What a soft serve machine really costs over five years

Every quote has one big number at the top, and that is the number people negotiate over. Calculated over five years, it is often the smaller part of the bill. Electricity runs every day, wear parts break regularly, and cleaning costs working hours that never appear on any invoice and still have to be paid.

This is what those five years consist of, with a complete calculation at the end. The numbers in it are assumptions you should replace with your own. The structure stays the same.

At Cooltura the range runs from a countertop unit with one flavour at 5,999 euros net to a floor-standing unit for continuous service at the counter at 21,490 euros net. Three things move the price: the number of flavours, the power connection and automatic pasteurisation.

A single-flavour countertop unit runs off a normal 230 volt socket and needs little space. Two flavours plus twist means a second cylinder, more cooling capacity and, depending on the model, a three-phase connection. If you are unsure between models, work backwards from your expected daily volume rather than forwards from your budget. A machine that is too big costs you for five years for capacity you never call on. One that is too small holds you back in July, and July is the month you earn the money.

The single biggest price driver is pasteurisation. The 6210 A-C is 5,999 euros net, the identically sized 6210 AB-C with automatic pasteurisation is 8,999 euros. Those 3,000 euros are the most interesting item in the whole calculation, because they pay for themselves in working hours. More on that below.

Every data sheet states a connected load in kilowatts. What you pay for is consumption, and that depends on things no brochure knows: how warm the room is, how often the door opens, how many servings are drawn per hour. Above all it depends on the hopper cooling running through the night as well. A machine that keeps the mix below 4 degrees around the clock consumes energy around the clock, even when nobody draws a serving for twelve hours.

The calculation below assumes eight kilowatt hours per operating day and thirty cents net per kilowatt hour. That comes to 2.40 euros a day, 720 euros a year across 300 operating days and 3,600 euros over five years. For a large floor unit in continuous operation the figure is higher, for a kiosk open thirty days a year considerably lower.

Two things bring this number down, and both are in your hands. Leave at least fifteen centimetres of clearance around the machine so the condenser gets air. And the annual condenser cleaning is a condition of the Spaceman compressor warranty, documented by the buyer. A clogged condenser costs you cooling capacity and electricity long before it costs you the compressor.

A pump machine has many sealing points, and those are consumables. These intervals belong in every calculation:

• Replace scraper blades at least every three months
• Drive shaft seals and the O-rings of the draw valve every one to three months
• Fresh food-safe grease on the moving parts at every strip-down clean
• Two to three seconds between servings so the cylinder can keep up

The calculation allows 350 euros a year for this. For a high-volume operation that is on the tight side. The advantage of these items: they are plannable, and you can reorder them in the shop instead of waiting for a technician. Whoever changes the parts themselves saves the call-out.

This is the biggest hidden block of cost, and it appears on no invoice, because it arises in working hours rather than in euros.

A machine without pasteurisation is stripped down, cleaned, disinfected and reassembled at least every 72 hours, so every three days. Allow roughly 1 hour for this and an hourly rate of twenty euros including overheads. Across 300 operating days that is 100 hours a year and around 2,000 euros. Over five years, 10,000 euros. Incidentally, the time invested in cleaning is not where you should be saving, because hygienic safety is only assured with correct and complete cleaning.

With automatic pasteurisation the machine heats the mix in the cylinder on a fixed programme and stretches the gap between two full strip-downs. Spaceman specifies 21 days as the longest gap for the pasteurising models, provided pasteurisation runs daily. That is a manufacturer specification and not a legal limit. Other manufacturers quote other figures, and what you actually run is ultimately set by your own hygiene concept. That leaves only 16 full cleans a year, 16 hours in total, which puts you at around 320 euros a year.

The saving is therefore around 1,680 euros a year. In an operation serving daily, the 3,000 euro surcharge is recovered in less than two years, and after that the function works for you.

Almost more important, though: you also get the hygienic certainty that the mix is pasteurised regularly, so that bacteria are almost entirely killed off, and you depend less on finding staff competent and reliable enough for you to trust that cleaning is carried out regularly, completely and properly.

