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How Dish Machine Rentals and Warewash Chemical Agreements Work
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
warewashing
How Dish Machine Rentals and Warewash Chemical Agreements Work
So, you’re running a commercial kitchen, and you have the dishes to prove it. You need a commercial dishwasher, but the search brings with it so many questions—especially as you consider whether or not to lease.
Because what does it mean to lease a commercial dishwasher? How does it work? What types of agreement options are there? What types of dish machines can you get? What chemicals will be included? How long will the lease be for? What if you need to break the agreement? There’s a lot to consider before leasing a commercial dishwasher, and it can be confusing as you try to determine what you need.
At State Cleaning, we lease, service, and provide chemicals for commercial dish machines. With various factors to consider, it can be challenging to get the answers you need.
To help you determine whether leasing is right for you, we will explain what a dish machine lease is, types of lease agreements, what's included in an agreement, lease length, what happens if you need to get out of a lease, and other warewashing options. After reading, you’ll know whether a commercial dishwasher lease is right for you.
What is a Warewashing Lease Agreement?
A warewashing lease agreement is a setup in which you lease out a dish machine or otherwise regularly purchase chemicals for a dish machine. This is a habitual cycle that ensures you get what you need on a consistent schedule instead of buying a machine and chemicals as needed.
Types of Warewashing Lease Agreements
Because every kitchen has different needs, there are different warewashing lease agreements available to suit your situation. Agreements vary by company, but generally, there are two different agreement types: dish machine leases and chemical purchases for owned machines.
Dish Machine Lease
When you lease, your monthly agreement will cover the cost of your machine and any chemicals needed. Depending on your facility, you may have a set monthly amount of chemicals purchased or you may buy them as needed. In either case, both the machine and the chemicals will be outlined in your agreement and provided to you by the distributor.
Chemical Purchases for Already Owned Dish Machines
You may also be in a situation where you already own a dish machine, so you do not need to lease one out. However, you still have a need for washing and sanitizing chemicals, so a warewashing agreement that provides you with regular chemicals will be helpful. This can be a set monthly amount or as needed depending on your kitchen’s demand.
What is Included in a Warewashing Agreement?
Warewashing agreements are flexible to your needs. What they include will vary based on the company, but there are general features that many offer.
A warewashing agreement will at minimum include chemicals for washing, rinsing, and sanitizing (depending on your machine type). These chemicals can be supplied monthly if you have a set amount, or they can be supplied as needed if your usage is less extensive. It all depends on your needs and your agreement.
From there, an agreement can include a leased dish machine, service, repairs, replacements, and more. Not all companies will offer these additional services, but for those that do, it can take some of the pressure off of unexpected problems and prevent issues before they start.
Let’s say that you manage a diner. One day, your dishwasher stops getting hot, and your staff is forced to wash hundreds of dishes by hand as customers grow more and more impatient. You call a maintenance service for immediate repair, but they can’t get to you until after the weekend.
In this situation, a warewashing agreement that includes service would have been immensely helpful. Instead of leaving your restaurant to handwash mountains of dishes for days and field guest complaints, you could get a quick repair—often without incurring additional costs.
Look into specific companies to learn what they offer with their warewashing agreements, but generally, you can expect it to be more convenient than what’s included with buying a machine.
How Long is a Warewashing Agreement For?
As with the other features of a warewashing agreement, how long it lasts will depend on the company you choose. However, it can usually be at least somewhat flexible.
For example, at State Cleaning, our warewashing lease agreements generally run for 24 months, but we can also work with other timelines upon request. In this setup, prices are also locked in for the first 12 months, so you don’t have to worry about unexpected charges while still on your agreement.
What If I Need to Break My Warewashing Agreement?
Even with the flexibility of a warewashing agreement, sometimes something unexpected happens and you need a way out of your agreement. In these cases, you may still have options.
Some companies only allow you to break the agreement if you pay a fee. However, other companies have looser policies. For example, at State Cleaning, our customers can break their agreement at any time as long as they give a 60-day notice. This way, they aren’t locked into an agreement they can’t sustain if their situation changes.
Research potential warewashing agreements to find the one that best fits your needs. For flexible agreements, find companies with more flexible policies.
Leasing a Dish Machine vs. Buying a Dish Machine
Of course, all this said, your other option is to buy a dish machine and supply chemicals for it yourself. This way, you won’t be locked into a lease agreement and may have more freedom to switch products if needed.
However, buying a dish machine is significantly more costly than leasing one. Upfront costs are usually around $15,000–$20,000, and this doesn’t even cover service charges, repair costs, or the price of chemicals.
Meanwhile, leasing a dish machine is usually $100–$400 per month plus the cost of chemicals. From there, service and repairs are included. It’s easy to see that this is a much smaller financial undertaking.
Some customers still prefer to buy their dish machines because they get to own them, won’t be locked into a lease agreement, and will have them play into property value. But if your budget is tight and you don’t have the time to deal with unexpected breaks, it probably makes more sense to lease a dish machine.
Learn About State Cleaning’s Warewashing Agreements
Warewashing agreements bring with them an array of questions, and it can sometimes be tricky to figure out whether they’ll really work for you. Now that you know how warewashing agreements work, watch the video below to learn how a dish machine rental with State Cleaning works.
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