Ice machine for a fast-food restaurant (QSR / drive-through)

A fast-food restaurant, QSR, or drive-through is cup-fill ounces on a peak-day drink count. Drive-thru cups and lobby or self-serve fountain cups are the load. A ticket is a cup, not a cover. The full-service restaurant page uses 1.5 lb per guest (and GoFoodservice’s restaurant row is 2 lb per person). Those rows do not belong on a drive-thru cup. The convenience store page is fountain cups plus bagged retail ice as a primary merchandising line. A QSR that does not sell 10 lb bags does not get that bag line.

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

• Quick-service and fast-food restaurants with a fountain in the lobby, at the counter, or both.
• Drive-through lanes where the peak-day count is cups out the window, not seats in a dining room.
• Operators who already know the c-store ounce table and need the worksheet that stays on drinks. Bags, if any, stay a second line on the c-store page.

It is not a dining room sized at 1.5–2 lb per guest. It is not a bagged-ice merchandiser. It is not a movie-theater show burst, a stadium concourse, a smoothie blender dump, or a coffee-shop latte window.

Published factors

Charts that print a fast-food or quick-service line size ounces of ice per cup, then tell you to count cups on the peak day. Convert ounces to pounds as 16 oz = 1 lb and label the conversion. These are dealer and OEM application rules of thumb, not a manufacturer warranty and not a lab measurement of your window.

Pick one published ounce line for each cup size. Say which buffer you used. Do not put Kitchen Spot’s 20%, Memphis’s installation 20%, GoFoodservice’s calculator 20%, a cold-plate percent, and a hot-room derate on the same pounds.

Separate worksheets — do not stack the same cup

• Drive-thru cups and lobby cups are two counts that add. A drink sold at the window is not also a lobby cup. Two lanes do not double the building’s drive-thru count. They split it.
• One ounce chart per cup. Kitchen Spot’s 10 oz ice on a 20 oz drink, Hoshizaki’s 10.0 oz on any 20–32 oz cup, and Manitowoc’s 12 oz ice on an 18–24 oz drink are three different cells. A 32 oz cup is 16 oz ice on Kitchen Spot, 10 oz ice on Hoshizaki’s 20–32 band, and not on the Manitowoc fast-food ladder (that ladder stops at 18–24 oz). Do not add those readings.
• GoFoodservice “quick service cups: same as convenience store” is the cup line. Their 2 lb per person restaurant row is a different row. Do not multiply drive-thru tickets by 2 lb and also by 8 oz.
• Hoshizaki’s convenience-store cell is 8.0 oz per 12–16 oz cup. Their fast-food cell is 10.0 oz per 20–32 oz cup. A 16 oz QSR cup is not automatically the c-store 8 oz cell, and a 32 oz cup is not automatically 16 oz of ice unless you are on Kitchen Spot’s 16/32 row.
• Bagged ice is the c-store page. GoFoodservice’s 10 lb × bags and the Manitowoc/Memphis weight per bag × bags sold lines are packaged-ice merchandising. Use them only when this restaurant actually sells bags, and keep them off the cup total. A QSR that buys no bags has a bag line of zero.
• A cold plate is its own adder, once, only if that fountain uses one. A refrigerated soda deck is not a cold plate. Kitchen Spot does not print the percent. GoFoodservice prints 45%. Memphis and the Manitowoc c-store block print 50%. Do not stack both.
• One buffer, from the source you picked. Kitchen Spot’s 20% (or 10% once that line’s needs exceed 1,000 lb/day) belongs on a Kitchen Spot application, once. GoFoodservice’s 20% belongs on their customer-count calculator, which does not have a QSR column. Memphis’s “at least 20%” is their installation sentence, not a second margin on a Kitchen Spot total.
• The sizing page’s 0.5–1.0 lb band is a range, not a third worksheet. Their 300 × 0.75 = 225 lb example is that page’s cell. It is not this page’s cup count. A 10 oz drink at 5 oz of ice is 0.3125 lb, under the bottom of that band. Say so if you use it.
• A smoothie, a latte, or a plated cover inside the building is the other page. Blender ice stays on smoothie bar. Espresso-bar ice stays on coffee shop. A dining room that is actually full-service stays on restaurant.

Worked peak day — drive-thru-heavy

Cup counts below are a planning assumption, not a measured POS pull. One building. One peak day.

• Drive-thru: 800 cups, treated as Kitchen Spot 10 oz ice / 20 oz drink.
• Lobby / self-serve: 200 cups, treated as Kitchen Spot 8 oz ice / 16 oz drink.

