Can We Fit It? Yes, We Can! “We will get your temporary kitchen module in place,” says CKS

Container Kitchen Systems, the specialist in temporary catering modules, has a new live online assistance facility available on every page of its website. This makes it easy to click for instant help and open up a live chat window, wherever you are browsing without having to return to the homepage.

People need temporary kitchens for a variety of reasons such as refurbishment, emergency cover, extra facilities or for catering services on location and want advice on how to choose. Through the 'need help' button CKS has found that what worries most people when they are considering temporary facilities is whether the units will get on site, whether they will fit once there, and how they connect up to the utilities.

“Of course space and access are critical,” says William Kingston of CKS. “But there's no need to fret about apparently insurmountable walls or tight corners: as temporary kitchen specialists we are used to these problems and have a range of solutions for just about any eventuality.

“Here at CKS we have manoeuvred temporary kitchen modules into really tight and unusual places; we’ve even supplied them to the middle of the Cambodian jungle (for a film shoot)! Closer to home we can also usually get them up and running within 24 hours of ordering.”

For example for the 2008 Chinese New Year celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square, CKS delivered a street-side kitchen module at 8am on a Sunday morning, and it was ready to start cooking less than two hours later. This CKS medium kitchen measured 6.2m x 2.85m, with space for four chefs to work alongside each other. Fitted with the latest equipment including a specially requested turbo wok burner and conforming to all current hygiene and fire regulations, a decorated canopy serving area was erected at one end of the module.

Another tight installation was underneath the arches on Brighton's seafront, where a temporary kitchen was needed to cater for the VIPs at the 2007 RAC London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The arches hadn't been designed with a temporary kitchen in mind, but after some nifty manoeuvering the kitchen was safely in situ. (The installation can be viewed on YouTube – just type Container Kitchen Systems into the search box.)

A temporary kitchen can either be connected up to the mains services - power, gas, water, waste - or it can be a stand-alone unit, with its own generators and so on. On a site visit CKS will advise on the best way to connect up to the utilities and on the day of installation their qualified engineers will undertake all the necessary work. For larger installations CKS can supply coldstores, dishwash rooms, washrooms, dining areas and prep rooms, which can be linked together to form a large complex when required.

Festival Magic! CKS kitchens cook for stars and crew

Summer festivals are big business. From Easter Weekend and throughout the summer months there are upwards of a hundred major festivals to choose from covering all genres and age groups. One thing all festival-goers have in common is that they need feeding.

There are plenty of mobile burger bars, hog roasts etc for the general punters but the VIPs and performers who are used to a more glitzy life-style demand a bit more in the way of nourishment – some even bring along their own chefs. However these chefs need a top-class kitchen in which to perform their culinary magic.

Container Kitchen Systems, a specialist in mobile kitchen units, has had plenty of experience in supplying high spec kitchens for festivals and sporting events and is familiar with the demands of 'on location' chefs. In previous years it has supplied temporary kitchens for rock stars at Glastonbury, tennis stars at Wimbledon and flying aces at the Farnborough Air Show.

CKS can discuss the specialist requirements of festival chefs (and their discerning employers) with event management before delivering the kitchen, so that everything arrives exactly as requested. The typical festival kitchen will be fitted out with the very latest kitchen technology - from combi steamers to high-performance air conditioning.

"We can supply a kitchen to feed anything from 30 to 3,000 or even more," says Mark Kingston. "And if necessary, for remote locations, we can bring our own power and water."

The standard small 3.8m CKS kitchen includes a serving hatch and sufficient space for two chefs to work comfortably. Capable of producing up to 200 meals per session, the kitchen includes a six-burner gas oven range, Salamander gas grill, double-basket gas fryer, extraction canopy, upright fridge, stainless steel table, hot cupboard, double bowl sink unit, fly killer and lots of other accessories.

For festival organisers who might be uncertain of what is needed, CKS has a live online assistance facility available on every page of its website (www.cksltd.co.uk). This makes it easy for visitors to click for instant help and open up a live chat window as soon as they have a query or want to place an order.

"We aim to make the whole operation easy and trouble-free," says Mark Kingston of CKS. "We'll make sure everything is working before we go off-site, and are on-call for any problems. We can also usually get the kitchen up and running within 24 hours of receiving the order.”