LACA Exhibition 2015

Last week we headed off to exhibit at the LACA Main Event in Birmingham. As well as having a stand in the main exhibition, we also took one of our Food Cubes along. We stationed the Cube outside the venue, and lots of visitors followed our special treasure maps to hunt it down for a look around!

Our lucky dip treasure chest located in the Food Cube proved to be very popular, with prizes including bags of sweets, PKL goodie bags, travel mugs, Parker pens and Kindles. Three lucky people won Kindles this year – congratulations to Phillipa, Tracey and Rachel.



As always, we had a great time meeting new people and catching up with old friends, and had some great conversations about how our KitchenPods, Food Cubes and temporary kitchens can help different schools overcome a variety of catering issues.

Recent School Projects

We've installed several temporary and permanent catering facilities in schools in the last few weeks, with many schools preparing for September already. Here's a selection of photos from some school projects we've recently completed.

Cavendish Primary School in Manchester has had a temporary kitchen and dining facility installed for 18 months while their old facilities undergo a refurbishment. The large kitchen facility has areas for preparation, production, dry and cold storage, and dishwashing, as well as a dining hall, toilets and staff room.



We've also recently installed a Food Cube at Fairfield High School for Girls in Manchester. The school wanted to offer a catering facility with a more contemporary high street feel to particularly appeal to older pupils. The Cube has helped reduce queue times in the main dining hall and has taken pressure off the catering staff. It has also proven to be popular with users of the nearby sports hall, and the Cube is generating additional profits outside of normal school hours by catering for people using the sports facilities.



The same contract caterer also ordered another identical Food Cube for Tewkesbury School (above). They have been so pleased with the popularity and success of these first two Cubes, that they've just placed an order for a third!

National School Meals Week – PKL Reminisces

This week is National School Meals Week, which got us thinking about our favourite school meals from our own school days. Having taken a very scientific survey of the office, we discovered some rather interesting trends. We fear that some of these answers show our age, but here are some of our responses to the question:

“What was your favourite school meal?”

Spam fritters followed by jam sponge pudding and custard. I also have fond memories of the Christmas pudding which had a real sixpence hidden inside.
Peter Schad, Commercial Director

Fish fingers, chips and peas.
Natalie, IT Support

Veggie lasagne.
Andy, Graphic Designer

Jacket potato with cheese. The flapjack was brilliant too and only cost 12p!
Ed, Business Development

Christmas dinner!
Alastair, CAD Designer

Lasagne!
Will, Financial Controller

Steak pie. At least, I think it was steak…
Ed, IT Manager

Chicken fricassee followed by jam roly poly.
Lynda, Finance

Fish and chips on a Friday, and the Christmas dinners.
Sam, Marketing Manager

I don’t know, but I was a plate monitor so I got to sit at the head of the table!
Sue, Office Manager

Chocolate crunch with pink custard.
Linda, Finance

Chocolate crunch with pink custard on a Friday.
Ian, KitchenPod Sales Manager

At this point, the whole office started enthusiastically reminiscing about chocolate crunch with pink custard. It appears that this was something of a phenomenon in schools across the country. There was quite some debate about how and why the custard was pink, though everyone agreed wholeheartedly that this was the best pudding they’ve ever eaten. Discussion became so animated that we decided to give up and abandon the survey. As we did though, our colleague Mike who looks after our Mid West Catering Equipment division called up. As a parting question, we asked him about his favourite school meal:

Savoury mince with fried bread… and chocolate crunch with pink custard!
Mike, Mid West Catering Equipment Sales

We despair.

As you can probably tell, most of us grew up in a time before nutrition was a top priority in schools, and when discussion turned to our least favourite school meal memories (many involving limp, grey cabbage and thick custard skin), we’re very glad that times have changed!

If you’re busy working to implement the new School Food Plan in your school, you might find it useful to read our 8 Point Plan for Schools which we wrote a few months ago in response to the Plan's announcement. We also outline a number of catering solutions for schools, as well as funding information, on our recently relaunched SchoolKitchens.com website.

