ETO DEVICE is more than a mobile food trailer that helps you along each step of designing and customizing an ideal concession trailer in compliance with specified regulations, health codes, and your requirements. We are an expert in trailer conversion and shipping container conversion and have turned many creative concepts into reality in recent years. This cute shipping container food trailer is one of our recent conversion projects for Malona, our client in Virginia who has a special food trailer concept. At first, she hesitated on the choice of buying a shipping container restaurant or a mobile food trailer. The former has an industrial style that really dazzled her and an efficient container kitchen layout, while its mobility is not a patch on the latter. So, why not convert a container restaurant into a food trailer? Then, we put such a bold shipping container conversion idea into place and built this small shipping container food trailer that satisfied Malona in the aspects of food trailer design, container kitchen layout, and mobility. It aims to provide a unique restaurant that feeds customers and makes money in a fixed location and moves around from place to place easily.
Now, explore more about the shipping container food trailer, including its specification, features, kitchen layout, customization, and our custom shipping container conversion service.
Shipping Container Food Trailer: Converted Container Kitchen with High Mobility
Originally designed as a carrier used in transportation and shipment, shipping containers are instant solutions for setting up a special unit for certain purposes, such as showering, training, and dining, after being converted and installed with extra equipment and add-ons. Can they be converted into a mobile restaurant or kitchen equipped with everything you need? Of course!
Shipping containers restaurants and kitchens, now a trend as pop-up stores, are an affordable solution for quickly setting up a new outdoor area for selling food and drinks and have many benefits for small starters. In the process of manufacturing, they are wired, plumbed, and installed with the necessary kitchen equipment. There is no difference between them and commercial kitchens in most traditional restaurants. How about improving their mobility so that you can come closer to your customers?
Built from a 9.8ftx6.5ft brand new shipping container, Malona's shipping container food trailer is a converted shipping container restaurant installed on a thick and rigid galvanized steel chassis with axles and rubbery tires that allows the trailer to move around more easily from place to place, just like most food trailers. Its gauge corrugated steel exterior wall is painted light pink creating a cute and modern vibe. It is ready to serve as a mobile restaurant at any time, with commercial kitchen equipment, including stainless steel worktables, water sinks, a fridge, and a range hood.
3 Compartment Water and a Hand Sink with Splash Guards
Floor Drain
25L Clean Water Tanks and Waste Water Tanks
Auto Water Pump
1.5m Commercial Range Hood
1.8m Commercial Under-bench Fridge
Efficient Shipping Container Kitchen Layout
Given the small size of the shipping container food trailer, designing an efficient and compact shipping container kitchen layout is a priority in the process of shipping container conversion. Every square inch that is not used for some purpose is a total waste in a small container kitchen, after all. A proper food trailer layout keeps the kitchen neat and in order and provides more storage room for supplies, helping you improve working efficiency and better service to customers. So, how did our design team design a perfect shipping container kitchen layout for Malona's shipping container food trailer? Basically, there were 3 factors playing their roles: kitchen flow, health codes, and Malona's extra kitchen equipment.
Shipping Container Food Trailer with Standard Kitchen Flow
Do you know the kitchen flow has something to do with your efficiency and productivity? A perfect one allows you to do things step by step smoothly and easily, even when dealing with a doze of orders. A standard shipping container kitchen includes an individual area for serving, preparation, cooking, cleaning, and storage. However, the layout is not a fixed template that fits any shipping container bars or food trailers but the one can be customized according to specific needs. For example, the cooking area is removed when designing the container cafe that serves coffee and drinks only so the space for countertops and storage can be maximized.
Considering Malona's business type, her food trailer has an optimized container kitchen layout that makes cooking so much easier. The front workbench is fixed near the concession window, giving a wide countertop for serving and preparing food and many cabinets for storing disposables and necessities. Also, it has a refrigeration room for ingredients and drinks. Another table is installed along the rear wall where a commercial range hood is mounted. That is the cooking area. We put a water sink next to it so Malona can use water or clean things conveniently during cooking. The whole container kitchen layout can be further improved if you have a better idea.
