Up next in 10
How much does it cost to grow a freeze-drying business? That's what this video will help you better understand if you want to explore a business in the freeze-drying industry. Gene Ligman is a freeze-drying expert and engineer who helps entrepreneurs all over the United States to achieve success in their freeze-drying products and operations. If you are interested in freeze-drying to start a business, this is a must-watch interview!
This interview completely changed my perspective on what's possible with freeze-drying, and I know it'll do the same for you! If you enjoy this video, don't miss my other conversations with Gene where we dive into equipment selection, scaling your business, and perfecting your freeze-drying recipes.
Here's the other videos to watch:
How to Create a Freeze-Drying Recipe - https://youtu.be/s7U9nLbR7Sc
What Should You Freeze-Dry for a Business? https://youtu.be/LLOpBzUJTwo
#FreezeDrying #thefreezedryingcommunity #freezedried #freezedryingbusiness #FoodPreservation #Entrepreneurship
Connect with Gene Ligman at SunTorr
https://www.suntorr.com/
Phone: (502) 232-6183 Email: [email protected]
Purchase your ticket for the largest, most informative freeze-drying event happening at the stunning Hotel Renegade in beautiful Boise! šØ Register now: https://freezedriedsummit.com. The event is September 22-23 in Boise, Idaho.
This game-changing summit brings together industry experts ready to transform your business with actionable strategies for operations and leadership success.
Frozen Assets Podcast (Rate & Review PLEASE!)
The Frozen Assets Podcast series is all about exploring the world of the freeze-drying industry and hopefully inspiring you to achieve more in your business by looking at current entrepreneurs and companies in this growing industry.
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0:00
buying a freeze dryer is all the rage
0:01
right now but I bought it for a specific
0:03
purpose I wanted to start a business
0:05
where I could earn side income on top of
0:07
my full-time job So in 2020 I bought my
0:10
first Harvest Right freeze dryer And
0:11
then I eventually scaled to have seven
0:13
freeze dryers I built my business up
0:15
eventually to have a rented commercial
0:18
kitchen where I could start selling
0:19
wholesale But within a year I ran into a
0:21
crossroads with my business I really
0:23
didn't know what scaling up looked like
0:25
What does it look like from going home
0:27
freeze dryers to commercial units What
0:29
does the cost look like Also how
0:31
valuable is it to go into freeze drying
0:33
commercially Over the course of posting
0:35
videos on YouTube and meeting different
0:36
people in the industry I came across a
0:38
freeze drying expert named Jean Ligman
0:41
He owns a company called Sunour It's a
0:43
freeze drying consulting company where
0:45
he helps people better understand what
0:47
is needed to scale their freeze drying
0:50
business And today that is what this
0:52
video is exactly about Gene and I are
0:54
going to talk through a conversation
0:55
about what is needed to scale a
0:57
freeze-drying business going from home
0:59
freeze dryers all the way up to
1:01
commercial If you haven't subscribed to
1:02
this channel already hit subscribe or
1:04
give this video a like I'd really
1:06
appreciate it Now let's get to the
1:07
interview with Gan and talk about what's
1:08
needed to scale your freeze drying
1:10
business Hey maybe before I start
1:12
looking at buying five 10 home freeze
1:15
dryers and I want to create that more
1:17
perfection of the quote freeze drying
1:20
recipe What do they need to actually do
1:23
in that kind of next phase Specifically
1:25
for for the freeze dryer you need to
1:27
choose a commercial freeze dryer OEM
1:30
that you want to use as a large
1:33
commercial freeze dryer at the end of
1:35
the day In order to scale up your
1:36
process from your very small business
1:39
now to a business that's doing millions
1:41
of dollars a year in in productivity or
1:43
tens of millions or hundreds of millions
1:45
you need to get past the scalability
1:47
bottleneck And you can't do that with a
1:49
whole bunch of small machines I had a
1:52
guy who called me and said "Hey I can
1:54
buy um the uh Harvest Right HR 100 you
2:00
know for $10,000 Why would I why
2:01
wouldn't I just buy 30 of those instead
2:04
of your million- dollar machine or
2:05
whatever?" And and well it turns out you
2:07
don't need 30 You need 52 of them And 52
2:10
of these machines take up a an entire
2:12
factory full of footprint And it would
2:15
take you know 50ome people to operate
2:19
that and everyone's got their their
2:21
space that they have to and they're all
2:23
these little trays and all that sort of
2:24
stuff At the end of the day you know
2:26
