higher plan. The 2 to 3 replaces 1.5. It does not get added to it.
• Lunch guests and dinner guests add. They are one day. A second sitting is a second headcount. It is not a second copy of the lunch machine.
• A return trip for another plate is why the row is 2 to 3, not 1.5. Do not count the same body again as a new “guest” unless your headcount method is person-visits and you have not also used a refill-heavy factor. Pick one. This page’s worked days use person-visits through the line, once per sitting, on the self-service factor. They do not also multiply by 1.5.
• GoFoodservice’s restaurant 2 lb row is a dining room. The calculator cell for 100 restaurant customers is 240 lb. The self-serve cell for 100 is 360 lb. Matching a 2 lb result to Kitchen Spot’s low end is a coincidence of arithmetic. It is not permission to add the two rows.
• An event-hall 2 lb row is one reception. GoFoodservice’s event calculator matches the restaurant calculator (100 → 240 lb) and does not match self-serve (100 → 360 lb). A hall that is not also an all-day buffet restaurant does not get both.
• A counted cup replaces the person factor. If the POS has drink counts, the ounce table on the fast-food page is the more precise line. Do not run ounces and 2–3 lb on the same drinks.
• The salad bar is cubic feet of flake. It is not another 2–3 lb on the guest who walked past it.
• Hotel rooms, student meals, and off-site bags are other buildings. 5 lb × occupied rooms, 1 or 1.5 lb × students, and a caterer’s bag-out do not join this headcount.
• One buffer. Kitchen Spot’s 20% belongs on a Kitchen Spot application, once, and only while the need is at or under 1,000 lb/day. Ice Machine Sales does not print it. GoFoodservice’s and KaTom’s quick-reference cells already contain it.

Worked peak day — all-day buffet, lunch and dinner

Headcounts below are a planning assumption, labeled as an example, not a measured door count. One building. One peak Saturday. Guests fill their own cups. No drive-thru. No wedding buyout. No salad bar on this first pass. No hotel rooms on this line.

• Lunch, 2 hours: 180 guests through the line.
• Dinner, 2 hours: 140 guests through the line.

Day: 180 + 140 = 320 person-visits.

Kitchen Spot, 2 to 3 lb, then the margin they print

None of 640, 800, or 960 exceeds 1,000 lb/day, so the 20% sentence is the one they print. The 10% sentence does not apply to this day. We do not multiply 768 by another 20%.

Ice Machine Sales prints 2 to 3 lb and no percent. On that FAQ the same 320 guests stay at 640–960 lb. The 768 / 960 / 1,152 figures are Kitchen Spot’s margin, not an Ice Machine Sales total.

The sittings add to the day. They do not add a second day.

• Lunch, 2 lb: 180 × 2 = 360 lb raw; × 1.20 = 432 lb. Dinner: 140 × 2 = 280 lb raw; × 1.20 = 336 lb. Check: 360 + 280 = 640. 432 + 336 = 768.
• Lunch, 2.5 lb: 180 × 2.5 = 450 lb raw; × 1.20 = 540 lb. Dinner: 140 × 2.5 = 350 lb raw; × 1.20 = 420 lb. Check: 450 + 350 = 800. 540 + 420 = 960.
• Lunch, 3 lb: 180 × 3 = 540 lb raw; × 1.20 = 648 lb. Dinner: 140 × 3 = 420 lb raw; × 1.20 = 504 lb. Check: 540 + 420 = 960. 648 + 504 = 1,152.

The larger window on the 2.5 lb reading is lunch: 450 lb raw, 540 lb after the 20%. Dinner is inside the day. Adding the windows double-counts the day.

GoFoodservice and KaTom tables — the 3 lb end, buffer already in

320 is not a printed column. The method those tables document is customers × 3 × 1.20:

320 × 3 × 1.20 = 1,152 lb.

That 1,152 matches Kitchen Spot’s 3 lb + 20%. It replaces the 768 and the 960. It is not 1,152 + 960. Printed neighbors, so nobody reads a nearby cell as “about 320”:

• 250 customers: 900 lb (250 × 3 × 1.20 = 900)
• 500 customers: 1,800 lb

Their 100-customer self-serve cell is 360 lb. That is not this Saturday.

