Events: The early bird catches the worm!

If there's one thing I've learnt during my time working on the hire of UK event kitchens, it's that there's no such thing as booking too early! For the summer months and festive season especially, it's important to book your kitchen facilities early, as leaving it too late can risk the facilities you need being unavailable. Booking early can also make sure we have enough time to design your kitchen to your exact requirements and offer you the very best options for your needs.

But what type of kitchen is best for you?

This will usually boil down to a choice between Portable Kitchen Units and Marquee Kitchens. Both have their own different advantages, and a big part of my job is advising customers on the best type of kitchen facility to suit their event. Here's a really brief overview of the two key options which would be used as a starting point for designing your ideal temporary event kitchen.

Portable Kitchen Units

• Hygienic, purpose-designed, food-safe unit
• Built-in extraction canopies and fire supression
• Sturdy, high-quality unit
• Can be joined to other units such as dishwash units, coldrooms, etc to form a larger kitchen complex
• Choice of catering equipment inside

Marquee Kitchens

• Over 10,000 items of commercial catering equipment available to hire, ideal for setting up kitchen facilities within marquees
• Specially designed mobile canopies (with full-length extraction canopy and fire supression system) can be used to install catering equipment inside marquees and existing buildings such as exhibition centres and warehouses 
• Very flexible option
• Clear flow through the kitchen due to being able to set up different areas for preparation, production, dishwash etc

For both of these options, I can advise you on the catering equipment you might require, and the best option for your specific event. This is another reason why it's so important to book in plenty of time - the longer we have until the event, the more time we have to plan the ideal kitchen to meet your requirements, and the more likely it is that the exact facilities and equipment you need will be available.

This makes now the ideal time to be thinking about booking catering facilities for your summer events, festivals, pop-up restaurants and even Christmas events! Feel free to get in touch with me for a chat about your upcoming events and I'll be happy to advise you on the perfect PKL facilities for your needs.

There’s More to ‘Popping Up’ Than Many People Realise

With the growing popularity of ‘pop-up’ restaurants as a promotional tool, many companies are finding that more planning is required than they initially realised, warns PKL.

“In all cases the planning, project management and implementation of the temporary kitchen facilities are the key to success,” notes PKL’s Lee Vines. “There are lots of things to consider when ‘popping up’ a restaurant, ranging from regulatory compliance and availability of services through to choice of venues and use of creative advertising. That’s why we have launched a website (www.popup-restaurants.com) dedicated to the planning and implementation of these temporary venues,” he added.

PKL has supplied pop-up kitchens to many such projects. These include Westfield Stratford City’s Studio East Dining Pavilion, Innocent Smoothie’s ‘Five for Five’ promotion, the Bloomsbury ‘Big Top’ and Jason Atherton’s two-day restaurant at the London Restaurant Festival which raised funds for the homeless. In each case, the requirements have been specific to the location, requiring a tailored solution that relies heavily on expertise and experience.

“By their very nature pop-up restaurants can be set up almost anywhere and at any time, their uses ranging from providing short-term facilities during peak seasons to promoting a new venue or product. So it’s inevitable that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. It really is a matter of calling on specialist assistance to evaluate each project in minute detail and ensure nothing is overlooked,” Lee Vines concluded.

More information about pop-up restaurants can be found at www.popup-restaurants.com.

PKL Group is the UK’s leading supplier of temporary kitchens and catering equipment for hire. We have over 900 portable kitchen units and 9,000 items of catering equipment immediately available for hire to maintain foodservice provision during events, refurbishments and emergencies.