Wherever you sit in the commercial food chain, there's the right mixture of practicality and price to suit your mixing needs.
Mixer types
Basically you have three options. Planetary mixers, or vertical mixers, use a fixed bowl with a spinning agitator and are great for mixing anything from icing and meringues to reasonable amounts of dough. However if you mix large amounts of dough, a spiral mixer operates with a fixed agitator and spinning bowl and can mix high volumes. If you need a more versatile mixer for meats, breads, salads and batters, a vertical mixer is ideal for bulk work.
Mixer sizes
How much do you need to mix at a time? If it's less than 10 quarts, a countertop mixer will suffice and, as the name suggests, you can simply place it on one of your existing counters. If you're mixing anything between 10 and 20 quarts at a time, you'll most likely need a proper equipment stand to house your mixer. Anything above 20 quarts and you're talking heavy duty mixing with a large floor mixer placed directly on the ground.
Mixer drive systems
What's more important to you – a drive system that can occasionally slip or lose grip, but is cheap to repair? Or a system that doesn't slip, but is more expensive to repair? If it's the former, go for a belt-driven mixer. If it's the latter, go for gear-driven.
Mixer Speeds
Do you need a mixer with multiple speeds? Do you need to change the speed during mixing? While plenty of mixers do offer a variety of speed settings, you need to turn them off to change speeds, then turn them back on again; annoying and time consuming if speed changes are a regular feature of your mixing process. If so, make sure you buy a mixer specifically engineered to go through the gears on the run.
Mixer power
Remember, mixing a big batch of sticky dough is about the most taxing job a mixer can do. So even if your dough mixing needs are sporadic and the bulk of your requirements more lightweight, you still need a machine capable of that high end work. Make sure you present a complete list of all your mixing needs and frequencies when you talk to a supplier.