Drive-thru: 800 × 10 oz = 8,000 oz. 8,000 ÷ 16 = 500 lb.

Lobby: 200 × 8 oz = 1,600 oz. 1,600 ÷ 16 = 100 lb.

Raw day: 500 + 100 = 600 lb.

Kitchen Spot’s table says add 20%. The raw need is 600 lb, which does not exceed 1,000 lb/day, so the 20% margin is the one they print for this size:

• Drive-thru 500 × 1.20 = 600 lb
• Lobby 100 × 1.20 = 120 lb
• Day with that margin, once: 720 lb

We do not multiply 720 by another 20%. We do not also take Memphis’s installation 20% or GoFoodservice’s calculator 20%. The hot-room sentences are why the model section uses 90/70 when the sheet has it.

Same 800 drive-thru cups, a different Kitchen Spot row

Each line replaces the 500 lb drive-thru figure. The 200 lobby cups stay 100 lb raw (120 lb with the same 20%) unless you change their cup too.

The 16 oz / 32 oz drive-thru line plus the 8 oz lobby line is 900 lb of need. That does not exceed 1,000, so Kitchen Spot’s 20% still applies (1,080 lb). Their 10% sentence replaces 20% only when the need itself exceeds 1,000 lb/day. Example, still a planning assumption: 1,200 drive-thru cups on the 16 oz / 32 oz row and no lobby: 1,200 × 16 ÷ 16 = 1,200 lb of need. That exceeds 1,000, so the prose says 10% should suffice: 1,200 × 1.10 = 1,320 lb. A 20% reading of the same 1,200 lb would be 1,440 lb. Use one of those, not both.

Other charts on these cups — pick one, do not add it

Hoshizaki fast food, 10.0 oz per 20–32 oz cup, on the 800 drive-thru cups if those cups are actually in the 20–32 oz band: 800 × 10 ÷ 16 = 500 lb. That matches Kitchen Spot’s 10 oz / 20 oz cell and does not match Kitchen Spot’s 16 oz / 32 oz cell. A 32 oz cup is still 10 oz on the Hoshizaki line (0.625 lb), not 16 oz (1.00 lb). Their brochure does not print a 20% on that cell. The 200 lobby cups, if they are 16 oz, are not inside the 20–32 band. Do not force the 10.0 oz fast-food cell onto them. Their convenience-store cell is 8.0 oz per 12–16 oz cup, which is 100 lb on these 200 lobby cups — the same 8 oz as Kitchen Spot’s 16 oz drink — and it is a different establishment row. Label it if you use it.

Webstaurant / Manitowoc fast food and Memphis quick service use the same three bands. On 800 cups:

• 7–10 oz drinks, 5 oz ice: 250 lb
• 12–16 oz drinks, 8 oz ice: 400 lb
• 18–24 oz drinks, 12 oz ice: 600 lb

A 32 oz drive-thru cup is not on that ladder. Do not invent a fourth Manitowoc cell. Memphis’s “at least 20%” is their installation sentence. The PDF does not print a percent on the fast-food ounces.

GoFoodservice quick-service cups, same 800:

• 7–12 oz cup, 5 oz: 250 lb
• 12–16 oz cup, 8 oz: 400 lb
• 16–24 oz cup, 12 oz: 600 lb

Their calculator’s 20% is not on these cells. Their 2 lb per person row is not these cells. 1,000 tickets × 2 lb = 2,000 lb is the restaurant row applied to a ticket count. It is the wrong method. Kitchen Spot 1.5 lb × 1,000 tickets = 1,500 lb is the same mistake.

The sizing page quick-service example is 300 × 0.75 lb = 225 lb. That 0.75 lb figure is Kitchen Spot’s 12 oz / 24 oz drink, or the midpoint language of the 0.5–1.0 band. It is not 800 drive-thru cups, and it is not a reason to skip the ounce line when you know the cup. Cups at 5 oz ice / 10 oz drink (0.3125 lb) are under that band. Say which one you used.

Do not stack this example

• The 800 drive-thru cups are not also the 200 lobby cups.
• A second lane does not copy the 800. If 500 of the 800 go to lane 1 and 300 to lane 2, the pounds split the same way. 500 + 300 = 800.
• Kitchen Spot’s 20% is the only buffer on this Kitchen Spot line.
• A cold-plate percent, below, replaces a discussion of this 720 lb figure for the cups that actually sit on a cold plate. It does not sit on top of 720.
• Restaurant 1.5 lb or 2 lb per person is an alternate method you should not use. It is not a second line.

