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How Do You Keep a Catering Van Fridge and Freezer Cold Overnight?

by Rhonda
(Scotland)

Dark green mobile catering van parked overnight outside a home

Dark green mobile catering van parked overnight outside a home

Hi, I'm looking for advice on how catering vans keep there fridges and freezers cold/ frozen to insure the correct required temp when the vans are off over night ect.
Thanks

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Jun 19, 2026
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by: MobCater

This is one of those practical headaches that catches a lot of people out once the trading day ends, Rhonda, so it's a smart thing to be thinking about before you start.

The honest answer is that most caterers don't try to keep the van running cold all night off its own engine battery. If you leave a fridge or freezer pulling power from the starter battery overnight, you'll flatten it and find yourself unable to start the van in the morning, so that's the first thing to avoid. What you want instead is a separate power source for your cold storage.

The two setups I see work best are a leisure battery bank fitted with a split charge relay, or a mains hook-up. A leisure battery is a deep cycle battery wired so it charges off the engine while you drive but runs your fridge independently when you're parked, and a decent bank will hold a fridge overnight without touching your ability to start up. If you store the van at home or in a yard with a power point, even simpler is a 240 volt hook-up lead, the same kind caravanners use, so the fridge runs off the mains while you sleep and starts the next day already at temperature.

A good tip from experience: a full freezer holds its cold far longer than a half empty one. If it's packed and you keep the door shut, quality units will stay frozen for the best part of a day even with the power off, so I'd fill any gaps with ice packs or water bottles. For high risk chilled food like meat and dairy, plenty of caterers simply lift it out at the end of the day and pop it in a domestic fridge overnight, then load up fresh in the morning. It saves the worry entirely.

Whatever route you choose, the rule that matters is the temperature when you open up to trade. Chilled food needs to be at 8 degrees or below by law, and I'd aim for 5, so check it with a probe before you serve a single thing. If anything has crept up overnight, don't gamble with it, bin it. Frozen food that has started to thaw should never be refrozen either.

I built a temperature logger into the app on the Toolkit tier for exactly this, so you can record your fridge and freezer readings each morning and have an inspection ready record without scribbling on bits of paper.

Best of luck

David

Disclaimer: Food safety rules are updated from time to time. In Scotland always check the latest Food Standards Scotland guidance and speak to your local council's Environmental Health team for the most current requirements in your area.

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