We hope you’re all enjoying National School Meals Week, and hope it’s successful in promoting your school meals service. Please do give us a ring if you’d like any advice on solutions to help boost your ability to offer great school meals; we have a range of options including KitchenPods, Food Cubes and our new KitchenFM for Schools product which enables you to contract hire all your catering equipment.

Now, we’re off to look up chocolate crunch and pink custard recipes…
 

Food in the National Curriculum

PKL Sales and Marketing Director Lee Vines guest blogs today on the addition of food teaching to the National Curriculum.

I was delighted to see the recent news that food and cookery are being added into the National Curriculum as a requirement for all pupils up to the age of 14. At PKL, good nutrition and health education for young people is something we are passionate about, and we actively support the work of the Children’s Food Trust, as well as having worked with a large number of schools over the past few years to provide catering facility solutions.

Nutrition, diet and cooking skills are vital in order for young people to grow up with healthy eating habits and the knowledge to make the right food choices. Hopefully this change in the National Curriculum will support and reinforce all the great work that’s been taking place on school meals over the past few years, and help bring about a positive change in young people’s attitudes towards food. This two-pronged approach of both eating well at school and learning how to cook healthily should be a really positive step forward.

One of the key things we need to tackle now is the state of kitchen facilities in schools, including both catering kitchens for providing school meals, and teaching kitchens for use by pupils in lessons. From our extensive experience of working with schools, I know that many schools are still struggling with old, inadequate facilities and equipment, and that these issues can often seem insurmountable in the face of tight budgets, limited space and lack of information and guidance.

I think it’s important for schools and local authorities to know that there are companies out there who can help them. For example, our permanent modular kitchen and servery buildings – KitchenPods and Food Cubes – have been the ideal solution for over 100 schools across the country, providing a quick, high-quality alternative to traditional construction at a fraction of the cost. We are also able to advise on the various funding streams available for procuring these facilities, and can even help out with funding applications.

In light of the changes to the National Curriculum, our VegPods may be the ideal solution for many schools too, providing a unique teaching kitchen where pupils can grow and cook their own vegetables. These modular teaching kitchens can be built to each school’s exact requirements in terms of size, equipment and external appearance, and include an enclosed courtyard with a raised bed for growing vegetables or herbs. They can also be used to build links with the local community, as well as create a valuable extra revenue stream, by being let out to local community groups.

I know that for many people and organisations, this recent news comes as a result of years of hard work and tireless campaigning, so let’s help and support schools as they rise to the challenge and embrace the valuable link between education and healthy eating.

School Kitchen Solutions from PKL

PKL provide a wide range of solutions for the education sector with products ranging from complete school kitchen buildings to catering equipment. Over the next few weeks, our Blog will inform you of the range of kitchens for schools and catering equipment available from PKL.

Our products are specified for a wide range of requirements including a complete new kitchen, temporary kitchens for times of refurbishment and catering equipment for the education sector.

We have worked hand in hand with schools and local authorities over the last 20 years to provide a wide range of kitchen and catering solutions for schools, colleges and universities. Projects within the last year include:

Powys Council – 3 separate kitchens for schools
Croydon Council – 2 permanent modular school kitchens
Cardiff Council – Temporary and permanent facilities on 3 schools sites
High Storrs Comprehensive – Temporary Kitchen for BSF refurbishment

PKL are a Buying solutions accredited supplier, meaning local authorities and schools can procure products and benefit from cost savings leveraged from using a national government procurement organisation. This is turn helps local authorities meet spending targets set by the Government.

The use of Buying Solutions also means that users are fully compliant with UK and European procurement legislation.

For further information on procuring products and services through the Buying Solutions Frameworks, contact the Buying Solutions Service Desk on 0845 410 2222, or email custcare@ogcbs.gsi.gov.uk