Category: Case Studies

Categories
Case Studies

Salvation Army’s Mobile Kitchen

BLOG /

Salvation Army’s Mobile Kitchen

Fueling Communities, One Meal at a Time: The Remarkable Journey of The Salvation Army's Mobile Kitchen

The Salvation Army's 29-Year-Old Mobile Kitchen Continues to Serve as a Lifeline to Those in Need

The Salvation Army has been providing aid and support to people in need for over 150 years. In their efforts to help those who are struggling, they have utilized a wide range of tools and resources. One of these resources is a mobile kitchen unit that has been in use for over 29 years.

The mobile kitchen was originally manufactured in 1994 in Fresno, CA by Carlin Manufacturing, a legacy brand of Kitchens To Go by Mobile Modular and has been serving The Salvation Army ever since. The mobile kitchen is a self-contained unit and can be driven to various locations allowing the organization to provide food to people in need no matter where they are.

Over the years, the mobile kitchen has been used in a variety of situations. It has been deployed to areas affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes, where it has provided hot meals to people who have been displaced from their homes and businesses. It has also been used to provide meals to the homeless in urban areas, as well as to those who are living in poverty in rural communities.

Despite its age, the mobile kitchen is still in use today. It has been well-maintained and regularly serviced to ensure that it remains in good working order. The Salvation Army continues to rely on the unit to provide food and support to people in need, and they have no plans to retire it anytime soon.

The longevity of the mobile kitchen is a testament to its durability and effectiveness. It is a reminder that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best, and that a well-maintained piece of equipment can continue to provide value and support for many years.

In conclusion, The Salvation Army’s 29-year-old mobile kitchen is a symbol of the organization’s commitment to helping those in need. It has been an invaluable resource in providing food and support to people in a wide range of situations, and its continued use is a testament to its durability and effectiveness.

Ridgecrest
Ridgecrest
related blog posts

Connect with us.

Kitchens To Go provides mobile, modular and containerized solutions for projects of any timeframe. Markets and conditions are changing constantly, however, so please connect with us to find out what options are currently available for your project’s need and timeline.

General & Project Inquiries
Categories
Case Studies

Foodservice Flexibility

BLOG /

Foodservice Flexibility

With research finding that “school meals are essential to supporting the academic achievement and fundamental well-being of all pupils,” schools in California and across the country are challenged with providing adequate meals to aid youth to learn, grow, and achieve.

Do you know what institutions serve the most people per year?
When thinking of institutions that feed people daily, people may recall hospitals, correctional facilities, colleges and universities, and long-term care facilities. But what may not come to mind as quickly are K–12 schools, which served over 56 million people in 2018.

Challenges Foodservice Operators Face

As buildings age, demographics change, and new trends and regulations become standardized, foodservice operators are faced with a number of challenges. Schools across the nation are focused on providing healthy, quality options for students. States are focused on making sure that the underserved youth have access to free or reduced-price meals. As issues such as wellness, hunger, and obesity have become topics of concern, schools and foodservice professionals are challenged with responding adequately.
While many schools and foodservice operators are focused on the menu (variety, healthy, quality options), operations, and cost, these same operators are also concerned with adequate kitchen and dining space. As schools face the challenge of aging infrastructure, changing demographics, and more complex needs (e.g. dietary, on-the-go options), the kitchen and dining space and overall foodservice operations have become increasingly more essential to serve students well.
The dining space needs to also be adequate for enough seating, but focus is now placed on the environment and ensuring that the space is engaging and not too institutionalized. The dining experience is now, perhaps more than ever before, becoming an integral part of the student body’s learning environment. With access to breakfast and lunch, student learning and achievement is becoming tied to school meal programs that enrich students’ educational environment.
california's new bill
For example, California recently passed a bill (Assembly Bill No. 1871) that requires charter schools to provide needy pupils “one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday.” The bill pointed out that California is home to more charter schools and charter school pupils in the country, but the charter schools were exempt from offering low-income pupils a daily, free or reduced-price, nutritious school meal. The research pointed out that more than 340,000 of the 630,000 charter school pupils are considered low income. Cited in the bill was that meals support health, growth, and learning.
In California, this new mandated legislature may require Charter Schools to implement a school meal program for the first time. Some schools may not have adequate kitchen facilities or a facility at all. In this case, schools may seek alternative resources to support a new or modified school meal program. One option is preparing meals at a school district’s central location and delivering the meals to each school. Another option might include contracting with a vendor to have meals prepared and delivered. Finally, another option that offers more control is to have a modular or containerized kitchen onsite at the school. Whether a temporary or permanent solution, Charter Schools are preparing to become operational quickly.
With research finding that “school meals are essential to supporting the academic achievement and fundamental well-being of all pupils,” schools in California and across the country are challenged with providing adequate meals to aid youth to learn, grow, and achieve. School districts are continually evaluating operations and seeking creative solutions to help support the students, operations, service, and quality.
related blog posts

