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Disaster feeding and emergency kitchen units
A disaster feeding unit is a commercial kitchen that has to run where there is no power, no water and no building: after a storm, at a shelter, at a long incident. High Level Enterprises builds disaster relief kitchens, emergency food service trailers and mobile feeding units for emergency management agencies, relief organizations, school districts and food banks, on the same line that builds its food trucks and mobile kitchens, including a kitchen built from two widened shipping containers.
Who buys a disaster feeding unit
- Emergency management agencies — feeding for shelters, responders and long incidents.
- Relief organizations and food banks — meals and food distribution where the need is.
- School districts and nutrition programs — summer and emergency meal service that doubles as disaster capacity.
What HLE builds into a feeding unit
- The kitchen — range, ovens, fryers, hood and fire suppression, prep tables, refrigeration and freezers sized to the meal count.
- Water and power — fresh and waste tanks, water heater and three-bay sink, and a generator that carries the full kitchen load.
- Serving — serving windows, awning and exterior lighting for outdoor service.
- Response — leveling jacks and a layout that a rotating crew can run.
Platforms
Step vans, medium-duty trucks, HLE-built trailers and container kitchens. See also the mobile disaster response unit plans in the library.
How this unit is built
The construction column for an emergency kitchen unit
What HLE does, and what to ask any builder before you compare quotes. The full column is on How we build it.
What HLE builds
1.5 in square steel tube cage, welded, powder-coated before the body goes on. Foam insulation cut to each cavity, not stuffed.
What to check on any proposal
Ask for the tube section and whether the cage is coated before or after assembly. "Steel frame" says neither.
What HLE builds
One-piece pressure-laminated sidewalls with no horizontal seam. Windows cut from the panel.
What to check on any proposal
How many pieces is the sidewall, and where do the seams fall? Every seam is a future leak.
What HLE builds
Harnesses built in HLE's own shop with marine-grade connectors, every circuit labeled at both ends, a panel drawing delivered with the unit.
What to check on any proposal
Ask for the panel drawing before delivery. If they cannot produce one, the next technician cannot either.
What HLE builds
Every unit through the rain booth: at least 15 minutes under full spray with a person inside looking for water, then straight into a road test with someone inside still watching for leaks.
What to check on any proposal
Ask whether every unit is water-tested and how. A hose in the yard is not a test.
Common questions
What emergency managers and relief agencies ask first
How many meals a day can it serve?
That depends on the cooking line and refrigeration. Tell us the meal count and HLE sizes the kitchen to it.
Can it run with no hookups?
Yes. The generator, water tanks and propane let it run on its own; shore power and water connect where they are available.
Request a proposal
Tell us the vehicle. We tell you what it costs and what to attach.
Pick a plan or describe the program. Say whether you need a price, a bid package, a grant kit or a formal proposal. A person at HLE reads every request; nothing goes to a queue.
Or call 574-343-2150, 7:30 to 4:30 Eastern, and ask for Tabatha.