Industry news: Pop-up Restaurants

One of the hospitality industry's biggest crazes in recent years is the pop-up: Pop-up restaurants, street food concepts, cafes and bars - you name it, there's been a pop-up version of it. 

A pop-up restaurant. Image from http://deadcurious.com/  

Here at TME, we recently came across this article on the Food Service Equipment Journal website, written by Andrew Seymour, which discusses the potential of the street food and pop-up industry. This started us thinking about the type of equipment that pop-up kitchens are likely to need. 

The pop-up restaurants that work best utilise straightforward concepts, fast service, and unusual or compact spaces. These three attributes mirror the main requirements that street food looks for in equipment: functional, fast, and compact. However, just as pop-ups provide great quality food, they need great quality equipment. 

Thermometers that are used in a professional kitchen must be accurate in line with HACCP regulations, which can often narrow restaurant's options to expensive, bulky equipment. However, an easy-to-use, yet high-accuracy thermometer with built-in needle probe, such as TME's SOLO thermometer, comes with a surprisingly affordable price tag of just £45. Not only this, but for the street food movement, the SOLO's simple, no-button function, super-fast ThermaSprint technology-powered 3 second response time, and compact, pocket-size design are a perfect match. 

Another key aspect of pop-up restaurants that makes them so appealing to consumers is the prevalence of locally-sourced produce. Often the supply chain is sustainable and very short, or even practically non-existent, with more and more pop-ups 'growing their own'. A shorter supply chain means better traceability and easier interactions with suppliers. This can be just as useful when it comes to equipment as it is for produce. TME is based and manufactures in the UK, and offers excellent service contracts on broken equipment, including an unparalleled next-day swap system. Perfect for this most casual of casual dining sectors. 

As Seymour's article discusses, the pop-up industry has just received a huge boost from new group 'London Union', backed by Jamie Oliver and Thomasina Miers amongst others. This, together with the increasing popularity of street-food, offers the perfect platform for quality, functional equipment to shine.