Worked peak day — small lobby, no drive-thru

Same Kitchen Spot method. Planning assumption: 150 lobby cups, no window, no bags.

Kitchen Spot 8 oz ice / 16 oz drink: 150 × 8 ÷ 16 = 75 lb. Table +20% → 90 lb.

Other rows on the same 150 cups, each a replacement:

• 6 oz / 12 oz: 150 × 6 ÷ 16 = 56.25 lb; +20% → 67.5 lb
• 12 oz / 24 oz: 150 × 12 ÷ 16 = 112.5 lb; +20% → 135 lb
• 5 oz / 10 oz: 150 × 5 ÷ 16 = 46.875 lb; +20% → 56.25 lb

Hoshizaki’s fast-food cell does not cover a 16 oz cup. It starts at 20 oz. Manitowoc’s 8 oz / 12–16 oz band is 75 lb on these 150 cups, with no percent printed on the cell. GoFoodservice’s 8 oz / 12–16 band is the same 75 lb.

This band is an undercounter conversation if the bin covers the lunch pull. The drive-thru-heavy 600 / 720 lb day is not.

Cold plate — only if that fountain uses one

A cold plate cools soda by sitting in ice. A remote soda system with its own refrigeration does not get this adder. Kitchen Spot’s beverage table does not print a cold-plate percent. Do not invent one in their name.

On the drive-thru-heavy 600 lb raw day (500 + 100), before any Kitchen Spot 20%:

• GoFoodservice 45%: 600 × 1.45 = 870 lb. This is their cold-plate reading of “quick service cups: same as convenience store.” It replaces the 720 lb Kitchen Spot margin. It is not 870 + 720.
• Memphis / Manitowoc c-store block, 50%: 600 × 1.50 = 900 lb. Those pages print 50% under convenience store, not under fast food or quick service. Using it on a QSR cold plate is that c-store adder, labeled as a cross-read. It replaces both the 720 lb margin and the 870 lb GoFoodservice figure. Do not stack 45% and 50%.

If only the drive-thru tower uses a cold plate and the lobby dispenser is refrigerated, the adder stays on the 500 lb drive-thru line. Lobby stays 100 lb.

• GoFoodservice 45% on drive-thru only: 500 × 1.45 = 725 lb, plus lobby 100 lb → 825 lb. No second 20%.
• Memphis / Manitowoc 50% on drive-thru only: 500 × 1.50 = 750 lb, plus lobby 100 lb → 850 lb. Same rule.

A store with no cold plate keeps the ounce line alone.

Bin and the lunch / dinner window

The 600 lb raw day (or 720 lb after Kitchen Spot’s 20%) does not leave in one minute, and it does not sit in the bin all day. Ice bin sizing is the leftover page. Production in 24 hours is not storage. An undersized bin shuts the head off while the window is still open.

Planning assumption about when the 1,000 cups move. This splits the 800 + 200. It does not add cups.

• Lunch, 90 minutes: 320 drive-thru cups + 80 lobby cups. Drive-thru 320 × 10 ÷ 16 = 200 lb. Lobby 80 × 8 ÷ 16 = 40 lb. Window pull 240 lb. That 240 is inside the 600, not on top of it.
• Dinner, 90 minutes: 240 drive-thru cups + 60 lobby cups. Drive-thru 150 lb. Lobby 30 lb. Window 180 lb. Also inside the 600.
• The rest of the day: 240 drive-thru cups + 60 lobby cups = 180 lb. Check: lunch 240 + dinner 180 + the rest 180 = 600.

Size the leftover to the larger window (240 lb at lunch), not to lunch plus dinner. Adding the windows double-counts the day.

Manitowoc IYT0450A air-cooled half-dice, directory page: 490 lb @ 70/50, 378 lb @ 90/70. Head only.

• 90 minutes at 378: 378 ÷ 24 × 1.5 = 23.625 lb. The hourly split is arithmetic, not an OEM hourly guarantee. Harvest is cyclic.
• Atlantic’s shape, if the only opening stock is that window’s make: shortfall on a 240 lb lunch is 240 − 23.6 ≈ 216 lb. Add the in-window make back and the usable target is still about 240 lb. The buffered day’s lunch slice is not a second 20% unless you already applied 20% to the cups in the window (320 × 10 ÷ 16 × 1.20 = 240 lb of drive-thru ice and 80 × 8 ÷ 16 × 1.20 = 48 lb of lobby ice, window 288 lb). That 288 replaces 240. It does not sit on top of the day’s 720 lb, because those cups are already inside the day.
• One head at 378 lb @ 90/70 does not cover a 600 lb raw day or a 720 lb buffered day. Two air-cooled heads, not stacked: 378 × 2 = 756 lb in 24 hours. That covers 600 and 720. 756 against 720 is close to the bin page’s warning not to match advertised capacity to peak demand. Each head needs its own bin from the compatibility list. This page does not invent a shared bin. The directory note says this head is not stackable.

