PKL KitchenPod: Permanent Modular Kitchen Installed at Frosts Garden Centre

Taking a Visitor Attraction Cafe In House

A cafe at a visitor attraction is judged on throughput as much as on menu. Where the kitchen behind it can only reheat, the menu is fixed and the spend per head is capped with it. PKL supplies permanent modular KitchenPods for situations like this, where a site needs real production capacity but has no room inside the existing building to put it and no appetite for a construction programme through a trading season.

The Situation

Frosts Garden Centre at Millets Farm needed a quick and cost effective way to bring the operation of its on site cafe in house and to widen the range of food it served. As a family oriented site, Frosts recognised that better cafe facilities would attract customers and provide a valuable additional revenue stream.

The previous catering contractor prepared and pre cooked meals off site and reheated them one at a time in the cafe, which limited what the cafe could offer. Frosts decided to convert the existing food regeneration space into a dishwash area and additional servery space, install a KitchenPod linked to the building, and create additional seating to increase the cafe’s capacity.

What PKL Supplied

PKL supplied a single unit KitchenPod, linked to the existing building, giving the cafe the ability to produce hot food on site and expand its menu substantially. Because the pod is built off site, the work at the garden centre was limited to the installation and the service connections rather than a build programme inside a trading cafe.

The Outcome

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.”

How the KitchenPod Was Procured

Frosts purchased the KitchenPod outright. PKL publishes two procurement routes for permanent modular kitchens: purchase for a one off fee, with a 12 month warranty on the equipment and a 15 year structural warranty on the building, or all inclusive contract hire for a fixed monthly fee covering service, maintenance, parts, labour and support. PKL has delivered approximately 300 permanent modular buildings.