after I did the full analysis it's
2:28
actually not cheaper to do 52 you know
2:32
HRC100s as opposed to one machine that
2:34
does 500 trays all on its own And then
2:38
you want to see about getting a pilot
2:39
size unit that's similar enough to their
2:42
large commercial machine that when you
2:44
develop a process recipe unit and
2:46
everyone's going to be different for
2:47
every product You can shave off time on
2:51
that cycle by tweaking the recipe This
2:53
is what I do this all the time with
2:55
customers It's one of my number one
2:56
things I I look at their data I go
2:59
through it with them and I show them
3:01
different ways that they can tweak their
3:02
process recipe to cut time off of their
3:05
cycle because time in production is
3:07
money Y how much I already said right An
3:09
hour is worth4 million dollars for one
3:10
machine So um that's the first step Pick
3:15
an OEM And I highly recommend that you
3:18
look at many OEMs Don't look at one Look
3:22
at many If you do a detailed analysis of
3:26
the cheaper machines versus the more
3:27
expensive machines you'll almost always
3:29
find at least if you if you take into
3:32
account all the factors that the cheaper
3:34
machine is actually more expensive than
3:36
the than the what looks like the more
3:38
expensive machine Well how can that be
3:41
because of the productivity Usually the
3:43
cheaper machine is very likely going to
3:45
take longer to do the process or it's
3:48
going to take a huge footprint and it's
3:50
going to take a long time to get from
3:52
the end of one cycle to the start of the
3:55
next because it takes a long time to get
3:56
the ice out or it takes a long time to
3:59
unload it and load it or it's just slow
4:01
because it doesn't have adequate in uh
4:03
refrigeration Um that's a whole another
4:06
topic we should do sometime about why
4:08
refrigeration is your number one impact
4:10
on cycle time as opposed to anything
4:13
else Refrigeration capacity is king And
4:16
if you want to know more about that you
4:19
can just contact me directly So pick an
4:21
OEM look at all the OEMs analyze it
4:25
carefully How much what does this cost
4:28
per pound of material to do freeze
4:30
drying look over a month or a week or a
4:33
year or something that's going to show
4:35
you actually what sort of level of
4:37
productivity you're going to get out of
4:38
it No one pays for a production machine
4:41
The machine pays for the production
4:43
machine And if the machine doesn't pay
4:45
for itself you're in the wrong business
4:47
right Production machine must pay for
4:49
itself Let's say you save $100,000 in
4:52
machine purchase That feels really good
4:54
What about two years from now when that
4:56
machine's paid off and it's a lot more
4:58
of a pain in the butt to operate than
4:59
the one that was $100,000 more that that
5:02
your employees would be a lot happier
5:05
using or that they can operate better or
5:07
they can clean it easier so you can pass
5:09
that FDA or USDA inspection with flying
5:12
colors You're stuck with that machine
5:14
that you saved that $100,000 on And now
5:18
it's more like gritting your teeth
5:20
because oh man I wish I didn't have to
5:22
reach into my chamber with a with a rod
5:24
to pull these trays out that are too big
5:27
for a normal person to handle right
5:29
They're these giant trays and they weigh
5:31
you know 150 lbs Well that's the
5:34
difference between one machine and
5:35
another So look at all of them Gather
5:38
all the information Don't be afraid to
5:40
call the OEM or call somebody who knows
5:43
what they're talking about and talk to
5:45
them Look this is true of any business
5:47
There are some people in every machinery
5:50
business who know more about their
5:52
machines than anyone else on the planet
5:54
And it is their sales guys and their
5:56
engineers And usually that could be the
5:58
same PE people like for me I I represent
6:00
a machine a machine OEM I know more
6:03
about that machine than anyone else on
6:04
the planet Right So if you want to get
6:07
educated on a machine don't be afraid to
6:09
call the sales guy right It's not like
6:12
retail sales where you walk or a used
6:14
car sales where you you walk in and and
6:16
the salesman is trying to defeat you If
6:17
if you got a salesman like that run
6:20
right They want to help you because they
6:22
don't want a machine sale They want a
6:24
decade of machine sales They want a
6:27
century of machine sales or whatever it
6:29
is Right Right you if you're not a
6:32
partner with the OEM if you don't feel
6:34
like hey this is a partnership then you
6:37
probably picked the wrong machine right
6:39
They're not going to talk your ear off
6:40
They're not going to con convince you of
6:41
something against your will Just gather
6:43