GoFoodservice’s restaurant FAQ, on the same article, is a different row: 400 covers × 2 lb = 800 lb, then add 20–30%. On these 320 person-visits that restaurant FAQ would be 320 × 2 = 640 lb, then 640 × 1.20 = 768 lb or 640 × 1.30 = 832 lb. The 768 matches Kitchen Spot’s 2 lb + 20% by arithmetic. It is still the restaurant FAQ. Use it only if you moved the whole day onto their 2 lb restaurant line. Do not put 20–30% on top of the 1,152 self-serve cell. The calculator already included 20%.

Same 320 guests, the rows this page is not

Each line replaces the self-service day. It does not sit on it.

• Kitchen Spot / Ice Machine Sales restaurant 1.5 lb: 320 × 1.5 = 480 lb. Kitchen Spot’s 20% on that row: 480 × 1.20 = 576 lb. Ice Machine Sales stays at 480 lb. KaTom’s table already includes 20% on 1.5 lb; the prose 20% on 480 is 576 lb. Do not add it twice.
• GoFoodservice restaurant calculator 2 lb, buffer in: 320 × 2 × 1.20 = 768 lb. That equals the self-service low end with Kitchen Spot’s 20%. It is the wrong row for a refill station.
• GoFoodservice event-hall 2 lb, same arithmetic: 768 lb. A buyout that replaces the public buffet is the banquet page. It is not a second 768 on top of 1,152.
• Kitchen Spot extended events 2 lb + 20%: 320 × 2 × 1.20 = 768 lb. Same number, event label.
• School 1 lb: 320 × 1 = 320 lb, or GoFoodservice’s 1.5: 320 × 1.5 = 480 lb before their school calculator’s included 20% (576 lb). This is not a student meal.
• Hotel 5 lb × rooms does not belong on 320 buffet guests. There are no rooms in this example.

When the need crosses 1,000 lb

Kitchen Spot’s 10% sentence is about the need, not about the headcount. A short contrast, still a planning assumption: 420 guests, one factor, no second sitting.

• 420 × 2 = 840 lb. That does not exceed 1,000, so their 20% still applies: 840 × 1.20 = 1,008 lb.
• 420 × 2.5 = 1,050 lb. That exceeds 1,000, so 10% replaces 20%: 1,050 × 1.10 = 1,155 lb. It is not 1,050 × 1.20 × 1.10.
• 420 × 3 = 1,260 lb. 10%: 1,260 × 1.10 = 1,386 lb.

GoFoodservice / KaTom still use 20% inside the 3 lb cell, including above 1,000. 420 × 3 × 1.20 = 1,512 lb. Their printed 500-customer cell is 1,800 lb. The 1,512 replaces 1,386. It does not stack Kitchen Spot’s 10% on top of their 20%. 420 is not a column on their table.

Worked peak day — one sitting, 120 guests

Same method. Planning assumption: one lunch, no dinner turn, no salad bar yet. The whole day leaves in about 2 hours.

240, 300, and 360 are all under 1,000 lb, so Kitchen Spot’s 20% is still the margin. Ice Machine Sales, no percent: the day stays 240–360 lb.

GoFoodservice / KaTom printed neighbors: 100 → 360 lb, 250 → 900 lb. Do not read 360 as “about 120 guests.” 360 is their 100-customer cell. These 120 guests at 3 lb with the included buffer are 432 lb.

The full-service 1.5 lb line on the same 120 is 180 lb, or 216 lb after Kitchen Spot’s 20%. That is a restaurant cover count. It is the wrong method here.

A still smaller side station, so the undercounter rows below have a number to miss or meet: 40 guests, one 2-hour lunch, same factors.

• 2 lb: 80 lb raw; Kitchen Spot +20% = 96 lb
• 2.5 lb: 100 lb raw; +20% = 120 lb
• 3 lb: 120 lb raw; +20% = 144 lb
• GoFoodservice / KaTom method: 40 × 3 × 1.20 = 144 lb. Not a printed column. Their 100-customer cell (360 lb) is not this station.

