A school kitchen cannot simply stop. Whether it is closed for a refurbishment, taken offline by a breakdown, or no longer able to keep up with the number of meals required, pupils still have to be fed every day. PKL supports schools, colleges, universities, and nurseries in two ways: temporary kitchens and catering equipment that keep meals running through planned and unplanned disruption, and permanent modular kitchens for schools whose existing facility is no longer fit for use or that have no catering provision on site. Both are delivered as a fully managed service, from design through to installation and support, so the catering team can carry on serving pupils with as little disruption as possible.
Our Solutions
Designed for education settings, our temporary and permanent kitchens help schools maintain a full meal service through refurbishments, emergencies and periods of rising demand, keeping pupils fed and the catering team operating throughout.
One Partner from Design to Handover
Keeping School Meals Running During a Refurbishment and Emergency
The most common reason a school comes to PKL is a planned kitchen refurbishment that has to happen and falls within term time. A temporary kitchen runs alongside the works so the catering team continues to prepare the same meals to the same timetable, then it is removed once the permanent kitchen is back in use. Others come to us after an unplanned closure, when a breakdown, fire or flood takes the kitchen offline and meals have to continue at short notice, or when demand rises, whether through growing pupil numbers or the expansion of free school meals, and the existing kitchen can no longer keep pace.
For both of these, we supply temporary kitchen hire, cold rooms, refrigeration and catering equipment, specified to the school’s menu and the number of meals served each day. Units can be hired individually or linked together, and for emergencies we run a 24-hour line and can often respond the same day.
Scale is what makes that response possible. PKL holds over 600 temporary kitchen units available for immediate deployment, so a fire, a flood or a failed appliance does not have to turn into a fortnight of packed lunches. The service is turnkey: site survey, delivery, installation and 24 hour support for as long as the unit is on site.
A Permanent Modular Kitchen When the Current One Isn’t Fit For Use
Where a school’s kitchen is beyond economic repair, or a site has no catering provision at all, a permanent modular kitchen provides a lasting solution built off site and installed with minimal disruption to the school day. PKL supplies permanent modular kitchens for schools, including food cubes for grab-and-go style catering, full production kitchens, and café and dining facilities. Each is designed around the school’s menu, pupil numbers and available space, and can be purchased outright or taken on a contract-hire basis.
Because the buildings are manufactured off site, construction work on the school grounds is significantly reduced compared with a traditional build. This shortens project timescales, minimises disruption to pupils and staff, and allows schools to bring new catering facilities into operation more quickly. Kitchens can be supplied as standalone facilities or integrated into wider school development projects, with layouts tailored to current requirements and future growth.
PKL manages the process from initial consultation and design through to manufacture, installation and commissioning. All buildings are supplied fully equipped with the catering equipment, ventilation, refrigeration and services required to support day-to-day meal production, providing schools with a complete, ready-to-use catering facility designed for long-term operation.
Why Schools Choose PKL
We bring scale and a fully managed service. We operate a fleet of more than 600 kitchen units, have delivered over 15,000 temporary and permanent kitchen facilities in more than 35 years, and handle the whole project, from site survey and CAD design through delivery, installation, support and removal.
Site
Survey
Kitchen
Design
Equipment Preparation
and Testing
Delivery and
Installation
Dedicated
Service Team
A Complete Kitchen Solution
Working Around an Occupied School
A school is an occupied, safeguarded environment, and we plan every installation around that. We work to term-time and holiday windows wherever possible, plan delivery, positioning and any crane lift to keep pupils away from the works, and keep noise and disruption to a minimum at break and lunch. Every kitchen is commercial grade, prepared and tested at our specialist facility before delivery, and finished to the hygiene standards a school kitchen demands. A 24-hour on-call line supports the hire throughout.
Schools We Have Supported
We have kept meals running and delivered new kitchens across the education sector. During a historic refurbishment at Oriel College, Oxford, a 16-unit temporary kitchen kept dining running throughout; at Saracens High School we delivered an emergency temporary kitchen at short notice; and at Baden Powell Primary School the catering moved into a PKL kitchen. As headteacher Ceri Gibbon put it: “The feedback has been extremely positive, the kitchen is clean, clear, bright and well laid out. All previous issues have been resolved by the move into the PKL pod.”
On the permanent side, we transformed outdoor dining at Trinity School with a modular food cube, delivered a modular café and dining facility at Kitebrook Preparatory School, and installed a walk-in food cube at Stewards Academy.
The same work has run at St Lawrence Primary School, Broad Oak, Highgate School, Springwood High School and Taunton School, across both emergency cover and planned kitchen replacement.
PKL routes public-sector buyers through compliant framework agreements, including ESPO and YPO, so schools, academies and local authorities can procure a kitchen without a separate tender. We hold the accreditations education procurement expects: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, along with CHAS, SAFEcontractor, Constructionline, Gas Safe and CSCS.
FAQs
- 1
Can you keep school meals running during a kitchen refurbishment?
Yes. A temporary kitchen runs alongside the works so the catering team prepares the same meals to the same timetable throughout, then we remove it once the permanent kitchen is back in use.
- 2
Can you install during the school holidays?
Yes. We plan to term-time and holiday windows wherever possible, so the work causes as little disruption to the school day as we can manage.
- 3
What is the difference between a temporary kitchen and a permanent modular kitchen?
A temporary kitchen is hired for the length of a refurbishment, emergency or demand spike and then removed. A permanent modular kitchen, such as a food cube or a full production kitchen, is a lasting facility built off site and installed for schools whose kitchen is beyond repair or that have no catering provision.
- 4
Can you help in an emergency, such as a breakdown, fire or flood?
Yes. We run a 24-hour line, 365 days a year, and can often deliver an emergency kitchen the same day, depending on what is needed.
- 5
Can you increase our capacity for more meals?
Yes. Units link together, so a kitchen can be scaled up to meet rising pupil numbers or the expansion of free school meals, then scaled back if the need is temporary.
- 6
Is there a minimum hire period?
No. A temporary kitchen can be hired from a few days to several years, for exactly as long as you need it.
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