the information make notes and do your
6:46
own comparison How does someone get help
6:48
though figuring out how expensive it's
6:52
going to cost to make the product If I
6:54
have either a meal that I want to cook
6:57
and then I want it to freeze dry but
7:00
then if I want to go at scale how do I
7:01
figure out the cost of sourcing the
7:04
material What how do you how do you what
7:07
does that look like for a client that
7:08
you work with Let's start with just
7:10
having the freeze dryer and and looking
7:12
at the cost So one thing you have to be
7:14
aware of first is that regardless of
7:17
what product you have you're going to
7:19
lose 75 to 80% of its weight by taking
7:23
out it out as water right So it goes in
7:25
at 100 pounds It's coming out 25 lbs
7:27
Don't forget you're going to leave 3 to
7:29
5% moisture So don't say "Oh well this
7:31
product is 80% moisture Therefore I'm
7:33
going to lose 80% of my weight." Well no
7:35
because you're going to still have 3 to
7:36
5% moisture left right meat that's going
7:39
at that's $2 a pound wet It's already
7:43
probably $8 per pound dry just as the
7:46
source material because I've lost 75%
7:49
which is a factor of four difference in
7:52
my weight My cost per pound is now
7:53
effectively $8 per pound dry whereas
7:55
it's $2 per pound wet So you got to
7:57
figure out those costs just right off
7:59
the right off the top You should be able
8:01
to figure that out just using your home
8:02
freeze dryer Scaling up can both cost
8:05
you less and more depending on how you
8:09
look at it Here's an issue that I run
8:10
into more than what you're talking about
8:12
It's more it's more important than the
8:13
cost of the product and it is how the
8:17
heck do I get financing for this this
8:19
machine Right I I I the most expensive
8:22
thing I've ever bought is my house Right
8:24
Right And I had to show my job you know
8:26
all my income blah blah blah How do I
8:28
buy a machine a million-doll machine if
8:31
I'm a company that's one year old And
8:34
the answer is you're probably not You're
8:37
probably not unless you have an investor
8:39
you're probably not going to find a
8:40
million-doll loan on a for a company
8:43
who's been around for a year and and
8:45
can't show with real business records
8:48
that you can actually pay back that loan
8:50
because news flash banks are not in the
8:52
business of giving away money and not
8:54
getting it back Correct I mean they've
8:55
done that but it's not really good for
8:56
banks or economies in general So find a
9:02
co-manufacturer somebody like Bereas
9:05
Freeze Drain that you can go to and have
9:08
them do your product for you and you're
9:11
going to make less margin on it because
9:13
they're doing some of the value added
9:15
processes to it but you're still going
9:17
to make a margin on it selling it Here's
9:19
the more important part They're going to
9:21
be able to do it at a higher scale So
9:24
now you can sell more product Now you
9:28
can start building up that level of
9:29
business You can develop more
9:31
customers You can start to build up that
9:34
business track record You can start
9:35
making some profits and putting that
9:36
away so you can make your down payments
9:38
And the more you do that the more the
9:40
bank actually takes that meeting with
9:42
you to then if you wanted to buy your
9:44
own freeze dryer you could That's right
9:46
And the guys that I talk to who do
9:48
professional equipment leasing they want
9:50
to see two to three years of business
9:53
history And they want to see that you're
9:55
making a profit on it and that you can
9:56
show that hey if I buy a machine at this
9:58
scale I'm going to be able to fill it
9:59
with business They want to see a
10:00
business and something more than a a
10:03
business plan written on a napkin or you
10:05
know that I I dreamed up in my head
10:07
because they have learned the hard way
10:09
that you don't you don't give away a
10:11
million dollars for that kind of thing
10:14
Well unless you're venture capitalist in
10:15
Silicon Valley that's a whole different
10:17
thing Yeah By the way you can actually
10:19
go raise capital for this Companies do
10:21
this right You can find
10:23
investors that will give you money You
10:27
know they're going to want either
10:29
percentage back or equity but hey if
10:32
you're going to get off the ground with
10:33
a million dollar a year business or 2
10:35
million or 10 million or whatever and
10:37
you have to provide some equity to to an
10:39
investor for that you have to just weigh
10:41
that Is is that worth it it it's
10:43
probably worth it right Because what you
10:45
get from equity is a sharing sharing the
10:47
profits at the end of the day Yeah And
10:49
70% of $2 million is a heck of a lot
10:52