Hoshizaki KM-520MAJ is approximately 556 lb on the product page. 90/70 is not on that page. 556 covers the 500 lb drive-thru raw line and misses the 600 / 720 day. If you apply Kitchen Spot’s “15% or more” because there is no 90/70 cell: 556 × 0.85 ≈ 473 lb. That is arithmetic on their derate sentence, not a printed 90/70 cell. 473 misses 500, 600, and 720. Do not also subtract 15% from the 720 lb target. The product page says two units may be mounted side by side. This page does not invent a shared-bin poundage for that pair.

Sheet bin already cited on the restaurant and c-store pages: Hoshizaki B-300SF 300 lb application capacity, 22″ wide, same width class as the KM-520. A full 300 lb sticker covers a 240 lb lunch on paper. Kitchen Spot says expect 10–20% less than the printed bin pounds: 300 × 0.80 = 240 lb usable at the 20% loss. That equals the lunch pull if the bin actually starts full. It does not cover a 288 lb buffered lunch slice. B-500SF at 500 lb is the larger leftover. A 22″ head on a 30″ bin needs the top kit on the sheet.

Lobby-only lunch, own cabinet

The 75 lb day (90 lb with Kitchen Spot’s 20%) is a different bin problem. Planning assumption: 80 of the 150 cups leave in 2 hours on the 8 oz / 16 oz line. 80 × 8 ÷ 16 = 40 lb.

Manitowoc UYF-0190A on the NEO 140/190 family sheet: 193 lb @ 70/50, 140 lb @ 90/70, 90 lb bin.

• 140 lb @ 90/70 covers the 75 lb line and the 90 lb buffered line. The 90 lb bin equals that buffered day. The bin page’s warning applies: do not treat a bin sticker that matches the peak as spare ice. Two hours of arithmetic make is 140 ÷ 24 × 2 ≈ 12 lb. A full 90 lb bin plus about 12 lb covers a 40 lb lunch. It does not cover the drive-thru 240 lb lunch.
• Manitowoc UYF-0140A is 100 lb @ 90/70 with the same 90 lb bin. 100 covers 90 with almost no surplus. Same bin warning.

Hoshizaki KM-161BAK is 156 lb with a 78 lb bin. 90/70 is not on that HTML. 156 covers the 75 / 90 lb day on the “156” cell. The 78 lb bin covers a 40 lb lunch if it starts with ice. It does not cover 240 lb.

Ice type

Fountain speed and the brand’s drink are different jobs. See cube vs half-dice vs nugget vs flake. That page puts iced coffee and fountain on half-dice, crescent, or nugget.

• Half-dice or crescent is the usual staffed fountain and drive-thru cup: it fills quickly and is the cube on the modular heads below (IYT0450A half-dice, KM-520MAJ crescent, CIM0430A half cube). GoFoodservice calls crescent the general-purpose cube and cubelet / nugget the chewable fountain cube.
• Nugget or cubelet when chewable soft-drink ice is the brand: RNP0320A nugget, GEM0450A Pearl, C-80BAK mini cubelet, HID525 H² nugget dispenser. GoFoodservice’s dispenser copy names cubelet / nugget for fountain drinks and soda stations.
• Flake is not the primary soft-drink plant. Hoshizaki F-330BAK is the flake cabinet in this directory. The ice-type page uses it for display and packing. A QSR salad well, if you have one, is a cubic-foot line on the deli page, not a second pass of the cup count.

Form factor

One small lobby station can be an undercounter. A multi-lane drive-thru day in the 600 / 720 lb class is a modular head and bin, or a dispenser that keeps making ice into a small hopper. Cooling is a mechanical choice, not an ounce factor. See air-cooled vs water-cooled and undercounter vs modular vs countertop.

GoFoodservice’s form bands, opened 2026-09-30: 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; dispenser production 200–800 lb/day, storage 8–250 lb. A band is not a SKU. This directory’s largest undercounter bin is 90 lb.

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.

