Temporary Kitchens for Food Manufacturers

We have loads of experience of supplying food manufacturers with temporary kitchen space, so here’s a quick overview of how we can help the food manufacturing sector!

Top 5 reasons food manufacturers might need temporary kitchens

There are lots of different reasons why a food manufacturer might need to hire a temporary kitchen – here are the top five reasons I’ve come across from clients:

1.    Food manufacturers take on a new contract and need to increase their production facilities for a set amount of time.

2.    Additional facilities are required in order to undertake the production of a trial product.

3.    Temporary facilities are needed in order for production to continue during kitchen refurbishment works.

4.    The food manufacturer is operating at full capacity but requires more production space.

5.    An emergency has resulted in all or part of the kitchen being closed at short notice, so temporary facilities are required to continue production.

We offer a whole range of solutions to help food manufacturers in these situations. These include the provision of modular kitchen facilities to enable increased production capacity, additional cold and dry storage space, emergency temporary kitchens or catering equipment if main production facilities have been taken out of action, and product testing and development kitchens.

Key considerations for food manufacturers when considering temporary kitchens

Our temporary kitchens are an ideal solution as they’re so flexible. There are several factors that food manufacturers need to consider when thinking about hiring temporary facilities:

Size and Timescale
Depending on requirements, the size of kitchen needed can vary hugely. We can supply facilities of all sizes, from 15 sqm up to 1,500+ sqm. Different requirements also have different timescales. For example, a major refurbishment or new contract may require a long term solution, whereas increased capacity might just be required for a busy period or while a new product is being developed. We can offer short, medium and long term solutions tailored to each client’s individual needs.

Catering Equipment
Depending on the product being produced, specific items of catering equipment are likely to be needed. Utilising products from our range of over 9,000 items of catering equipment, we work with our clients to supply a temporary kitchen facility which is matched with the production requirements. Our commercial catering equipment is well-maintained and consists of trusted, professional brands which are suitable for heavy usage.

Compliance and the Kitchen Environment
It’s very important that any kitchen facilities used for food manufacturing comply fully with all relevant food hygiene and health and safety legislation. All our units and items of catering equipment undergo thorough, regular maintenance to ensure that they reach you in good working order, and are tested and certificated before every hire.

Our kitchen units are purpose-built and designed specifically for catering use, so they offer a high quality catering environment with all the latest health and safety features. Our kitchen features include extraction canopies with fully interlocked gas valves, emergency cut off points, automatic fire suppression, easy clean extraction systems, infestation proof construction, high lux lighting housed in steam proof fittings and automatic emergency lighting. In addition, the walls and ceilings are all wipe clean plastisteel, and our kitchens feature sealed non-slip vinyl flooring, to facilitate cleaning. We also offer environmental control with options for tempered air in areas of high air movement, and chilled environments where there are areas of high risk food assembly.

More Info?

For more information on our catering infrastructure solutions for food manufacturers, give me a call or visit the PKL website.

Kitchen Emergency at Christmas? Download our Free Contingency Planning Guide

With Christmas just around the corner, what would you do if faced with the sudden break down of equipment or a disaster that shut your kitchen?

Our Christmas contingency guide can be downloaded for FREE and gives 24-hour contact details for PKL over the Christmas period, emergency temporary kitchen and catering equipment information.

The guide also contains information on extra cold storage facilities and equipment that may ease the pressure on your kitchen over the Christmas period and a contingency check list of considerations to make, if you are faced with a kitchen emergency.

To download our FREE contingency document, click here. Alternatively, if you would like to receive a hard copy version, send an email request to postbox@pkl.co.uk

Rapid Response Portable Kitchens and Catering Equipment Used to Feed Army Troops

PKL supplied the MOD with commercial catering facilities, capable of supplying up to 35,000 military personnel in the Middle East.

The project was in response to an urgent kitchen enquiry and design and brief costs were supplied to the client within a matter of hours, while the first portable kitchen units were dispatched from the UK within 72 hours.

The facility comprised of seven military kitchens capable of feeding 5,000 men each. The complex was made up from Portable Kitchen units and commercial catering equipment and utilised PKL’s unique containerised canopy. This approach enabled the equipment and associated items to be mobilised ready for shipping very quickly.

The Portable Kitchens were transported by heavy-lift Antonov transport planes and installation of the first facility commenced within 12 hours of arrival.

This project best demonstrates PKL's unique rapid response capabilities previously exercised in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Within the UK we deal with emergency enquiries on a daily basis, and are able to supply Portable Kitchens and catering equipment for hire at very short notice. Typical emergencies we are asked to provide temporary catering facilities to cover include kitchen fires, kitchen flooding and unforeseen kitchen closure.

Emergency Kitchen and Dining Supplied to Motorway Services

Commercial kitchen rental services from PKL have allowed us to provide many facilities.

After a fire completely destroyed the MOTO service station at Birchwood we rebuilt a complete temporary facility. Every area of the service station was designed, provided and constructed by PKL, creating a complete modular temporary structure.

The complete facility included, kitchen and dining area, snack shop and male, female and disabled toilets, including baby change room. The PKL built facility was operational within 3 weeks of the initial phone call, using traditional building methods this would have taken over 12 months.

We assign a PKL Project Manager to all commercial kitchen rental projects to ensure all processes run smoothly from initial design through to installation and commissioning. A time line and mandatory health and safety information will be provided at the beginning of every commercial kitchen rental project along with risk assessments, method statements and a safety plan for the works.

Contingency Planning from PKL

PKL were able to supply Keele University with an emergency kitchen hire after fire destroyed their main banqueting and catering facilities. The 15 unit portable facility was delivered and installed in one week, positioned along a severe drop and between listed trees. Once in place, the units were joined by a maze of walkways that enabled access to the existing dining rooms. The facility was onsite for 16 weeks and enabled Christmas functions at the university to go on as planned.

PKL can offer a kitchen contingency plan that is second to none. We will identify what Portable Kitchens and / or catering equipment you need, as a minimum for temporary cover and undertake a full site survey.

Whatever, your catering emergency you can be assured that PKL can provide a rapid response. You can contact our hire team 24 hours a day by calling 0845 840 4242.