Salad bar or food bar — a separate line

Use this only when the buffet has a cold well, a salad bar, or a display that is actually iced. Drink pounds stay what they were. The well is flake (or whatever ice the display uses), usually a second machine. Kitchen Spot’s multiple-units paragraph, opened 2026-10-04, names flake for food displays and cube for the bar as a reason to own more than one machine. GoFoodservice assigns flake to food displays and says you will use more of it because it is less dense — that sentence is not a percent this page can multiply. Their restaurant flaked ice 2 lb per person row is plated flake. It replaces a measured well. It does not join it.

Planning assumption: a 2.0 ft³ well. We did not measure yours.

• Kitchen Spot 35 lb/ft³: 2.0 × 35 = 70 lb
• GoFoodservice 30 lb/ft³: 2.0 × 30 = 60 lb

Do not average those into 32.5 lb/ft³. The FAQ on the GoFoodservice page calls the 30 a daily display need. It does not print a second rebuild. If you dump the well and rebuild it once more the same day, that second 60 or 70 lb is an operations assumption, labeled here, not a cell on the chart. If you only top up, weigh the top-up.

A 4.0 ft³ well, same sources: 4 × 35 = 140 lb, or 4 × 30 = 120 lb. That is still not 4 × 320 guests.

Hoshizaki F-330BAK is the flake cabinet in this directory: up to 331 lb, 80 lb bin (2.7 ft³, AHRI 820 on the directory page). 90/70 production is not on that HTML. 331 covers a 60–70 lb fill, and it covers a labeled second rebuild (120–140 lb), on the “up to 331” cell. The 80 lb bin covers a 60 or 70 lb first fill if it starts full. It does not hold a 120–140 lb 4 ft³ fill. It does not hold two rebuilds at once. No modular flake head is in this directory. A cube head does not become this well because the brochure says “buffet.”

Adding the 2 ft³ well to the 120-guest drink day is a two-machine total, not a single target: drink ice on the 2.5 lb Kitchen Spot reading with 20% is 360 lb of cube or nugget, plus 70 lb of flake. 360 + 70 = 430 only as a building sum after the ice types are already split. A 430 lb cube head does not ice the lettuce.

Bin and the lunch window

The 960 lb Kitchen Spot day (320 guests at the 2.5 lb midpoint, plus 20%) does not leave in one minute, and it does not sit in one hopper. Ice bin sizing is the leftover page. A 24-hour rating is not storage. KaTom quotes the same split: rated capacity is a 24-hour cycle, not one service, and once the bin is empty it takes the better part of a day to fill back up.

Three published bin rules were open on 2026-10-04. They disagree. Use one and say which.

• Kitchen Spot. Select a bin that holds 10–20% more than the ice maker produces. Expect the pile to hold 10–20% less than the printed bin pounds, because a peak can shut the machine off. A bin about twice daily make is their “usually a bad idea” line for ice used every day: it melts, and old ice can sit. The exception they name is a church, event center, or music venue that uses ice one or two days a week. A buffet that runs lunch every day does not get that exception.
• KaTom. A bin that holds about 75–80% of what the machine produces. Their example is a 560 lb/day head with a 420–440 lb bin. They also say an event hall that is not using ice constantly might want a bin of 1.5 times daily production. That 1.5× note is the sporadic hall, not this daily line.
• GoFoodservice. “Bin storage should equal or exceed” the machine’s 24-hour production. They also say to avoid extreme oversizing, because ice at the bottom of a deep bin can melt and refreeze. Separately, their modular storage band is 230–4,600+ lb. A band is not a SKU.

On a head that makes 378 lb @ 90/70 (the IYT0450A directory figure):

• Kitchen Spot’s 10–20% larger than that make: 378 × 1.10 = 415.8 lb, 378 × 1.20 = 453.6 lb.
• KaTom’s 75–80% of that make: 378 × 0.75 = 283.5 lb, 378 × 0.80 = 302.4 lb.
• GoFoodservice’s “at least the 24-hour production”: at least 378 lb if 378 is the production you are using. If you instead use the directory’s 490 lb @ 70/50, their rule reads at least 490 lb. KaTom on 490 is 490 × 0.75 = 367.5 lb and 490 × 0.80 = 392 lb.

Do not average 284 and 454 into a house bin. The rush section below is a different question: how much ice has to be already in the bin when the line opens.

120 guests, the 2-hour lunch is the day

Worked line: Kitchen Spot 2.5 lb + 20% = 360 lb in 2 hours. That figure replaces 288 and 432 for this paragraph. It is not added to them.

