Cheltenham business PKL Group celebrated its 30th anniversary this week with a look back at its big successes over the past three decades and a look forward to the next 30 years too.
The company has become well known for its large scale kitchen installations at major events such as the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games and festivals like Glastonbury, WOMAD and Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park. It has also helped more than 100 care homes over those 30 years with refurbishment projects and extra capacity during busy Christmas seasons.
Beginning as an offshoot of company Mid-West Catering, PKL is credited with inventing modular temporary kitchens, now a staple of kitchen refurbishments and events throughout the world. Building on a reputation for excellence, PKL quickly found itself much in demand, providing kitchens for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and a number of military projects in the Balkans and the Middle East during the 1990s.
During those 30 years, the company had created more than 15,000 kitchens, installed more than 500,000 pieces of equipment and provided the infrastructure to serve tens of millions of people.
The company has marked the occasion with a series of social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, looking back over some of the notable projects of the past 30 years. These included installations in Basra during the first Gulf War, every summer Olympics since 2000 and challenging installations at some of the country’s most prestigious educational establishments in Oxford and Cambridge.
PKL has also created a series of special films featuring staff who have helped to build its success talking about their experiences and their pride at working for the company.
The celebrations culminated in a company photo taken just after a presentation by chief executive Lee Vines and sales manager Karen Rumsey, featuring the plans the company has for the next two years. These include fast growth for its catering equipment rental service U-Select and exciting plans for its Garbage Guzzler food waste digester.
PKL chief executive Lee Vines says: “It’s an amazing achievement for PKL to reach this remarkable milestone. We are still growing as a business and achieving success in every area - including our overseas division. I’m proud to lead the team here at PKL, which is dedicated, hardworking and very skilful at every level, and this team will ensure we continue to succeed over the next 30 years.”
