From September 1 through November 30, 2026, we are opening priority gas delivery accounts for Portland-area bars, breweries, taprooms, and restaurants. New priority accounts set up during this window get route placement ahead of the winter holiday rush, a usage assessment, and a safety-stock plan so mid-shift outages stop happening.
If you have ever had a bartender come find you at 8 PM on a Friday to say the CO2 is out, this post is for you.
What Running Out Actually Costs
The direct cost of an emergency delivery is the smallest part of it.
When a CO2 cylinder empties mid-service, draft and fountain service stop. Not slow down. Stop. Your bar staff are now explaining to a full room that you cannot pour, your ticket average drops, and some of those guests do not come back. Meanwhile someone is on the phone hunting a supplier who will actually come out on a Friday night.
We do emergency deliveries and we are glad to. But every operator we deliver to in that situation says some version of the same thing afterward: this should not have been possible.
How a Priority Account Prevents It
Three things, none complicated.
A cadence based on your real usage. We ask how many kegs you pour a week and roughly how much fountain soda you dispense, then estimate consumption and set a delivery interval with margin built in. Cylinders get swapped before anyone is watching a gauge.
Backup cylinder as safety stock. One spare, connected through a manifold or staged and ready. If a cylinder empties between drops, you switch over and keep pouring. This single change eliminates most outages on its own.
Route priority. Priority accounts are placed on the route first, which matters most in December when everyone’s volume spikes at once and every supplier in the city is stretched.
What We Deliver
| Gas | Typical use | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Food-grade CO2 | Soda dispensing, carbonation, standard draft push | Cylinder or bulk |
| Nitrogen | Nitro pours, long draft lines | Cylinder |
| 75/25 beer gas blend | Balanced push on longer runs without over-carbonating | Cylinder |
| Argon and oxygen | Lab, industrial, and specialty applications | Cylinder |
| Bulk gas | High steady volume operations | Dewar |
If you are not sure which blend your system should be on, that is part of the usage assessment. Plenty of Portland bars are running pure CO2 on draft lines long enough that a nitrogen blend would pour noticeably better.
Coverage area
Priority accounts are available throughout the Portland Metro area, including Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, and across both river crossings into Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and Battle Ground, WA.
Setting It Up
Call us or send the contact form with your kegs-per-week and fountain volume. We estimate your usage, recommend cylinder size and format, propose a delivery cadence, and set up the account. It is a short conversation, not a procurement process.
Existing customers on our refrigeration or glycol chiller service can add gas to the same account, which means one relationship, one invoice, and occasionally one truck covering both stops.
The window closes November 30, 2026. After that, new accounts are set up on our standard schedule rather than with priority route placement, which in practice means January instead of October.
Ready to stop worrying about it? Read more about commercial gas delivery or get in touch through our contact page.
About the author
Cris Camacho
Service & Administration Lead
Cris Camacho coordinates service, dispatch, and administration for Commercial Refrigeration Repair Portland Pros, keeping emergency response and project scheduling running smoothly across the Portland Metro area and SW Washington.
Commercial Refrigeration Service Coordinator, Factory Authorized Warranty Claim Administration