Manitowoc IYT0450A air-cooled half-dice, directory page: 490 lb @ 70/50, 378 lb @ 90/70. Head only. The directory note says this head is not stackable. Dealer copy commonly pairs D400 / D570 bins. This directory does not print those bins’ pound ratings. Do not invent them from the model code.

• 378 lb @ 90/70 covers the 288 lb and 360 lb readings. It misses the 432 lb reading (Kitchen Spot 3 lb + 20%, and the GoFoodservice / KaTom 3 lb method on these 120 guests).
• Two hours at 378: 378 ÷ 24 × 2 = 31.5 lb. The hourly split is arithmetic, not an OEM hourly guarantee. Harvest is cyclic.
• If the pull is 360 lb and make during the window is 31.5 lb, ice already stored has to cover about 328.5 lb, before any extra opening stock. Kitchen Spot’s 10–20% usable-loss reading on that stored need: 328.5 ÷ 0.90 = 365 lb printed, and 328.5 ÷ 0.80 = 410.6 lb printed. A bin in that range is a modular bin from the head’s compatibility list. It is not an undercounter leftover.
• Their “10–20% larger than daily make” shortcut on the 378 lb machine (416–454 lb) is a bin sized to production, not a measurement of this 360 lb pull. KaTom’s 75–80% bin on the same 378 (about 284–302 lb) is smaller than the 360 lb pull. A lunch that takes most of the day’s ice in two hours can empty that bin, which is the refill delay their article describes. For this window, size storage to the pull, not to 75% of the brochure.

Hoshizaki KM-520MAJ is approximately 556 lb. 90/70 is not on that page. 556 covers 288, 360, and 432 on the “approximately 556” cell. If you apply Kitchen Spot’s 15% or more because there is no 90/70 cell: 556 × 0.85 = 472.6 lb. That is arithmetic on their derate sentence, not a printed 90/70 cell. 472.6 still covers 432. Do not also subtract 15% from the 360 lb target, and do not also apply GoFoodservice’s 10–15% on top. The product page says two units may be mounted side by side. One head already covers this 120-guest sitting on the “approximately 556” cell. The directory note lists compatible bins from B-250 through B-1300 and does not print each bin’s pounds. Pair one the sheet names.

Scotsman HID525 is the dispenser in this directory: 500 lb @ 70/50, 380 lb @ 90/70 air-cooled on the product-page figures the directory uses. An older 02/21 PDF listed 365 lb air-cooled @ 90/70; the directory page says it used the current product page, so treat 380 as that page’s figure and 365 as the older sheet. Storage is a 25 lb hopper, not a dump bin.

• 380 covers the 360 lb day as a 24-hour make. The hopper does not.
• Two hours at 380: 380 ÷ 24 × 2 = 31.7 lb of arithmetic make. A hopper that starts full holds 25 lb. On paper: about 56.7 lb against a 360 lb lunch. That misses 288, 360, and 432.
• Kitchen Spot’s 20% usable-loss on a 25 lb sticker is 25 × 0.80 = 20 lb. That is a smaller miss, not a save.
• Splitting the same 360 lb across several hoppers (360 ÷ 56.7 ≈ 6.3) is arithmetic on this one dispenser. It is not an OEM multi-unit rating, and it is a poor description of a serving line. GoFoodservice’s manual-fill dispenser is the pattern they publish for this shape: a staff-only modular bin in back, and a dispenser at the station that staff refill. See the form-factor section.

40-guest lunch, own cabinet

The 96 lb day (Kitchen Spot 2 lb + 20%) and the 144 lb day (3 lb + 20%, or GoFoodservice / KaTom on 40 guests) are a different bin problem. The pull is still the whole sitting if everyone comes in the same 2 hours.

Manitowoc UYF-0190A: 193 lb @ 70/50, 140 lb @ 90/70, 90 lb bin.

• 140 @ 90/70 covers 96 and the 120 lb midpoint-plus-20% day. It misses 144. 193 @ 70/50 covers 144 only in the 70/50 condition. A hot line is the 140 column.
• Two hours at 140: 140 ÷ 24 × 2 ≈ 11.7 lb. Against a 96 lb pull, stored ice has to cover about 84 lb. The 90 lb sticker covers 84 only if you ignore usable loss. Kitchen Spot’s 10–20% loss on 90 lb is 81 lb or 72 lb. Both miss 84, and both miss 96. The 40-guest one-window lunch is still a bin problem on this cabinet.