Container Kitchen Layout Designed in Accordance with Health Codes in USA
No matter a shipping container kitchen or a food concession trailer, it must have the equipment that the health codes require, or it can not be used for any mobile catering business. A mobile unit for catering must have worktables, refrigeration equipment, commercial ranges, 3 compartment water sink, and a hand sink, according to the health codes in most states. Expect the worktables, other required equipment are extra add-ons. Therefore, our container kitchen layout design team tried their best to equip Malona's shipping container food trailer with the models and types that fit her vehicle best.
- Refrigeration equipment: Thanks to their space-saving design, under-bench fridges are the best solution for refrigerating things in food trailers. Malona's shipping container food trailer is equipped with a 350L under-bench fridge to meet Malona's demand for a large refrigeration room. Check out this page to learn more options for food trailer fridges and freezers. How to Secure a Refrigerator or Freezer in a Food Trailer?
- Commercial range hood: If griddles, fryers, and other cooking equipment that generate greasy fumes in cooking are frequently used in the shipping container food trailer, there must be a commercial stainless steel range hood above them for removing these fumes efficiently. That can lower the risk of fire. The whole cooking process happens at the rear table, so we installed a 1.5m range hood and an exhaust fan on the rear wall. If your cooking area is larger, a model of a longer length can be customized for you.
- Water sink: The standard container kitchen layout includes a 2 compartment water sink which is not suitable in the USA. As a result, Malona paid extra for a 3 compartment water sink and a hand sink with splash guards after consulting with the Health Department in her city. If you are notified to have a sink with NFS certification, there are available options for your trailer.
A Fully Equipped Shipping Container Food Trailer Is Ready to Make Money for You
Your choice of kitchen equipment and cooking appliances influences the container kitchen layout and electrical system design. Apart from the large pieces of kitchen equipment, like the fridge and the sink, Malona didn't add other options to her shipping container food trailer because she had her own appliances. Therefore, we redesigned the whole electrical wiring diagram and installed more sockets on the walls near the front table and rear table so that Malona can plug in any electric cooking appliances conveniently. With everything, the shipping container food trailer can start to serve food and drink after getting permits and licenses, without the need for buying other kitchen equipment.
If you want to set up a functional container kitchen, you can check out the following page for the complete list of extra add-ons of commercial kitchen equipment and contact our kitchen designers for the models that suit your food trailer. How to Choose the Right Kitchen Equipment for a Food Trailer?
Modular Construction Has More Possibilities in Designing Your Shipping Container Food Trailer
Given its modular construction, the shipping container food trailer gives you limitless options in design and configuration. Unlike food trucks or trailers, it can be a multi-layer unit that provides food and a special place for dining. Initially, Malona depicted her concept of a double-layer modular construction: the shipping container food trailer serves as a mobile kitchen and its top is converted into an open area for dining. Is it possible?
Of course! Because of its special materials and reinforced frame, the shipping container food trailer can bear much more weight than regular trailers or trucks do. According to Malona's food trailer concept, our designers drew several versions of shipping container food trailer design drawings and floor plans and modified them based on Malona's suggestion till Malona felt satisfied.
As the picture illustrates, a staircase fixed at the back of the container food trailer leads up to the trailer top which is installed with flooring and a stainless steel balustrade. Tables and chairs can be put on the second floor to create an area for people to eat, chat, and enjoy the time. Will the food trailer lose its balance when people go up the stairs? No, it won't. There are 4 heavy-duty steel support legs under the chassis that give strong support to the trailer and ensure a stable landing. The shipping container food trailer won't jolt when someone comes upstairs.
Sad to say, Malona abandoned the multi-layer design in the end. On the one hand, the shipping container size she chose is a bit small and can accommodate just 1-2 people. On the other hand, Malona views her small food trailer as an attempt to start her career in the mobile food industry. She planned to invest in a large shipping container food trailer after profiting from that small container food trailer. We are looking forward to the second cooperation with Malona, and turning her modular container food trailer concept into reality!