Filter, drain, and cleaning stay on water filters and descalers and how to clean a commercial ice machine. A hot kitchen behind the drive-thru 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 (Kitchen Spot) or 2 lb per person (GoFoodservice) stay on the restaurant guide. A drive-thru ticket is not a cover.
• Not a convenience store. Fountain ounces overlap. Bagged retail ice as a primary line stays on the c-store guide. This page does not size a merchandiser.
• Not a movie theater. Show-block bursts and a seat count that is not a cup count stay on the movie theater guide.
• Not a stadium concession. A concourse customer at a published per-customer concession row stays on the stadium guide. Do not paste that row onto drive-thru cups you already sized in ounces.
• Not a smoothie bar. Blender-body ice stays on the smoothie guide. A fountain cup is not a 2.5 lb blender person.
• Not a coffee shop. Iced-latte windows stay on the coffee shop guide.
• Not a food truck or a deli, except as neighbors. A truck’s 115 V limit is the food truck page. Sandwich cold-prep and an optional salad bar are the deli page.
• Not a code letter. NSF marks and manuals are on the sheets. 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 — “Convenience Store, Quick Serve, & Drive Through Beverage Service”: 5 / 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 16 oz ice per 10 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24 / 32 oz drink. Restaurant 1.5 lbs per guest is a different row. 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. Opened 2026-09-30.
2. GoFoodservice, Commercial Ice Machine Guide — restaurant 2 lbs per person; quick service cups: same as convenience store (5 oz / 7–12 oz cup; 8 / 12–16; 12 / 16–24); cold plates 45% more; packaged ice 10 lbs × bags on the convenience-store block. Customer-count table includes 20% and has restaurant, bar, self-serve, school, and event columns — no quick-service column. Actual output may be 10–15% lower in hot rooms. Modular 250–2,500 lb/day; undercounter 50–500, typical 100–250; dispenser 200–800 production. Cubelet / nugget named for fountain drinks. Live header Last updated: Sep 20, 2026. Opened 2026-09-30.
3. Hoshizaki, 2018 product brochure, Item #40071, dated 5-25-18 — ICE USAGE GUIDE: Fast Food 10.0 oz ice per 20–32 oz cup; convenience store 8.0 oz per 12–16 oz cup; beverage service 5.0 oz per 7–10 oz cup; restaurant 2.0 lbs per seat. Opened 2026-09-30.
4. Hoshizaki, product / sales catalog, Item #40067, dated 2/24/2015 — CUBER ICE USAGE GUIDE prints the same Fast Food 10.0 oz per 20–32 oz cup cell. Restaurant on this older catalog is 1.5 lbs per seat, not the 2018 brochure’s 2.0. Cited for the fast-food cell and for that disagreement. Opened 2026-09-30.
5. WebstaurantStore, Manitowoc-style ice usage guide PDF — Fast Food 5 oz per 7–10 oz drink; 8 oz per 12–16; 12 oz per 18–24. Restaurant 1-1/2 lb per person is a different block. Cold plate 50% and packaged ice sit under Convenience Store. No date printed on the PDF. Opened 2026-09-30.
6. Memphis Ice, What Size Ice Machine Do I Need for My Business? — Quick Service 5 oz / 7–10 oz, 8 / 12–16, 12 / 18–24. Cold plate 50% and packaged ice sit under Convenience Store. Prose recommends at least 20% additional capability on new installations. Opened 2026-09-30.
7. VenueIce, how to size a commercial ice machine — quick-service row 0.5–1.0 lb per customer, or drink-size rules such as 16 oz ice in a 32 oz cup; worked 300 × 0.75 lb = 225 lb. Linked, not replaced. Cups at 0.3125 lb sit below that band.
8. VenueIce, ice bin sizing — production is not storage; Atlantic’s window formula (use − in-window make + opening safety stock); Kitchen Spot bin 10–20% language. Lunch and dinner on this page are a split of one day.
9. Directory pages for the models in the table: C-80BAK, KM-81BAK, KM-161BAK, UYF-0140A, UYF-0190A, ICEU150HA, HID525, RNP0320A, GEM0450A, KM-520MAJ, IYT0450A, CIM0430A, C0330MA-1, F-330BAK. Hoshizaki bins B-300SF and B-500SF as already cited on the c-store page.

If two sheets disagree, we say so and prefer the latest page we could open. The Jan 1, 2024 Hoshizaki dealer catalog’s table of contents lists an ice-machine usage guide; the text extract did not include the fast-food ounces, so this page does not quote a 2024 cell.