Hoshizaki KM-161BAK: 156 lb, 78 lb bin. 90/70 is not on that HTML. 156 covers 96, 120, and 144 on the “156” cell. A 15% derate because 90/70 is missing: 156 × 0.85 = 132.6 lb, which covers 96 and 120 and misses 144. On stored ice alone the 78 lb bin misses an 80 lb raw pull and misses 96. We do not invent hourly make for a page that has no 90/70 cell.

Ice-O-Matic ICEU150HA: 185 / 130 lb, 70 lb bin. 130 @ 90/70 covers 96 and 120 and misses 144. The 70 lb bin misses 80 and 96.

Hoshizaki KM-81BAK: 98 lb up to, 76 lb @ 90/70, 38 lb bin. 76 misses the 80 lb raw day. The bin misses a 40-guest lunch.

The busy 320-guest day is not these cabinets. 378 lb @ 90/70 misses 768. Approximately 556 misses 768. The directory’s largest 90/70 cells on a single head are 378 (IYT0450A) and 380 (HID525). A 768–1,152 lb Saturday is more than one of those heads, or a larger class than this directory carries. Two KM-520MAJ heads, which the product page allows side by side: 556 × 2 = 1,112 lb on the “approximately 556” cell. That covers 768 and 960 and misses 1,152. With the 15% sentence applied because 90/70 is missing: 1,112 × 0.85 = 945.2 lb, which covers 768 and misses 960 and 1,152. This page does not invent a shared-bin poundage for the pair. Two HID525 units at 380 are 760 lb, which misses 768. At the 500 lb 70/50 figure, two are 1,000 lb, which covers 960 and misses 1,152. The hoppers are still 25 lb each.

Cold plate — only if that fountain uses one

A cold plate cools soda by sitting in ice. A remote soda system does not get this adder. Kitchen Spot’s self-service row does not print a cold-plate percent.

On the 120-guest 3 lb raw day (360 lb), before Kitchen Spot’s 20%, if every drink ran through a cold plate:

• GoFoodservice 45%, and KaTom’s convenience-store 45 percent: 360 × 1.45 = 522 lb. This replaces the 432 lb buffered day. It is not 522 + 432.

A station with no cold plate keeps the person line alone.

Kitchen heat derate

Manufacturer “up to” numbers are a 70°F air / 50°F water comparison point. The machine next to the steam table is not in that room.

• Kitchen Spot: a 90° kitchen and incoming water closer to 70° can cut make by 15% or more. They name Ice-O-Matic, Scotsman, and Manitowoc as publishers of other ambient columns.
• GoFoodservice: listed capacities are ideal conditions; actual output may be 10–15% lower in hot environments. Use this sentence when the sheet has no 90/70 cell. Do not stack it on Kitchen Spot’s 15%, and do not stack it on a 90/70 number you already used.

Cited 70/50 → 90/70 drops on directory pages (air-cooled unless noted). The drop is (70/50 − 90/70) ÷ 70/50, rounded.

Compare the 90/70 column to the peak-day target when the sheet has one. A 500 lb “up to” dispenser that makes 380 lb in a hot alcove is a 380 lb machine that day. The hopper is still 25 lb.

Ice type

Guest drinks and a salad bar are different jobs. See cube vs half-dice vs nugget vs flake.

• Half-dice or crescent is the usual glass ice when staff scoop from a back bin or the public dispenser is a cube machine (IYT0450A half-dice, KM-520MAJ crescent, UYF-0190A half-dice). GoFoodservice calls crescent the general-purpose cube and names cube for general dispenser use.
• Nugget or cubelet when the soda station is chewable ice: HID525 H² nugget dispenser, GEM0450A Pearl, RNP0320A nugget. GoFoodservice names cubelet / nugget for fountain drinks and soda stations.
• Flake is the food bar, not the cup. F-330BAK is the flake cabinet in this directory. Do not size the drink station as flake because the room is a buffet.

Form factor

Guests can reach this ice. That is a form-factor choice, separate from the pounds.

