Mix, Match, Chill: Foster’s Flexbar Rethinks the Back Bar

Foster Refrigerator has launched Flexbar, a modular back-bar refrigeration range built around more than 140 segment combinations — so a bar can configure its bottle cooling to fit the space and the service style, rather than squeezing standard cabinets under the counter.

The range arrived this spring — Foster was promoting it to the trade by late May — and the pitch is straightforward: pick the segments you need, in the arrangement you need, and get LED-lit display cooling that follows the shape of your bar. Foster also highlights a design focus on accessibility and ease of maintenance, intended to keep service visits short and the bar trading.

Configurable versus fixed-format

Most back bars are furnished the traditional way: one, two or three standard bottle coolers lined up under the counter, with the odd gap filled by a bin or a shelf. It works, it is cheap to quote, and every gap is wasted chilled space. A modular range flips that. The cooler becomes joinery — sized to the run, with the door and segment mix chosen around how the bar actually serves.

The honest trade-off: fixed-format coolers are commodity items — easy to price, easy to replace, available quickly. A configured system asks more of you at ordering time, and a mistake in the layout is harder to swap out later. Configuration pays only when driven by real service patterns, not showroom appeal.

What to ask for in a Flexbar-versus-alternatives quote

Foster’s launch material is design-led, and published technical detail is thin so far. That is normal for a new range, but it means the spec sheet does the deciding. Before comparing any modular system against standard bottle coolers, get the following in writing for the exact configuration you are quoted:

• The full technical sheet per segment — refrigerant, energy consumption and climate class. If it is not published, ask for it; never assume.
• Dimensions as configured, including ventilation clearances — under-counter cooling lives or dies on airflow.
• Service access — which parts can be reached in situ, and whether one failed segment takes the whole run offline.
• Lead time versus the fixed-format alternative — a configured order rarely ships as fast as a stock cooler.

Craven’s verdict

The strength is the idea itself: back bars are awkward, individual spaces, and a range engineered to be configured — with service access thought about up front — is a genuinely useful development from a major British manufacturer. The caution is the paperwork: until full specifications are in your hand for your configuration, you cannot compare energy use or running cost against a standard cooler, so make the spec sheet a condition of the order. Flexbar will suit operators fitting out a new bar or refurbishing an odd-shaped one; a straightforward straight run may still be best served by proven fixed-format coolers. Craven Cooling can price both routes side by side and sanity-check the layout before you commit.

The stunt — The Friday-Night Bottle Map: On your next busy shift, tape a sheet of paper behind the bar and tally every product that leaves the coolers, by category and by which door it came from. One night’s marks show you which segments earn their keep, where staff cross paths, and what your ideal layout actually looks like — before anyone configures anything.

Sources: Foster Refrigerator: introducing the Flexbar range · The Staff Canteen: Flexbar range feature (26 May 2026)