Catering Equipment Rental for Independent and Boarding Schools

Few kitchens of this size run a longer day than an independent or boarding school’s. Three meals a day, seven days a week for as long as there are boarders on site, day pupils through every lunch sitting, plus the open days, house dinners and match teas. Add the holidays, when summer schools and lettings keep the kitchen trading, and it works most weeks of the year, not just term-time. Rental+ puts the equipment behind all of it on a fully maintained plan, with no upfront capital expenditure and one predictable weekly cost.

You can rent a single combi oven or the whole production kitchen and the servery in front of it. Every plan includes inclusive service and maintenance, covering call-outs, servicing, parts and Planned Preventive Maintenance at no extra cost, and if a piece of equipment cannot be fixed, we replace it. Forty-six years of experience and a nationwide network of engineers sit behind that.

One plan across the whole campus

Few independent schools cook in one room. There is usually a central production kitchen, a dining hall or two, house kitchens with their own refrigeration, and a common room to look after. Prep school catering runs the same pattern at a smaller scale: one kitchen feeding a full sitting, with a boarding house or two behind it. One Rental+ plan can cover more than one site, so the central kitchen and the smaller kitchens around it sit on the same agreement, with room to add or upgrade equipment as things change.

Moving hot food across the grounds to a dining room is its own problem, and regeneration trolleys answer it. Undercounter fridges suit the house and common-room kitchens where floor space is short. One plan, one agreement and one weekly cost, whether the equipment sits in one building or six.

Term-time, weekends and the school holidays

The holidays are not downtime. Summer schools, lettings, sports camps and conferences keep kitchens trading through July and August, often at a different volume from term-time. Equipment specified for a term-time timetable alone has a heavier year to get through than the timetable suggests.

Where there is a gap between lettings, the holidays are still the only realistic window for installation and capital works, and we plan around your calendar rather than ours. Term brings peaks of its own: parents’ evenings, speech day, house and chapel dinners, match teas, early breakfasts through exam season. Carvery equipment, hot cupboards, bain maries and heated displays are what hold the standard through a formal service or a staggered sitting.

Schools we already work with

Rental+ equips independent and boarding schools across the country, among them Eton College, Harrow School, Wellington College, Whitgift School, Highgate School, Taunton School and The Croft Preparatory School.

Independent schools often occupy historic buildings, where access and the character of a dining hall matter as much as the specification of the equipment. You can read more about our work in the sector in our private schools case study.

How rental works

We run a soft credit check, set up a security deposit alongside your direct debit, then arrange delivery and installation. From there the plan runs for its agreed term with servicing and maintenance included throughout.

Plans use new or reconditioned equipment from leading brands, including Falcon, Williams, Foster, Rational, Lincat, Classeq and Meiko. Reconditioned units are fully quality-checked and maintained to the same standard as new. To see indicative figures first, build a quote in the basket with no payment taken, or request a quote for firm pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions