My cooler fan quit right before a big wedding order

It happened last Friday morning when I was prepping 30 centerpieces. The fan in my main flower cooler just stopped, and the temp started climbing fast. I had to move everything to my backup fridge and put ice packs around the buckets to keep things cool while I called for a repair. What do you all do for a quick fix when your cooler fails on a busy day?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler8222mo ago

Oh man, my backup plan is just frantic prayers and a lot of swearing.

miles7072mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst feeling. I keep a couple of those big blue freezer blocks on hand just for this. When my old cooler died, I threw those in the bottom of a clean plastic bin, set my buckets on top, and covered the whole thing with a wet sheet. It bought me a few hours. @tyler822, the swearing is a key part of the process, but that trick actually kept things cool enough to finish my orders.

milam421mo ago

Honestly, I ran into the same panic last summer! I grabbed every cooler bag and lunchbox I had in the house, filled them with ice from the gas station down the street, and tucked individual bouquets into them. It looked crazy, but it kept the stems cold and bought me time to finish. I was just shoving arrangements into insulated grocery totes. It was a total mess but it worked in a pinch.