KTG can help.

Kitchens To Go has helped numerous K – 12 schools nationwide improve their kitchen and dining space through modular kitchen solutions. Often, when schools are faced with a renovation, Kitchens To Go provides temporary modular solutions that allow schools to continue serving students without interruption. Whether because of aging infrastructure, changes in population, or changing needs (e.g. dietary, on-the-go, gluten-free), Kitchens To Go has worked with schools and foodservice operators to find creative temporary and permanent solutions.

From renovations to expanded capacity, Kitchens To Go ensures business continuity so that foodservice operators can continue serving students without a lapse in service or quality. With questions about your school’s foodservice facility, contact Kitchens To Go today.

General & Project Inquiries
Categories
Case Studies

KTG Aids Manhattan Teaching Hospital After Hurricane

BLOG /

KTG Aids Manhattan Teaching Hospital After Hurricane

“We designed the interior of this PAC kitchen to be flexible for the hospital, so that it would be able to both reheat prepared foods from a local supplier as well as produce fresh-prepared food, serving the hospital’s needs on a daily basis and ensuring that it was able to maintain the high standards that the hospital’s food and nutrition services team has established.”

Ralph Goldbeck | AIA & Kitchens To Go Partner
Kitchens To Go, a leading provider of mobile and modular kitchen solutions, recently installed two PAC (plug and cook) kitchens at a teaching hospital based in Manhattan, thereby helping the hospital to re-open in just two months after being forced to evacuate all patients following the devastating damage of Hurricane Sandy.

solutions for disaster recovery

The PAC kitchens will operate as the main kitchen for the hospital until renovations are completed on its ground-level kitchen that was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy, estimated in August 2013. The hospital endured an estimated $1 billion in damage, according to some reports, including extensive damage to its entire kitchen that was flooded by the Sandy storm surge. Kitchens To Go was hired in late November 2012, less than a month after the disaster, and quickly moved forward with plans to install a customized double PAC kitchen, made from 8’x40’ high cube shipping containers, on its roof.
Kitchens To Go’s PAC kitchen often presents the best option for any facility that needs to get a kitchen operating as quickly as possible, and the company’s PAC kitchens have become a go-to tool for disaster relief organizations over the past decade. Known for its durable, high-quality construction, the company has delivered these emergency kitchens to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army following a variety of disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and Joplin, MO after the 2011 tornadoes.
In the wake of a natural disaster, commercial food service operations do not have the luxury of waiting the four-to eight-months time that is usually required to gain permit approvals, design and then build a new kitchen on site. Instead, many times the first responders are fighting a battle against the clock, needing to get much-needed nutrition to those trapped or stranded in the disaster area.
Kitchens To Go’s PAC kitchens are code-compliant and usually operable within days of being ordered. KTG has a long history of designing and building temporary and mobile kitchens, and the company’s Bolt-On Kitchen model, which is also a pre-constructed, code-compliant kitchen that may be affixed to an existing building on a permanent or lease-term basis, was recognized in 2012 with a Kitchen Innovation Award from the National Restaurant Association.
related blog posts