GoFoodservice, opened 2026-10-04, writes: anywhere an ice machine may be accessed by someone other than staff, a dispenser is the best choice, because people cannot reach into the stored ice. Their dispenser “best for” list names hotels, hospitals, self-service areas, public access points. Modular heads are marked staff access only. The same page says reaching into an open storage bin creates contamination risks, which is why those bins sit in kitchens or behind the counter. A manual-fill dispenser, in their copy, is a public dispenser that staff fill from a staff-only machine; the transport bucket has to stay clean. That is a buyer-guide design sentence. It is not a ruling that a scoop “meets” or “violates” a health code. We do not write that letter.

Ice Machine Sales’ countertop-dispenser band, opened the same day, is 100–500 lb/day of production. GoFoodservice’s dispenser band is 200–800 lb/day production and 8–250 lb storage. A band is not a SKU. This directory’s only dispenser is the HID525: production inside both bands, storage a 25 lb hopper inside the 8–250 lb band. GoFoodservice’s hotel-dispenser class (up to 500 lb production, up to 200 lb storage, “almost always not self-contained”) is a larger hopper than we carry. No head-on-dispenser SKU of that class is in this directory. Do not invent one.

GoFoodservice’s other form bands, same article: modular 250–2,500 lb/day, staff access; undercounter 50–500 lb/day make, built-in storage 7–250 lb, typical commercial output 100–250 lb/day. This directory’s largest undercounter bin is 90 lb. The 120-guest lunch leaves that class because of the leftover, even when 288 lb of make still sits inside the undercounter production band.

Cooling is a mechanical choice, not a person factor. See air-cooled vs water-cooled and undercounter vs modular vs countertop.

Current heads already in this directory

Figures are the directory pages, which cite manufacturer sheets. Street prices omitted. Pair a modular head with a bin from that sheet’s compatibility list. Where the directory says a figure is uncertain, this table keeps that label.

Filter, drain, and cleaning stay on water filters and descalers and how to clean a commercial ice machine. A hot kitchen behind the buffet is the 90/70 column when the sheet has one. Kitchen Spot’s 15% or more and GoFoodservice’s 10–15% are what you say when the sheet does not. Do not apply both, and do not apply either on top of a 90/70 number you already used.

What this page is not

• Not a full-service restaurant. Covers at 1.5 lb per guest, or GoFoodservice’s restaurant 2 lb, stay on the restaurant guide when the dining room is plated service. On a refill station, 320 × 1.5 = 480 lb does not replace the self-service line. Light Soda’s 1.5–2 lb band is that restaurant page’s source. This page did not re-open it.
• Not a banquet hall. A one-sitting wedding or plated reception is the banquet hall guide: GoFoodservice event hall 2 lb per attendee, with the bin sized to that dinner. An all-day buffet that turns lunch and dinner is not that buyout. 320 × 2 = 640 lb is the event row, not this station’s 3 lb calculator.
• Not catering. Ice made at a commissary and delivered in bags is the catering guide. The machine in this building, used every service, is this page.
• Not drive-thru or QSR cup math. The fast-food guide sizes ounces per cup. Use it when you have a drink count and you are not also using 2–3 lb per person. Do not stack them.
• Not a deli. A sandwich counter’s fountain ounces, and an optional salad-bar well, stay on the deli guide. The 30 and 35 lb/ft³ rows are the same published densities. The drink line here is the self-service person, not a staffed 16 oz pour, unless you chose the ounce method instead.
• Not a school cafeteria. 1 lb or 1.5 lb per student stays on the school cafeteria guide. KaTom’s school prose stays at 1 lb even when that cafeteria has a dispenser.
• Not a hotel guest floor. 5 lb per occupied room stays on the hotel guide. A breakfast buffet in the restaurant counts buffet guests on this page. It does not add 5 lb for every key.
• Not a church fellowship hall. The one- or two-day bin exception Kitchen Spot names is the church pattern. A daily buffet does not get a week-long bin.
• Not a code letter. NSF marks and manuals are on the sheets. Dispenser-versus-open-bin language above is the buyer-guide sentence. We do not say an install “meets” a health department.
• Not a review and not a price list. No scores, no invented install counts, no street prices.

