Lunch is the heart of the school day. For it to go down well, it takes food that tastes good – and a kitchen that fits everyday school life. The right cooking technology depends on how your school actually runs.
After a long morning, everyone comes together: at one table, over one plate, for a few minutes without a timetable. Whether this break is a good one also depends on the food – whether it tastes good, whether there's a choice, whether it arrives fresh on the plate.
Many meals, different dietary needs and a fixed time window for service: the technology has to fit the workflows of your school kitchen. That is why MKN develops and manufactures multifunctional all-rounders and state-of-the-art specialists in Wolfenbüttel. Which combination best supports your team depends on the menu, number of meals, serving time, space and staff.
Process first. Then the technology.
Every project starts from a different point. In a new build, it is about choosing the right appliances. In an existing kitchen, it is about integrating new cooking technology into established workflows.
Based on the catering concept, the school authority plans the kitchen and servery together with its specialists. For subsequent procurement, the technical requirements are specified and the contract is put out to tender in line with the applicable procurement rules. MKN supports this process with expertise in cooking processes and technical appliance data.
Whether and how extraction or ventilation technology is needed depends on the room, the appliances and local regulations, and is clarified during planning. The SpaceCombi® is available with the integrated MagicHood® hood, which neutralises vapours and odours directly at the appliance.
The starting point isn't the appliances, but the kitchen's daily routine.
Whether lunch goes down well depends on many things at once: taste, choice, price, the length of the break, the queue at the counter and the atmosphere in the dining room. As pupils get older, uptake often declines – and expectations differ from year group to year group. Teenagers want more spontaneity and a choice of components and portion sizes.
The kitchen has a direct influence on some of this – but not all of it.
The weekly menu is the most important basis. It shows which components are prepared each day – and which cooking methods they require.
Steaming and stewing are among the nutrient-preserving, low-fat cooking methods recommended by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) for school catering. Whether a menu meets the DGE quality standard is determined by the catering concept – the technology creates the conditions for it.
Sizing depends not only on the number of portions, but on which processes run in parallel in the hour before service. Steaming vegetables, frying the main component, cooking sauce, boiling pasta – all of this happens at the same time. With a finishing-time preset, a cooking process can be timed to the start of service.
Many kitchen teams work with limited staff, while requirements for hygiene, special diets and standardised recipes keep rising. Technology can make specific work steps easier – but it does not replace kitchen management or training.
If a second sitting follows, components can be cooked in smaller batches instead of preparing everything at the start. This also helps to match quantities to actual uptake. Regularly recording served and leftover quantities makes it possible to fine-tune the menu and production.
Parents expect fresh ingredients and good food at an affordable price, while school authorities have tight budgets. That makes a well-founded investment decision all the more important: What capacity is needed every day? Which appliances can be used for several tasks? And where does a dedicated specialist make sense?
Only once the menu, simultaneous processes, number of meals, serving time, space and team are clear can the right combination of MKN appliances be put together. The example of a school canteen shows what this looks like in practice.
The example shows the path from task to appliance combination. It is neither a standard configuration nor a capacity guarantee – whether you're modernising an existing canteen or planning a new one, the questions remain the same.
Two building blocks with an impact beyond the individual meal: transparency in day-to-day operation and less CO₂e in the stainless steel of your kitchen equipment.
These basics matter most when choosing cooking technology:
We are your point of contact for cooking processes and cooking technology – from the very first idea. As the project progresses, we also support the kitchen planners involved with technical appliance data. Kitchen planning and contract award remain with you and your specialists.
Kitchen and dining room should be considered together early on: long queues at break time are also a question of the servery, not just the kitchen.
Funding: whether a project is eligible for funding depends on the federal state, the type of project, deadlines and approval. Your school authority and the relevant state agencies can provide information.
Tell us about your menu, number of meals, serving time, space and team. Together, we will work out which cooking technology suits your school.
