Kitchen trailer brings state-of-the-art cooking to Casa de Mañana and beyond

Front Porch has used a kitchen trailer before, but never one like the state-of-the-art customized trailer developed for Front Porch by ContekPro. (Click here for video.)

Previously, when one of Front Porch’s communities went through a kitchen upgrade, the community used a kitchen trailer with equipment similar to what they were used to using: gas ovens, griddles, refrigerators and steam tables.

But when Chef Pierre-Marie Leprince joined Front Porch as its vice president for culinary and dining, he came with a vision for a new kind of kitchen for senior living, one with up-to-date equipment that would change the way food is prepared for residents – and change the perception of what food in a retirement community could be.

“As part of the culinary suite, we’re going to control the sustainability of high-quality food from the beginning of the preparation all the way until the plating,” says Leprince.

Casa de Mañana, a Front Porch community in La Jolla that celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2024, was more than overdue for an upgrade to its kitchen. And so, when the renovation plans were put in place, so was a plan to add new equipment, starting with the temporary kitchen trailer, purchased by Front Porch to serve the needs, not only of this community, but of others in the future.

“The kitchen trailer at Casa de Mañana is the prototype of the transformation upgrade,” says Leprince. The trailer is set up to support and streamline operations as a production kitchen, moving food from cold to hot areas and handling deliveries efficiently. It also incorporates state-of-the-art equipment including combi ovens, pressure cooking equipment and a super-value 40-gallon braising pan, all wi-fi enabled.

Working in the trailer has its challenges. “We’re basically moving the Casa de Mañana culinary and dining team out of a large kitchen into a compact trailer, and are also making them adjust to the new equipment,” Leprince explains, “but by the time they’re ready to move back into the new kitchen, there is nothing they will need to be trained for because they’re going to be doing 99% of what they are doing now, only in a larger environment.”

In addition to the trailer, Front Porch has acquired high quality hot and cold holding boxes, allowing the culinary and dining team to transport food from the trailer to the community’s dining room while keeping food at the appropriate temperature. Unlike a steam table, these thermoboxes continue to preserve food quality until it is plated.

Although Casa de Mañana is the first community to be using the kitchen trailer, Leprince sees additional uses for the trailer in the future. Along with serving as a temporary trailer for future community kitchen remodels, the trailer can be used for training new members of the culinary and dining team, as a commissary production kitchen, or even to rent to other organizations.

The goal behind the upgrades isn’t getting the latest equipment, but making sure that residents receive better quality food and an improved culinary and dining experience. “We’re going to have superior food quality than what we had originally from the old kitchen,” Leprince says. “I won’t be surprised to see that feedback coming soon.”

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Click here to watch a video that offers a glimpse inside the kitchen trailer. Pierre-Marie Leprince shares more information on how Front Porch is using the trailer now for our residents in La Jolla and plans to make use of it in the future to improve the culinary and dining experience for residents elsewhere in the Front Porch system. See how a purpose-built ContekPro kitchen trailer keeps service uninterrupted, boosts efficiency, and helps Front Porch transition seamlessly into their new prototype kitchen.