Case study · Kitchen Solutions · Emergency response · Hospitality

A Kitchen Fire on Tuesday. A Working Kitchen by Thursday.

A fire inside a kitchen wall took the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro kitchen offline. On-Site's fleet was fully committed on active contracts. Forty-eight hours after the call, a new temporary commercial kitchen was operating on the property and no guest was displaced.

Timeline of the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro emergency kitchen deployment: fire Tuesday morning, call at 2pm, trailer completed in Georgia Wednesday night, operational Thursday 2pm
ClientAtrium Hospitality — Embassy Suites by Hilton, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Our roleEmergency temporary commercial kitchen: sourcing, transport, placement, utility connection and commissioning
OutcomeKitchen operational 48 hours from the first call. Hotel stayed open. No guests relocated.
48 hrsCall to operating kitchen
0Guests displaced
5Competitors called — none had a unit
8 hrsOvernight haul from the builder

What happened

Around 4:45 a.m. on a Tuesday, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Department was dispatched to Embassy Suites on Conference Center Boulevard for a smoke alarm. Crews found smoke from the roof and then from the kitchen, and located a fire burning inside a kitchen wall behind stainless steel panels. The fire was contained to the kitchen and the hotel tower was never evacuated. But a full-service hotel without a kitchen is a hotel that cannot serve its guests.

The timeline

  • Tuesday, 4:45 a.m.MFRD on scene. Fire located inside a kitchen wall and extinguished. Kitchen out of service.
  • Tuesday, 2:00 p.m.Atrium Hospitality calls On-Site: "We need a kitchen." Every unit in our owned fleet is deployed on active contracts.
  • Tuesday afternoonWe call five temporary-kitchen competitors looking for an available unit for the customer. None has one.
  • Tuesday eveningWe call one of our manufacturing partners in south Georgia. A kitchen trailer is nearing completion on their line. It's already spoken for. The manufacturer and their customer agree to reprioritize the build so it can go to Murfreesboro.
  • WednesdayOur crew is in Georgia working alongside the manufacturer to finish the trailer.
  • Wednesday, 11:00 p.m.Trailer complete. We hitch up and start the eight-hour drive north.
  • Thursday, 7:00 a.m.On site at Embassy Suites. Placement, utility connections, testing.
  • Thursday, 2:00 p.m.Temporary kitchen operational and turned over to the hotel. Forty-eight hours after the call.

Why it worked

We own our fleet — and we know who builds it

When every owned unit is committed, most rental companies are done. Because On-Site's trailers are built to our spec by manufacturers we work with directly, we had a second path: a unit still on the line, and a builder willing to move with us.

We went to the trailer instead of waiting for it

Our crew drove to Georgia and worked the finish alongside the manufacturer rather than waiting for a delivery date. That is the difference between Thursday and the following week.

The customer made one call

Atrium made one phone call. Sourcing, negotiation, transport, placement, hookup and commissioning were ours. That is what partner means on this website.

"When it has to be right, you need a partner — not just another vendor."
On-Site Solutions Partners · Murfreesboro, Tennessee

What to take from this

  • Ask your kitchen vendor what happens when their yard is empty. The honest answer for most is "we'll call you back."
  • A kitchen fire is a foodservice emergency, not a construction project. The first 48 hours decide whether the hotel keeps its bookings.
  • Every day counts twice for a hotel — lost F&B revenue and the guest experience that drives the next booking.

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