Sources

1. The Kitchen Spot, Ice Machines: Sizing for Application — opened 2026-10-04. Self-Service 2 to 3 lbs per person. Restaurant 1.5 lbs per guest. Salad bar 35 lbs per cubic foot. Extended events 2 lbs per person. Hotel guest ice 5 lbs per room. School cafeteria 1 lb per person. Table marked add 20%. Once needs exceed 1,000 lb/day, 10% additional output should suffice. A ~90° kitchen and ~70° water can cut make by 15% or more. Bin usually 10–20% larger than daily make; expect the pile to hold 10–20% less than the printed pounds. A bin twice daily make is their usual-bad-idea line, with a church / event-center / music-venue exception. Multiple machines when ice types differ (flake for displays, cube for the bar).
2. GoFoodservice, Commercial Ice Machine Guide — opened 2026-10-04. Live header Last updated: Sep 20, 2026. Schema dateModified 2026-09-20. Quick-reference Self-Serve (3 lbs/person): 100 → 360 lb, 250 → 900, 500 → 1,800, 1,000 → 3,600. “All figures include a 20% buffer.” Restaurant 2 lbs per person (100 → 240). Event hall 2 lbs per person. Salad bar 30 lbs per cubic foot; FAQ: 30 lb/ft³ to determine daily display needs. Restaurant flaked ice 2 lbs per person served. Schools cafeteria 1.5 lbs per student. Hotel guest ice 5 lbs per room. Quick-service cups same as convenience store. Cold plates 45% more. Restaurant FAQ example: 200 seats × lunch and dinner = 400 covers × 2 lb = 800 lb, then add 20–30% — do not stack that on a calculator cell. Actual output may be 10–15% lower in hot rooms. Modular 250–2,500 lb/day, staff access only; undercounter 50–500, storage 7–250, typical 100–250; dispenser 200–800 production, storage 8–250, best for public access including self-service areas. Bin storage should equal or exceed 24-hour production; avoid extreme oversizing. Manual-fill dispensers are filled from a staff-only machine.
3. Ice Machine Sales, Commercial Ice Machines — FAQ chart, opened 2026-10-04. Self-Service 2 to 3 lbs per person. Restaurant 1.5 lbs per guest. School cafeteria 1 lb per person. Hotel guest ice 5 lbs per room. Extended events 2 lbs per person. Salad bar 35 lbs per cubic foot. No percent on the FAQ table. Countertop dispensers 100–500 lb/day in the ice-machine-types section. No buffet-restaurant row under that name; the self-service row is the one this page uses.
4. KaTom, How Much Ice Should Your Commercial Ice Maker Produce? — opened 2026-10-04. Schema dateModified 2026-09-14. Prose: self-service beverage station 2 to 3 pounds per customer; standard restaurant 1.5 pounds per customer; add 20 percent to the estimate. Table header Guidelines (+20% for Safety). Self-Serve 3 lbs per person: 100 → 360, 250 → 900, 500 → 1,800, 1,000 → 3,600. Restaurant 1.5 cells include that 20% (100 → 180). Event hall or church fellowship 2 pounds per person. Extended-events table 100 → 240 and 250 → 600 match 2 × 1.20. The 1,000-customer extended-events cell prints 4,800 lb, which is not 1,000 × 2 × 1.20 = 2,400. Do not use 4,800. School 1 lb even with a dispenser (100 → 120). Bin about 75–80% of production (their 560 lb head → 420–440 lb bin); event halls that do not use ice constantly might want 1.5×. Drive-thru 500-customer / 8 oz cell prints 375 lb; ounce math with 20% is 300 lb. Convenience-store cold plate 45 percent.
5. VenueIce, how to size a commercial ice machine — full-service restaurant and the other venue rows already on that table. That table does not have a buffet row. This page does not invent one there. The restaurant, banquet hall, deli, fast-food, hotel, school cafeteria, and catering guides keep the factors named above.
6. Directory pages for the models in the table: KM-81BAK, KM-161BAK, UYF-0190A, ICEU150HA, HID525, RNP0320A, GEM0450A, C0330MA-1, CIM0430A, IYT0450A, KM-520MAJ, F-330BAK.

If two sheets disagree, we say so. The 2-to-3 lb self-service range and GoFoodservice’s single 3 lb self-serve cell are both printed. They are not an average. Neither one is the 1.5 lb restaurant row.