more than 100% of 10,000 Yeah
10:56
So build your business by using partners
11:00
out there This includes if you're
11:03
making meals like if you're doing meals
11:06
ready to eat like MREs if you will for
11:09
say GIS or for people who are going
11:11
backpacking maybe you need to find you
11:14
develop recipes at home You've got the
11:16
best lasagna on the planet There's a guy
11:18
in Arizona that I talked to He's got
11:20
great Italian food and he's looking to
11:22
freeze dry it Right So develop the
11:25
recipe Then you can have a co- a
11:28
c-acker actually cook that
11:31
recipe you know freeze it chop it freeze
11:34
it whatever And then it can go right
11:36
into the freeze dryer You can it doesn't
11:38
have to be the same company right But
11:40
it's got to go through a freeze dryer at
11:42
some point And then you get that back
11:44
maybe already packaged in a package
11:45
that's got your logo on it Now all you
11:48
have to do is market it You sell it
11:50
market it Yeah you're going to get a
11:52
smaller margin but look at all the
11:54
things that you don't have to do in
11:56
order to build your business Yeah
11:58
there's a lot of moving parts that go
12:00
into building a business right Wearing
12:02
all the hats you know doing all the
12:03
taxes and getting all the permits and
12:05
getting inspected by the uh food safety
12:08
inspectors and FDA and USDA and all you
12:11
know just a huge number of things to do
12:14
While you're building your business use
12:17
a partner And if you don't know any
12:20
contact me I I've got all kinds of
12:22
clients that are looking for business
12:25
right How do you justify when do you
12:27
justify moving from a few home units to
12:31
your first commercial unit And I have I
12:35
have two
12:36
different buckets that I put this
12:39
question into One is do you have the
12:41
money to just buy the buy the freeze
12:42
dryer If you do like say profits from
12:45
your business my answer is as soon as
12:49
you can afford the payments on that
12:51
financed unit you you can finance it
12:54
yourself right As soon as you can afford
12:56
it buy it because it's going to it's
12:59
actually going to turbocharge your your
13:01
returns Remember machines pay for
13:04
themselves plus plus They pay for
13:06
themselves plus the employees that use
13:08
it plus the footprint plus the power
13:10
plus the facility plus they've got to
13:12
pay for all that and then still have
13:13
profit left over That's the whole beauty
13:16
of being in production That's how you
13:17
make money That's how businesses grow
13:19
grow The other bucket is um I have to
13:23
have somebody finance it for me And my
13:26
answer for that is when should you go
13:28
commercialize when you've got that book
13:30
of business that's built up that shows
13:33
the financing company that you're a safe
13:35
bet and not a risky bet Right So that's
13:39
usually going to be two to three years
13:42
So during that two to three years use
13:45
partners and work on building the sales
13:48
marketing and and fulfillment part of
13:51
your business Build up a network of
13:53
clients Yeah I think of it you brought
13:55
up two things I think to you know when
14:00
when you talk about someone freeze
14:02
drying it for you and then also
14:03
packaging it for you and then you can
14:05
focus on sales and marketing It reminds
14:07
me of all the available franchises out
14:09
there You know I think of uh there's a
14:12
nine round kickboxing uh franchises you
14:15
can buy and it's just a a circuit of
14:18
nine different stations doing different
14:20
types of kickboxing and punching and
14:22
weight training and all this type of
14:23
stuff And the the purpose of you buying
14:26
into that franchise is you didn't have
14:28
to create the concept You you don't have
14:31
to know about kickboxing But if you love
14:33
exercise and you love running a business
14:36
and customers then you can buy into that
14:39
and they supply all the branding They do
14:41
all those things You just have to run it
14:43
Uh I think of the same thing with the
14:45
freeze drying products and someone
14:47
co-packing that for you is hey if if you
14:50
really know social media if you know
14:52
marketing and sales if you know how to
14:56
uh do distribution and do wholesale and
14:58
you've got that background all you need
15:00
is a product that that you can sell and
15:03
you don't have to you don't have to know
15:06
freeze drying inside and out you can
15:07
have someone do that for you and then
15:10
you don't have to have that that expense
15:14
So and if you don't know that very well
15:16
and you need to learn it it's a great
15:18
way to learn it Yeah Cuz now you don't
15:20
have to take the risk of buying the
15:23
source products and the the equipment
