How much does a Commercial Ice Machine Cleaning Service cost to buy?

A typical Commercial Ice Machine Cleaning Service sells for 1.7x to 4.2x seller's discretionary earnings. With estimated SDE of $114K, expect to pay roughly $194K to $479K before adjustments for assets, debt, growth, and local market quality.

How much does it cost to start a Commercial Ice Machine Cleaning Service?

Startup costs range from $25K to $140K depending on location, equipment, and scale.

Service

Commercial Ice Machine Cleaning Service

The hidden food-safety chore inside every restaurant ice bin

Bottom line

Worth studying, but do not buy without strong local proof.

Commercial ice machine cleaning services descale, sanitize, inspect, and document restaurant, hotel, healthcare, convenience-store, and office ice machines. The surprise angle: ice is food, but many operators forget the machine until slime, scale, cloudy ice, or a health-inspection issue forces action.

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Acquisition score

Margin · multiple · SBA data

64Strong

Avg revenue

$380K/yr

$120K–$1.1M range

Profit margin

30%

~$114K SDE

Multiple

1.7–4.2×

of SDE

Est. buy price

$194K–$479K

startup: $25K–$140K

How It Works

Technicians schedule quarterly or semiannual visits, shut down the machine, remove scale, clean bins and components, sanitize food-contact surfaces, change filters, inspect condenser performance, and leave a service log. Revenue comes from recurring cleaning plans, filter changes, minor repairs, emergency calls, and referrals into refrigeration service.

BizBite verdict

Watch / verify

Commercial Ice Machine Cleaning Service has enough high-level data for a first look, but BizBite has not assigned a category-specific operating model yet. Treat the score as preliminary.

64Strong

low data confidence · 40/100medium financing fit

Why it may work

+Attractive 30% estimated margin profile

Be careful

!Source link status has not been verified yet
!No last-checked date yet
!No SBA category enrichment yet
!No category operating model yet
!Low data confidence

Deal Calculator

Priced off $114K SDE — can this deal service its own debt?

2.44×

DSCR · Lender-comfortable

Purchase multiple — 2.8× SDE ($320K)

Category range: 1.7×–4.2× SDE

Down payment — 10% ($32K)

SBA minimum equity injection is 10% for change-of-ownership

Interest rate — 10.50%

Typical SBA 7(a) range: 9.5–12% (prime-based)

Loan term — 10 years

Standard SBA 7(a): 10 years for business acquisition

Purchase price

$320K

2.8× of $114K SDE

Cash to close

$42K

$32K down + ~3% closing

Debt service

$4K/mo

$47K/yr on $288K loan

Cash-on-cash

162%

cash back in ~8 mo

Debt service coverage · what the lender sees

2.44×+$6K/mo after debt

Most SBA lenders want ≥1.25× coverage; 1.5×+ is a strong file.

SDE = revenue × margin estimate for this niche; it includes owner compensation, so budget your salary out of cash flow. Excludes working-capital injection, capex reserves, and taxes. Actual SBA terms vary by lender and borrower.

Pros

+Recurring food-safety task with visible before/after value
+Low equipment cost compared with full refrigeration contracting
+Easy cross-sell to restaurants, hotels, healthcare, offices, and convenience stores
+Filter replacement and minor repairs add ticket size

Cons

-Trust and documentation matter because customers serve the ice to guests
-Some HVAC/refrigeration contractors already bundle the service
-Routes must be dense enough to avoid travel eating the margin

Best For

Food-service maintenance operators who can package ice-machine cleaning as a simple recurring compliance and quality-control plan

Operating Costs

Costs include cleaning chemicals, sanitizer, replacement filters, PPE, hand tools, technician labor, vehicles, insurance, and light parts inventory. Margin resembles specialty cleaning and small equipment service: strong on scheduled routes, weaker on one-off emergency calls with travel time.