Black Bowl 12" (C)

A: It is the cold core of the display. The ice pack sits in the bottom of it and the tray of product sits on top. The bowl is what separates a Sample Dome from a plain cover. Without it there is nowhere for the pack to sit and nothing holding the cold under the food. It also carries the hinge pegs the dome snaps onto, and the coupling on its underside that the pole fits into.

A: All three 12-inch models. The same bowl is the replacement part for the S12C countertop, the S12F floor stand and the S12D deluxe floor stand, so you order by display size rather than by model. If you run a mix of 12-inch units, that is one spare part covering all of them.

A: Food-safe ABS plastic, in black. ABS is used here because it takes daily handling, temperature change from a frozen pack and repeated sanitising without going brittle or crazing. Black is a presentation decision as much as a practical one. It puts the product in contrast rather than competing with it.

A: When the hinge pegs are damaged, when the pole coupling no longer grips, or when the surface is scratched enough that it cannot be sanitised properly. The first two are structural and obvious. The third is the one operators miss: a deeply scratched food-contact surface holds residue no matter how well it is wiped.

A: It is designed around a reusable frozen pack rather than loose ice, so there is no meltwater to manage. A rubber plug seats in the hole in the bottom of the bowl, which is what keeps the assembly sealed where the pole coupling passes through. If the plug is missing, replace it before using the bowl. That part is sold separately.

A: Wipe and sanitise by hand between product changes, including the recess the ice pack sits in. The pack recess is the part that gets skipped, because the pack covers it and it looks clean. It is also the part that stays damp. Nothing in the source material states that this part is dishwasher safe. Wash by hand.

A: Yes, for ambient products such as breads, cookies and confectionery. The bowl still does its structural job, carrying the dome hinge and the pole. The tray simply sits lower without a pack beneath it. Keep the pack for anything containing dairy, meat or cut fruit.

A: Less urgently than a dome, but yes if you run several displays. Bowls fail far less often than domes because customers never touch them. When one does fail it is usually the hinge or the coupling, and neither is repairable.

A: No. The 16-inch units use a 16-inch bowl and the two are not interchangeable. Order by the size of your display. If you are unsure which size you are running, measure the tray rather than the base.

A: Because a damaged bowl otherwise takes a whole working display out of service. Everything else in the unit, the pole, the base, the dome and the tray, is usually still perfectly serviceable. Replacing one part keeps the rest earning.