15:25
and buying facilities and all that sort
15:28
of stuff
15:29
Um it's it's it's really critical step
15:33
in the process Yeah So if you can't
15:34
finance it yourself you got to have
15:36
somebody else do it Build your business
15:38
Focus on that part first And look here's
15:41
how it works I I've seen it happen so
15:43
many times I get calls like two three
15:45
times a week I've got this product I
15:48
made it in my Harvest Ray or my Blue
15:50
Alpine or Stay Fresh or whatever freeze
15:52
dryer you're using And I was selling it
15:54
at the farmers market And this guy came
15:56
by and he and he uh he really liked it
15:59
And he walked away And then a half hour
16:00
he came back He said "Hey I really like
16:03
your product It's really This is a This
16:05
is great Now I've got 150 gas stations
16:10
right I I own them and I really want to
16:13
put this on the shelf Can you do 100,000
16:16
lbs per week And you're like "What No
16:21
No But you can But you can with a
16:25
partner right With a co-manufacturing
16:27
partner one that does the freeze drying
16:29
and the packaging you know and the
16:31
labeling and all that sort of stuff Your
16:33
margin might be small but it's still now
16:36
it's a positive margin right now You
16:39
don't have to worry about the overheads
16:40
of employees and taxes and all this
16:43
other stuff All you have to do is make
16:44
sure that you're making some margin on
16:46
your sales which includes fulfillment
16:48
whatnot and you can start making money
16:51
More importantly you can accept that
16:53
contract with a guy that's got 150
16:55
service stations and actually fulfill
16:57
his stuff You say "Look it's going to
16:59
take me a week or two or a month or
17:00
whatever to get this in place." And it
17:02
will with a partner right Because you
17:04
have to make a contract with them And if
17:06
you want to know more about what this
17:08
co-acker type company or partner looks
17:11
like check out the next video because
17:13
you're going to be introduced to Berea's
17:16
freeze dry and you'll see in depth what
17:18
their facility looks like and what
17:19
services they offer you to kickstart
17:21
your freeze drying business I get people
17:23
that call me that want to move from
17:25
small freeze dryers into a commercial
17:28
operation and sometimes they get
17:30
surprised by all the stuff that they
17:31
have to have in place that's more than
17:33
just a freeze dryer cuz it's obvious
17:35
that you have to get a freeze dryer
17:36
that's bigger and has more capability
17:39
But what else do you need If you are
17:41
freezing your product inside your freeze
17:43
dryer you are never going to make any
17:45
money on commercial right So the the
17:47
freeze dryers that that can that say
17:50
"Well we you can just freeze your
17:51
product in this." It's a gimmick right
17:52
Well there are certain cases where it
17:54
might be useful like if you're doing ice
17:56
cream where you got to have it your
17:57
freeze dryer really cold when it starts
17:58
so you don't melt it at all before you
18:01
before you draw a vacuum But the fact is
18:04
if you're not freezing your product
18:05
before you stick it in your freeze dryer
18:07
you're wasting the hours that it takes
18:10
to freeze it before you can even start
18:12
the freeze drying cycle right and hours
18:14
in production It's a killer on your
18:17
bottom line on your top line So you got
18:20
to have a freezer Well how much freezer
18:22
do you need This is a great question
18:25
right You got to think about this What
18:27
is the what is the level of product that
18:29
I need to be putting through my facility
18:31
in order to get that contract that I
18:33
want How much product do I need to put
18:35
into my freeze dryer That's how much
18:37
product I have to fit into my freezer
18:39
and maybe double that because sometimes
18:41
it doesn't freeze all the way in 24
18:44
hours Maybe it's going to take 48 hours
18:46
Freezers are different They operate
18:48
differently based on who you get it from
18:51
and well what's the circulation of the
18:52
air in What's the temperature it
18:53
operates at How much refrigeration
18:56
capacity right Some companies think
18:58
freezers are rated in degrees right What
19:01
temperature does it get down to But
19:03
that's not the case That's not what
19:04
matters The what matters is how many
19:07
BTUs of of heat can that freezer take
19:10
out of your product over a 24-h hour
19:11
period Capacity is king not not degrees
19:15
right BTUs matter more than degrees in
19:18
freezing So you got to maybe have a
19:20
freeze a freezer section that's twice
19:22
the capacity of your freeze dryer so
19:24
that you can have your product
19:26
freezing now while you're so just while
19:30
