Hot Box Catering Delivered Hot
Individually boxed hot meals, delivered ready to serve. The way film crews eat when the truck can't come to them, and the way small crews eat without a truck at all.
What is hot box catering?
A full hot meal, one main, one base, one vegetable, portioned per person into an insulated box and delivered ready to serve. Every drop carries a meat or fish version and a plant version, so nobody queues at a choice line. Salt Wind Catering delivers hot boxes across Cornwall and Plymouth from our Redruth kitchen; further out, the same boxes come from our mobile kitchen set up at your unit base.
Dietary versions are their own labelled boxes, vegan, gluten-free and named allergies portioned separately. Breakfast is not boxed: it goes out as a self-serve bap bar, the same every day. The van is at the drop about fifteen minutes before the break, and a box is at its best inside half an hour of arriving, so two breaks means two drops rather than food left to hold.
The menu
Twelve boxes, built to survive the lid
A sealed box steams its own contents, so every main is a braise, a curry, a chilli or a stew, and every vegetable is one that holds. Nothing crisp, nothing breaded, nothing that wilts.
The core eight
Year-round · no main repeats inside five services on a block booking
- Box 1Served on a Falmouth unit base, 7 September 2026
Lemon, garlic and oregano chicken thigh with smoked romesco
Plant: Roast cauliflower and chickpea
With crushed new potatoes and green beans.
- Box 2
Chicken balti
Plant: Sweet potato, spinach and chickpea curry with coconut milk
With basmati rice and green beans.
- Box 3
Chilli con carne
Plant: Mixed bean chilli
With rice and charred sweetcorn.
- Box 4
Slow-braised beef shin in an onion and thyme gravy
Plant: Butterbean and root vegetable braise
With mash and buttered carrots (olive oil on the plant box).
Meat or fish version contains milk
- Box 5
Pulled pork shoulder, smoked at our kitchen, house BBQ sauce
Plant: Smoky BBQ jackfruit
With roast new potatoes and braised red cabbage.
- Box 6
Slow-cooked beef in ginger, tamari and star anise
Plant: Braised shiitake and sesame tofu
With sticky rice and green beans with edamame.
Meat or fish version contains soya · Plant version contains soya, sesame
- Box 7
Hungarian beef goulash
Plant: Mushroom and butterbean goulash
With rice and carrots.
- Box 8
Chicken and chorizo cassoulet
Plant: Meat-free sausage and bean stew
With crushed potatoes and savoy cabbage.
Plant version contains gluten
The premium four
By request, quoted on their own
- Box 9 · premium
Lamb and apricot tagine
Plant: Spiced chickpea and butternut tagine
With rice and green beans.
- Box 10 · premium
Thai green chicken curry
Plant: Thai green tofu and vegetable curry
With jasmine rice and green beans.
Plant version contains soya · Not gluten-free as standard
- Box 11 · premium
Baked hake with a chorizo and butterbean stew
Plant: Butterbean, roast pepper and smoked paprika stew
With crushed potatoes and green beans.
Meat or fish version contains fish
- Box 12 · premium
Chicken, chorizo and prawn jambalaya
Plant: Vegetable jambalaya
The rice is the dish, with peppers and sweetcorn alongside.
Meat or fish version contains crustaceans
Every box is gluten-free as built unless it says otherwise. “Contains” lists allergens from a named ingredient; stocks and sauces can carry celery and sulphites, so the full 14-allergen list for every box goes out with the quote and travels on the label. Our kitchen handles nuts, gluten and sesame daily. For severe nut, peanut, coeliac or sesame allergies we cannot guarantee a completely trace-free environment, so please tell us at enquiry stage. We will advise honestly, and we ask that the guest keeps any prescribed medication on hand.
Priced per head against your headcount or call sheet: the boxes you pick, how many, and how far we drive to get there hot.
What's included, and what isn't
We would rather you knew both halves before you enquire than find out later.
Included as standard
- Cooked that morning. At our Redruth kitchen, boxed hot and driven straight to your drop point.
- One complete meal per box. Main, base and one veg, lidded and labelled. A meat or fish version and a plant version on every drop.
- Dietary boxes labelled. Vegan, gluten-free and named allergies portioned as their own boxes so there is no cross-over at service.
- Compostable box, fork and napkin. Nothing to hire, nothing to wash, nothing plastic.
- Timed to your break. The van is there about fifteen minutes ahead of it. Two breaks means two drops.
What we don't do
We are a cook team, not front-of-house. On a hot box job that is the whole point: the food turns up, the crew eat, nobody waits.
- No waiting or front-of-house staff. Our cook team cooks; the crew collect their own box.
- No plated or table service. Boxes are handed over or set down at the drop point, and that is the service.
- No crockery, glassware or linen. The box, fork and napkin are the tableware. Anything smarter is a unit-base job, not a hot box.
- No drinks service. Hot boxes are the meal. Urns of tea and coffee come with a breakfast drop, not a lunch one.
- No choice line. Two versions per drop, meat or fish and plant. A menu to pick from slows a crew down and goes wrong at the drop.
Travel is quoted before you book, never added afterwards. Not sure whether wefit? Call 01209 206255and we will tell you straight.
12
Boxes on the Menu
2
Versions on Every Drop
67
Five-Star Reviews
5★
Hygiene Rating
On the record
Hot boxes we have delivered
Three productions fed from boxes rather than a pitch. Each links to its case study.
Television commercial · 2026
Utility Warehouse
Falmouth (unit base)
Salt Wind Catering hot-boxed breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea for 39 on the Utility Warehouse commercial at Falmouth Rugby Club, ready to eat.
Read the case study →Brand shoot · 2026
Microsoft
Porthcothan, Cornwall
Crew catering delivered for a Microsoft shoot on location at Porthcothan, Cornwall, over late May and early June 2026.
Read the case study →Feature film · 2026
Oddly Flowers
Cape Cornwall, St Just
Salt Wind Catering fed the Cornwall unit on Oddly Flowers, the feature starring Emily Carey and Martin Freeman, over its final two shoot days, March 2026.
Read the case study →- Splinter and second units: the same lunch as the main unit, at their location, on their clock.
- Small shoots and recces: a 10 to 30 head day gets a hot lunch with no pitch, no power, no setup.
- Site and event crews: headcount, delivery point, dietary list, done.
Ready to book?
Got a headcount and a drop point?
Crew size, shoot dates and location (attach the call sheet if you have one) and the quote comes back the same day during office hours.
