ADJ video panels in the kitchen at parties
- Details
Established for over eight years, Texas-based Cruising Kitchens started out creating bespoke food trucks of all sizes for both well-established brands and start-ups. The company has branched out to undertake a variety of more unusual projects including mobile offices, media centres, bars and even a nightclub.
The university’s catering department, Spartan Eats, wanted a new food truck and entertainment centre that could not only be used to enhance the San Jose Spartans tailgate experience during the football season at their CEFCU Stadium but also for community engagement events both on and off campus.
Taking on the challenge, Cruising Kitchens fabricated an enormous custom-built creation featuring a 40’ long modified and reinforced shipping container welded to a 70' extendable flatbed trailer. Wrapped completely in custom graphics, the impressive truck features a large internal commercial kitchen, suitable for the preparation of a wide variety of cuisine, as well as an in-built stage which can be used for cooking competitions and demonstrations.
The 12ft stage folds out from the side of the truck, as does a 10ft awning, while two islands - fitted with castors - can be wheeled out onto the stage to provide a demonstration workspace. Two moving head cameras are mounted inside the truck to show the cook line in action, while additional cameras on the mobile islands can be used for close-ups of on-stage demonstrations. Footage from these cameras - as well as live pre-game coverage at tailgates - can be displayed on the in-built ‘jumbotron’ screen on the roof. To create this vital component of the setup, Cruising Kitchens selected ADJ’s AV4IP LED video panels.
“We had used a competitor’s product on a couple of other trucks with built-in jumbotrons,” explains Joshua Davies, Cruising Kitchens’ chief brand officer & AV specialist, “but there was a problem with availability and they wouldn’t be able to deliver this order for six months. So, obviously, I had to do my research and find an alternative product to use for this project and that’s when I discovered ADJ. I got in touch and was linked up with Chase Martin at Aldridge Marketing [ADJ’s rep firm in Texas] who listened to our needs and then told me about the AV4IP, which turned out to be a better pixel pitch and almost twice the brightness than what we were using before, so that worked out really well.”
For Powerhouse Kitchen, the Cruising Kitchens team fabricated a custom frame for 40 AV4IP panels to create a 16’ wide screen. This was mounted to the roof of the container on a hinged bracket with pneumatic lifting system that allows it to fold flat to the container in transit and then quickly foldout for viewing with the touch of a button. To run the panels, Joshua chose the 1U rack mountable Novastar VS4Xs, which offers easy configuration, scaling and source selection for ADJ AV Series video screens.
“Chase and also Mike Turner [ADJ’s regional sales manager for the area] have been great to work with; as soon we we’ve needed something they’ve got right on it and got us what we needed,” states Joshua. “So I’ve had a great overall experience, from customer service to the product itself, and we definitely look forward to using ADJ again on future projects.”
(Jim Evans)