your current batch is running in the
19:31
dryer you're also you're freezing your
19:33
next batch So just like with if you have
19:35
countertop units right now and you have
19:37
a freeze drying business and you're
19:39
prezing food in your freezer so that
19:42
yeah in your freezer so that you're just
19:45
running freeze drying cycle times and
19:48
you're just constantly just doing that
19:50
You're prepping food you're putting that
19:52
wet weight into a freezer it's freezing
19:54
it and then you're doing the freeze
19:56
drying cycle then you're taking out the
19:57
end product So with a commercial freeze
20:00
drying you got to have some type of deep
20:02
freezer that gets it how that gets it
20:05
cold enough to where you can have double
20:09
the capacity of what you're going to put
20:10
in the freezer Yeah And it's going to be
20:12
a walk-in freezer right You can't use a
20:14
chest freezer You you would literally be
20:16
wasting so much time getting the stuff
20:17
into and out of your chest freezer that
20:19
you would have already blown your your
20:21
budget right So it's going to need to be
20:23
some kind of walk-in or reachin freezer
20:25
And you got to be careful with with a
20:26
reach in freezer because many of them
20:28
aren't built with the circulation so
20:29
that it'll take forever in a day for
20:32
your product to get frozen What else do
20:34
you need to run a freeze dry You have to
20:36
think about where is the product going
20:38
to go after I take it out of my freeze
20:39
dryer Now it's dry I've got a wet
20:42
section I've now have a dry section
20:44
Right In a home freeze drying thing it's
20:46
no big deal You just put it on the the
20:48
counter over here and you put the other
20:50
stuff in Well you're not going to have
20:52
uh I don't
20:54
know many many square yards of counter
20:57
space to just put put stuff And even if
21:00
you do as soon as you pull dry product
21:02
out of the freeze dryer the moisture in
21:04
the air is going to start to rehydrate
21:07
it slowly and you don't want that
21:08
because that's going to make your
21:09
product soft and chewy as opposed to
21:11
nice and dry and crispy So you got to
21:12
have a room that's humidity a low
21:15
humidity room that you can at least take
21:17
that product and put it in while you're
21:19
loading the next one Or maybe you have
21:21
more employees so one guy's taking it
21:24
right to the dry room while the other
21:26
guys working on the wet side So you got
21:29
to have a dry room which is where you
21:30
unload your trays and either start to
21:34
pack it into packages themselves or at
21:36
least load it into containers that are
21:38
going to be airtight until you get it to
21:40
a packaging company Let's maybe you're
21:43
doing packaging off site You also going
21:44
to need some kind of washing station
21:46
You're going to create a mess I don't
21:48
care what you're freeze drying If you're
21:49
doing fruit you're going to have fruit
21:50
powders all over the place or little
21:52
scraps here and there Um you're going to
21:54
need to be able to wash e the trays You
21:57
might need to wash the shelves right So
21:59
if you've got a freeze dryer that you
22:00
can take the shelves out of like a
22:01
techor system you can just pull them out
22:03
and take them and spray them off or put
22:05
them through the dishwasher or whatever
22:07
But you're going to need at least some
22:08
kind of sink wet area that you're going
22:11
to have a lot of overspray from because
22:14
uh if if you're dribbling water over the
22:16
top of your trays to get it clean you're
22:19
literally shooting yourself in the foot
22:20
by wasting all the time Yeah So you got
22:23
to get a dishwasher and a and a wet area
22:25
where you can do
22:26
cleaning Uh and you might consider
22:29
especially if you're doing food for
22:30
human consumption splitting the area
22:33
between where you're where you're
22:35
handling your your wet and dry product
22:38
and the machinery space itself So I know
22:41
you're going to be doing a a tour of
22:43
some facilities where like at Bereas
22:45
where the machines the flanges from the
22:48
machines are built into a wall So you
22:51
load the product in one room in straight
22:54
into the freeze dryer The only thing
22:55
that you see on in that material
22:57
handling room is the product side of the
23:01
business not the machinery side
23:03
Machinery side's on the other side of
23:04
that wall Why does that matter Well
23:06
because in food handling and um
23:10
facilities that are that come under
23:11
certain rules you have to be able to
23:12
wash down And by wash down I mean high
23:15
pressure high temperature water with
23:16
sanitizer in it all the equipment that
23:19
is in in the space where you're going to
23:21
