The Catering Industry and Reefer Containers

It might seem obvious when we tell you that one of the biggest uses for reefer containers is food – or rather, the catering and mobile food industry.

But when it comes to food on smaller scales where food safety laws aren’t enforced, there’s oftentimes a big rift between households and how they handle commonly accepted food safety tips:

Some disregard the sell-by date while others toss whatever it is at the stroke of midnight.
Some will eat boxed restaurant leftovers after a few hours on the road with it while others won’t even bother taking it out of the restaurant.
Some frozen food is stored for months or years and still eaten while others are consumed by a certain date or not at all.

However, that’s all in reference to individuals and personal food preferences.

Professionally, no risk can be taken when it comes to food safety, both for the customer’s benefit and to comply with food safety laws. Temperature is one of those risks that aren’t trifled with. If a food has been sitting out for too long on a buffet, it’s thrown away. If meat has sat in the refrigerator for too long, into the bin it goes. So how do events and festivals serve beautiful, chilled or freshly prepared food? Surely the prep time was much longer than the time allowed for the food to sit out.

And in most cases, it is! That’s where reefer containers – or refrigerated containers – come into play. For food booths and the rest of the catering industry, reefer containers have completely changed the game when it comes to how lavish and luxurious their spreads can be.

Temporary Refrigerated Storage

One of the biggest perks of having rented reefer containers is that, for most catering companies, they’re an offshoot of a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and don’t have need for catering equipment all the time. With these containers, it eliminates the need to waste space and resources on equipment that only gets used once a month or so. Having the space that the reefer container provides for a set amount of time save a lot of money and energy in the long run.

Since any event must have a set date and seek the services of catering companies sometimes months in advance depending on how large their need is, it’s much easier for a company to factor the cost of transportation into their costs and time schedule.

New Generation Catering

Catering is defined as: “Catering means the preparation of food for distribution to an individual, business or organization for exclusive service to the individual’s, business’s or organization’s nonpaying guests, employees or members.”

With this definition, new food delivery services such as Door Dash, Grub Hub, Uber Eats, and the like all qualify as catered food, but aren’t prepared for big parties and events like bona fide catering companies are, and that’s where reefer containers are needed.

With the onset of a new age, though, change comes to every aspect of the food industry, including large-scale catering. There’s a new taste in popularly catered foods, and a new aesthetic. Some continuously-popular catered foods don’t need much prep on-scene, like pizza or sandwiches, which only need a reefer container if the amount or ingredients require it to stay fresh.

Most of the time, these foods are prepared in the kitchen, packaged up, sent over in reefer containers to remain fresh while the event workers set up the serving stations, and then when the time comes, either heated or served cold. But some options and events require a more detailed setup with a very specific plating aesthetic or preparation method, and have become more prominent in the catering scene, such as large-scale charcuterie boards or desert spreads.

Ultimately, it depends on how much the client pays to have food prepared fresh at the venue or prepared beforehand and transported, but either way, reefer containers play a critical step in making sure that food stays compliant with food safety laws and remains in its best form for the customers who pay for it as it is transported.

Moon Refrigeration Has Louisville’s Reefer Containers

If you are looking for a refrigerated, walk-in portable storage container for your business, look no further. Moon Refrigeration offers 20 and 40 ft electric “reefer” containers and 10 ft portable walk-in coolers and freezers. We’ll work hard to meet all your short-term and long-term needs, providing fast, reliable, and affordable service at a day’s notice.

Our mobile containers are some of the newest on the market– leading in world-class performance, energy efficiency, quiet operation and reliability. In fact, no refrigeration unit today provides full-load performance as well as our trusted Carrier PrimeLINE technology!

We proudly serve Louisville, Southern Indiana, Lexington, and the surrounding regions. As one of Kentucky’s largest full-service leasing companies, we can also offer you dumpster rentals, portable restroom rentals, trailer leasing, grease trap cleaning, and much more! If you’re interested, give us a call at (859) 299-2614 or visit our website today!