Corpus Christi College Cambridge – The Caterer’s View

Corpus Christi’s catering manager was excited about the prospect of a revamped kitchen, but apprehensive about the temporary facility he would need to move his team of 12 chefs and 6 kitchen porters into for the year of the refurbishment.

Working with PKL, Chris (the catering manager) realised he could create a temporary kitchen facility that not only allowed him to maintain a seamless service for the 150-250 students, fellows and guests his team feed daily throughout the academic year, but also allowed him to create a kitchen that would mirror the refurbished kitchen they were moving into.

From a fragmented, small, badly designed kitchen, Chris realised he could move his team to an open plan temporary kitchen with separate sections for each cooking discipline.

By allowing the team the chance to experience working in sections and come together in a single space, rather than be broken up over three separate working areas as they were in the old kitchen, Chris said the PKL kitchen had helped bring his team together, as well as guarantee catering at Corpus for 14 months.

Chris Le Vien said: “It’s been really good, a perfect solution. The install was smooth and to schedule, the transition from the old kitchen to the temporary was seamless and the kitchen has been a vital stepping stone into our new facility.”

“By allowing us to break up the kitchen into separate sections, it has allowed my team to get ready for the new setup whilst also being more efficient. In a kitchen it either clicks or it doesn’t and this clicked very quickly. The PKL kitchen was a fantastic home for the year.”

If you missed the tricky delivery and installation video, watch it here.