PKL & BAM FM Shortlisted for LACA Award

We are delighted to announce that our joint nomination with BAM FM has been shortlisted for one of LACA's Awards for Excellence. We are shortlisted for the Nan Berger Memorial Award, which recognises "exemplary work in the field of innovation, accreditation and/or collaboration which has led to a successful result either with increased meal uptake or raising the profile of the school catering service".

The nomination was for our joint installation of a Food Cube at a school in Bristol, which has impacted significantly on the uptake of school meals. The Food Cube has resulted in an overall increase of 22% in school meal revenue, as the convenience and popularity of the Cube helps keep lunchtime spend in school and enables a wider variety of food options to be served. Additionally, 33% of overall sales for break and lunch are now made through the Food Cube, and this has massively alleviated the pressure on queuing space and time in the main dining hall.

For more information on our Food Cubes, visit our website or call us to have a chat with one of our project consultants.

To see the full shortlist of nominations for LACA's Awards for Excellence, click here.

PKL Wins Foodservice Footprint Award

We are delighted to announce that we won the Best Sustainable Foodservice Installation Award at the Foodservice Footprint Awards last night! The award was for the development of our eKitchens range - energy efficient temporary kitchen units. Footprint Awards are awarded to organisations in recognition of their contribution to sustainability and environmental excellence, and we were up against strong competition from Space Catering Equipment and Biffa. 

Managing Director Chris Irving and Projects & Design Manager Tim Osborne went along to last night’s ceremony in London, and Tim (centre) went up to collect our award, presented by TV personality Julie Peasgood. Tim took the lead on the project, and dedicated a huge amount of time to designing, testing and sourcing the most energy efficient materials and components, and optimising the units to be as low-energy as possible. For more information on our eKitchens range, including details of all the energy efficient features they offer, see here.

For details of all last night’s winners, click here.

Report Highlights Summer Equipment Shortage

Independent specialist datahouse Caterlyst have undertaken research looking into the demand for catering equipment hire over the summer period, within the event industry and cost sector. We were invited to comment on the reports they produced, and some of the results were quite surprising. Caterlyst have kindly allowed us to upload the reports to our website, and you can view them here.

Event Operators Report Summary

The research found that a third of event operators have involvement in or around the Olympics, with 80% of events catering for over 50 people. Many events of this size require specialist catering equipment, and over a third are planning to hire equipment in. However, the report found that despite this particularly high demand related to the Olympics this summer, 66% of operators have not considered that there may be a shortage of kit, and 70% have not planned to book early to ensure availability. 

Cost Sector Report Summary

According to the report, 44% of operators will be working on projects involving kitchen and dining areas this summer, with 38% needing to hire temporary kitchens or equipment. 40% will be catering for over 100 people a day, with 38% catering for 400+ at peak times. Worryingly, the report showed that 90% of cost sector operators have not considered the impact the Olympics and other events this summer will have on availability, and are not anticipating an equipment shortage this summer. 

Advice to Customers

Based on the information in the report, we are strongly urging our customers to order portable kitchens and catering equipment early this year. There are only a few UK companies operating in this sector, and there is a finite pool of stock. PKL has made significant capital investment in anticipation of high demand this summer, however anyone not ordering well in advance risks not getting their first choice items.

PKL KitchenPod Installation at Frosts Garden Centre

A couple of weeks ago we undertook the installation of our first garden centre KitchenPod. Located at Frosts Garden Centre at Millets Farm just outside Oxford, the KitchenPod was installed in less than 4 hours, causing minimum disruption. We filmed the installation from start to finish, and made the following video illustrating all the stages in the process, from the laying of the trackway, right up to the final positioning of the KitchenPod.

 

The KitchenPod will enable the garden centre’s cafe to produce hot food on site and greatly expand their menu. Simon O’Shea, the garden centre’s Catering Operations Manager said,

“We bought the KitchenPod because of the convenience of getting everything we need in one managed package. It suited our needs down to the ground. This was much better than building a new kitchen from scratch and was much more convenient.

We’ve budgeted to double the sales of the cafe based on the fact that we can produce the food straight away, right on the doorstep. It’s enabling us to improve our menu so we can increase the spend per head as well. It should pay for itself in no time.”

What is a KitchenPod?

The KitchenPod is a modern, hygienic, permanent modular kitchen building, which is supplied complete with catering equipment in an easy-to-install pod. The KitchenPod is especially suited to establishments with no current kitchen or those looking to upgrade their existing catering facilities.

KitchenPods conform to hygiene and building legislation, and are built off-site, meaning disruption to you is minimised. Available in either a wood cladding or brick slip finish, our modular kitchens can be designed to blend in seamlessly with existing buildings on-site or branded to suit your company or establishment.

KitchenPods are available for either contract rental or capital purchase, and PKL also provides inclusive service, parts, labour and preventative maintenance visits, both for the building and the catering equipment inside. This makes our KitchenPods an affordable, no-hassle solution.

Care Home KitchenPods Profit Calculator

Attention all care homes! We have introduced a great new feature on our website, which calculates the profit you could make by converting your existing kitchen space into additional bedrooms and hiring one of our KitchenPods. 

Simply enter the size of your existing kitchen and the amount you charge for a bedroom per week, and our Profit Calculator will calculate the total profit you could make over five years. It does this by working out how many additional bedrooms could be created and the revenue they would generate, and takes into account the costs associated with converting your existing kitchen and hiring a KitchenPod.

It’s incredibly easy to use and provides you with a profit estimate instantly, so why not give it a try?

PKL shares international expertise with local A-Level students

Three PKL staff visited Cleeve School earlier this week to help A-Level Business Studies students with a coursework project. The coursework was based on a fictional UK supermarket who wanted to expand into Europe, and the challenges of operating in a foreign country. Students came up with a list of questions to put to the PKL staff, covering issues such as operating with differing work hours, time zones, currency and cultural differences.

PKL staff Alan Kitto (HR), Sam Christie (Marketing) and Will Perry (Finance), were all delighted to be involved with the school, which is based just down the road from our office in Bishops Cleeve. Alan held mock interviews for Year 11 pupils at the school at the end of last year and said we'd be happy to help out at the school again in future. Matt Prior, Head of Business and Economics at the school, then got in touch asking if PKL could help with this project as we have extensive experience of operating overseas.

You can read more in The Gloucestershire Echo, who covered the story.

PKL Food Cubes Create an Impact

Our Food Cubes are really taking off – interest is soaring, and we have been receiving media coverage in publications such as Cost Sector Catering. Following the huge success of our Food Cube at Oasis Academy in Brightstowe, we have been receiving a huge number of enquiries and are currently working with several schools to discuss their requirements and put designs together.

The Food Cube, an innovative catering concept from PKL, was developed in partnership with BAM FM, who look after facilities in over 30 schools. The Food Cube provides an additional serving area at school lunch and break times, and can also be used as a tuck shop facility. By reducing queuing and serving times, it encourages pupils to stay on site at lunchtime and helps prevent them leaving site to buy unhealthier alternatives elsewhere. Keeping lunchtime spend on site also increases profits and enables a wider range of food to be served.

At Oasis Academy, the Food Cube has been very popular with pupils, and has led to an increase in the uptake of school meals as well as easing lunchtime congestion in the existing serving areas.

For more information on our Food Cubes, see our website or contact us to speak to one of our project consultants.