be handling that food If that includes
23:23
all your machinery like your vacuum
23:24
pumps and your compressors and the back
23:26
ends of your freeze dryers and all that
23:27
sort of stuff you're actually you'd save
23:30
a lot of money by building that wall and
23:32
and enclosing it Another thing is and
23:34
this is a huge one your home freeze
23:36
dryer has a refrigeration system built
23:38
into the cabinet which is pulling heat
23:39
out of your chamber and exhausting it
23:40
right into the room Now that's fine for
23:42
one or two freeze dryers although
23:44
frankly uh the room where I just have my
23:46
little Blue Alpine gets hot right It
23:49
gets hot in there And that's just from
23:50
one If you haven't got 10 that's
23:52
exhausting a lot of heat If I'm putting
23:54
a commercial freeze dryer into a into a
23:56
building and the refrigeration is
23:57
exhausting heat into that building
23:59
you're going to pay twice as much money
24:01
for the power and millions of dollars on
24:03
your HVAC system to upgrade it to get
24:04
that heat back out The refrigeration
24:06
needs to be outdoor You got to have
24:08
outdoor refrigeration that's built for
24:10
outdoor that sends the freon or the
24:11
chilled off fluid or whatever into your
24:13
chamber or or you're just you're wasting
24:16
money and time And there's freeze dryers
24:18
that have it all built in right The
24:19
refrigeration's built right onto the
24:21
same skid with the free the chamber and
24:23
the vacuum pumps and everything and it
24:24
looks all nice It ain't so nice when
24:26
you're operating Hundreds of thousands
24:28
of dollars in power bills to get that
24:30
heat out of your building and you have
24:31
to have guys up on the roof installing
24:33
more HBAC systems and and and fixing the
24:36
ones that are breaking because you're
24:37
working them too hard Sure Refrigeration
24:39
needs to be outdoor And then what about
24:41
electricity Freeze dryers are power
24:43
hungry and they're going to need
24:45
three-phase power So the first thing you
24:47
should consider when you're looking at
24:49
moving into commercial production is I
24:50
need to have threephase power preferably
24:53
480 but you can use 230 So three-phase
24:55
power and you need to have lots of amps
24:57
right So how many amps you got to get a
24:59
hold of your OEM and and find out right
25:01
So you got to have usually if you have
25:03
outdoor refrigeration you have to have
25:04
one feed for the refrigeration system
25:06
and another feed for the entire inside
25:08
operation But you got to have plenty of
25:10
power It's your number one consideration
25:13
So when you're thinking about buying a
25:14
building um make sure that it already
25:17
has enough power or that you can get it
25:19
at a reasonable cost And reasonable to
25:22
an electric uh company is they have
25:25
their own definition of reasonable right
25:27
So just varies Yeah And and it's it can
25:29
be a lot of power So just talk to your
25:31
OEM that you've chosen or or all of the
25:34
OEMs that you're considering and find
25:36
out Yeah There's a lot of things to
25:37
think about going into commercial but it
25:39
can be simplified by just talking with
25:41
somebody who knows exactly all these
25:44
different people that are doing that
25:46
which is you Um and also the OEM sales
25:49
reps too Uh which are looking out for
25:51
your best interest And so I think what
25:54
I'm hearing is there's common things to
25:56
look at but just talk to an OEM talk to
25:58
you at Sunour and that way people know
26:01
exactly what they should be looking at
26:03
in their local area if they're going to
26:05
go and get into commercial freeze drying
26:07
Yeah contact me It doesn't cost you
26:08
anything except the time to talk to me
26:10
There's a lot more topics covered in
26:12
this particular interview with Gan I've
26:14
got all the videos coming up next in the
26:15
thumbnails You can also check out the
26:17
video description below Also if you
26:19
haven't checked out the freeze-dried
26:20
summit this is an opportunity for you to
26:22
meet Gan in person as well as all
26:24
different types of OEMs of freeze dryers
26:27
and also home freeze dryers and a lot of
26:30
other people who are doing freeze drying
26:32
This is an exclusive event here in 2025
26:34
If you're watching it right now it's in
26:36
Boyisee Idaho I'm personally hosting
26:38
this event and I want you to be there as
26:40
well if you're thinking about starting a
26:41
business or if you currently have one
26:43
and you just want to be more connected
26:44
in person to this community So check out
26:46
the freezerdesummit.com comments in the
26:48
video description below All right let's
26:50
check out more videos I'll see you there
26:54
[Music]