>Deep fryers are exactly the same, but with a tub to put in oil.
Not really true. The fryers used by McDonalds and the vast majority of QSRs are digitally controlled have a fairly sophisticated recirculating filter system to keep the shortening in good condition. The state of this system is much less critical from a food safety standpoint, but it can be extremely hazardous to employees for obvious reasons. The pressure fryers used by fried chicken restaurants are potentially even more hazardous. To my knowledge, none of these systems have weird DMCA-protected firmware to prevent unauthorised maintenance.
I do think there's a little bit more difficulty in the ice cream machine that doesn't exist with oil.
I went and watched some videos on fry machine maintenance (lol) and one thing that doesn't translate to the ice cream machine is how easy it is to empty the oil, throw in polish, refill, empty, refill. You can't really have an automated process which drains out the ice-cream and then sterilizes it.
> To my knowledge, none of these systems have weird DMCA-protected firmware to prevent unauthorised maintenance.
Absolutely agree. The point of my post was more why a fry machine might have easier (and hence cheaper) maintenance than an ice cream machine.
Not really true. The fryers used by McDonalds and the vast majority of QSRs are digitally controlled have a fairly sophisticated recirculating filter system to keep the shortening in good condition. The state of this system is much less critical from a food safety standpoint, but it can be extremely hazardous to employees for obvious reasons. The pressure fryers used by fried chicken restaurants are potentially even more hazardous. To my knowledge, none of these systems have weird DMCA-protected firmware to prevent unauthorised maintenance.