Portable Commercial Kitchen: A 40ft Container Kitchen for Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie

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The Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie shipping container commercial kitchen seen from above.

A university campus is a tough place to put a kitchen. It has to feed students and staff all week, cope with events, meet commercial kitchen standards and still look like it belongs on the lawn. For Charles Sturt University’s Port Macquarie campus, the answer was a portable commercial kitchen built from a 40ft shipping container, fitted out in our factory in South Lismore and set up on site with a covered deck and an accessible ramp.

Here’s what went into it, and what to sort out if your campus, club or venue is thinking about something similar.

40ft portable commercial kitchen container with a covered deck on the lawn at Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie

What we built for Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie

This is a single 40ft commercial container with a full commercial fit-out. The brief covered the things a busy campus food outlet actually needs:

  • A 40ft commercial kitchen container with a full commercial fit-out
  • An internal cool room, so stock is kept cold inside the building, not in a separate shed
  • A four-appliance pack with a servery for serving straight out to customers
  • A band stage, so the space works for events as well as everyday food service
  • A covered deck along one side for seating
  • An accessible ramp with handrails up to the deck

On site, the kitchen sits on the campus lawn next to the existing buildings. The deck has a roof over it, so students have somewhere out of the sun and rain to sit between classes, and the exhaust flue on the roof takes the cooking fumes up and away from the seating area.

Why a portable commercial kitchen suits a campus

The big win on a campus is keeping construction out of everyone’s way. A conventional build means months of trades, noise and fencing next to lecture theatres and student areas. With a container kitchen, the cutting, welding, insulating, plumbing and fit-out all happen under a roof in our Lismore factory. Rain doesn’t hold up the build, and the campus isn’t living with a building site for months.

It’s also a sensible fit for how universities use their outdoor space. A building like this can go on a prepared pad on the lawn, have a deck and ramp built to suit, and work as a café during the week and a stage for events when the band turns up. And because it’s a modular building, it isn’t locked into one spot the way a traditional brick kitchen is.

End of the 40ft commercial kitchen container with a service door, covered deck and accessible ramp at Charles Sturt University Port Macquarie

Access matters as much as the kitchen

A lot of people focus on the kitchen gear and forget about how customers get to the counter. On this job the deck and servery sit up off the ground, so an accessible ramp with handrails runs along the side of the building. If you look at the photos you’ll see the tactile strip at the ramp, the handrails and the downpipes all worked into the one layout. It’s the sort of detail that gets picked up at sign-off, so it’s worth planning from day one rather than bolting it on at the end.

What to sort out before you order a container kitchen

Whether it’s a uni, a TAFE, a school canteen, a sports club or a venue, these are the questions we’ll ask you first:

  • What are you cooking and how many people are you feeding? That decides the appliance pack, the exhaust and whether you need a cool room inside.
  • 20ft, 40ft or double-width? A single 20ft suits a café or takeaway, a 40ft like this one gives room for a cool room and servery, and a double-width layout gives a bigger kitchen floor.
  • Power, water and waste. Where the connections are on your site, and who’s doing them.
  • Approvals. Your local council and any campus or venue rules for food premises and accessibility.
  • Site access. How a truck gets in, where the building sits, and what the ground is like.
  • Decks, ramps and shade. How customers will reach the servery, and where they’ll sit.

Get those answers together and we can give you a proper quote. As a guide, this 40ft format starts from $140,000 + GST. The final price depends on your fit-out, transport and site works.

Charcoal 40ft commercial kitchen container seen across the paved courtyard at Charles Sturt University Port Macquarie

Built in Lismore, not imported

We design and build here in Lismore, NSW. We don’t import finished buildings. Every commercial kitchen we send out is fitted out in our own factory at 39 Habib Drive, South Lismore, then trucked to site. If you want to see how it’s done, you’re welcome to visit our Lismore factory (appointment necessary).

More commercial kitchens we’ve built

The Port Macquarie campus kitchen is one of a range. If you’re comparing options, have a look at:

Also in Port Macquarie, we built the Bean & Gone drive-through coffee shop in a 20ft container.

Talk to us about a campus, club or venue kitchen

If you’re planning a portable commercial kitchen, give us a call and we’ll talk through your site, your menu and the right size for the job.