A to Z of the Year 2017, Part 2

With 2017 drawing to a close, we’ve put together a few highlights from the last 12 months in our review of the year. Read part two here!

J is for John Bercow in January…

We supplied High Ash School in Milton Keynes with a KitchenPod and dining room – the school’s first kitchen for more than 30 years! The school were so happy with the facility they held a grand opening in January with songs, poems and Speaker of the House, the Rt Hon John Bercow MP on ribbon cutting duties! Watch the video here.

K is for Kilograms…

This year we’ve delivered more than 1 million kilograms of temporary kitchens. This doesn’t take into account all of the equipment, accessories and kitchen furniture we’ve also got safely to its destination this year. Well done team!

L is for Lincolnshire…

This year we supplied our 9th KitchenPod to primary schools in Lincolnshire. The Big Red Kitchen at Coningsby St Michaels school was welcomed by all 300 pupils and staff,  and has helped their dedicated catering team transform their schools lunches, doubling the number of pupils eating them in just three weeks! Watch the inspiring video here.

M is for Major Events…

2017 has been a bumper year for PKL’s Major Events team.  We’ve delivered temporary kitchens for  an event in Taipei, are currently on the ground in PyeongChang and are busy planning for an event in Australia after that for 2018. Our major event facilities include Athlete’s Village kitchen and dining complexes and catering facilities to feed the media.

N is for New Retail Solutions…

We’ve launched three new modular solutions to help caterers boost their revenue, bust queues and keep up with street food trends. Our new Design Series Food Cubes allow caterers to add decking, awnings and lights to attract and retain more customers, the Space Station is a wheeled, lockable unit that allows you to set up a cafe almost anywhere and our innovative Podules allow you to keep up with food trends by quickly and easily swapping out different bits of equipment within a modular setup. Read more about our Food Cubes here and our Space Stations here.

O is for Oxford United…

We are very proud to work with OUFC, providing a kitchen for the League One Football team’s training ground. This has helped their chefs and nutritional experts feed the players with the right diet to help them perform better when they need it. We also worked with them to create a community event where local children learnt about nutrition, met their footballing heroes and even got onto the Kassam Stadium pitch at half time in the game!  Watch the video here.

P is for People…

PKL is successful and well regarded thanks to the dedicated team we have here in Cheltenham and beyond. More than 90 people work year round in our office, warehouses, testing and commissioning centre and on site preparing kitchens for delivery and installing and looking after them around the world. We are a close knit team and enjoy getting the job done well. Thanks to each and every one of them!

Q is for Quality Assurance…

When we say we pursue and demand quality in all that we do, we REALLY mean it. We don’t allow our temporary kitchens out on hire unless a rigorous 32-stage test is carried out, to ensure all is perfect for our clients. Each one of our pieces of equipment is subjected to an amazing 100+ tests and checks before each hire to ensure it’s ready for use and won’t let our customers down on site.

R is for Rockpool…

Our sister company U-Select supplied catering equipment to this brilliant new cafe in Wakefield.  Set up by chef to the stars Pete Bailey, who has cooked for Metallica, AC/DC, Bruno Mars and Muse, this dramatically decorated cafe is feeding the staff and visitors to the inspirational Production Park. Watch the video here.