In a kiosk that only opens on thirty summer days, the picture is different. There are fewer cleans to begin with, and the 3,000 euros do not pay off over the term.

The pasteurisation run itself also uses electricity. How much depends on the machine and the cycle. Compared with the working time saved the item is small, which is why it is not listed separately below.

One external service call a year is realistic, whether that is the annual inspection or a fault you do not fix yourself. The calculation allows 250 euros for this. On top of that comes the question of who owes that call-out and how fast they arrive, and that belongs before the purchase rather than in the middle of a breakdown.

With the refrigerant it is worth a look at the quote. Above a certain charge in CO2 equivalent, the law requires an annual leak check. R-404A may no longer be used in Europe for new commercial refrigeration applications, but you will still find it in existing machines. A charge of 1.7 kilograms corresponds to roughly 6.67 tonnes of CO2 equivalent and falls under that obligation. So ask about refrigerant and charge quantity before you buy, and you will know whether this item applies to you every year.

The following table compares the same machine size once without and once with automatic pasteurisation. The two purchase prices are fixed, everything else is the assumptions named above: 300 operating days, eight kilowatt hours a day at thirty cents, 350 euros of wear parts and one service call at 250 euros a year, cleaning time at twenty euros an hour.

Over five years the more expensive machine is more than 5,000 euros cheaper. The difference sits almost entirely in the cleaning line, and that line is on no quote.

Two caveats. First, the calculation applies to an operation that serves daily. Anyone open thirty days a year turns the result around. Second, working time is only hard cash if you actually pay it or could use it otherwise. If you strip the machine down yourself in the evening and are in the shop anyway, you save no wage costs. Whether your own time appears in your calculation is your call.

After five years the machine still has a value, but you should not count on it firmly. Most units run until they are no longer economical to keep, and are then scrapped or traded in. And even if you do sell, you get less than the price a dealer asks for a refurbished unit, because reconditioning, warranty and stock risk stay with them.

If a resale is foreseeable for you, for instance because you run a site for a limited time, then look at the used market for the model you want before you buy. Ten minutes on the relevant platforms tells you whether there is any demand for that series at all.

So far this has only been about costs. A soft serve machine does not stand in the corner to consume money, though, but to earn some, and that side can be calculated just as thoroughly. That is what the revenue calculator is for, and it runs over the same sixty months as the table above.

An example with the calculator's default values: sixteen servings a day, 24 opening days a month, 3.50 euros selling price, thirty cents of ingredients per serving and 120 euros of running costs a month. After 7% tax that gives net revenue of 1,256 euros a month and around 1,021 euros of gross profit after goods and fixed costs. The 5,999 euros for the entry-level machine are therefore recovered after about six months.

The calculator's 120 euros of fixed costs match the cost side above well: 720 euros of electricity, 350 euros of parts and 250 euros of service come to 1,320 euros a year, so 110 euros a month. What the calculator does not include is cleaning time. If you want to put both sides together, deduct it from the margin.

The calculator has two modes. The simple one asks for four values and shows you daily revenue, margin and payback period in half a minute. The expert mode works with separate summer and winter figures, which is the more honest route for seasonal operations: sixteen servings in July and six in January give a completely different picture than an annual average.

Start with volume. How many servings go across the counter on a normal summer day, and on how many days a year are you open? Everything else follows from those two numbers: the size class of the machine, whether pasteurisation pays off and how quickly the purchase carries itself.

Then set your hourly rate, calculated honestly with overheads. It decides the biggest item in the table above. And before you sign, get four things in writing: the refrigerant including charge quantity, the scope of the warranty on parts and on labour, the response time in case of a fault including the name of the service company, and the prices of the wear parts for one operating year. You get those four details with one phone call, and over five years they often move more money than the discount on the purchase price.

All prices are net and reflect the status as of 28 August 2026. The five year calculation is an example with assumed values and does not replace a calculation for your own operation.