The first carts were used in 18th century manor houses to bridge the gap between the kitchen and dining room. While these wooden carts were still unadorned, this changed fundamentally in the 19th century: With the growing enthusiasm for tea and coffee parties, serving trolleys developed into elegant status symbols that conveyed a sense of luxury and style with their imposing spoked wheels, rich ornamentation and fine woods. In the 1930s, serving trolleys emerged that combined tubular steel frames with wooden shelves.

Over time, the rationalisation of professional kitchens placed more emphasis on functionality. At the same time, the demands on safety and hygiene, for example, grew, which the material wood could not fulfil - it was replaced by stainless steel. What was still missing was a standardisation of serving trolleys to unify the confusion of different designs and qualities.

The basis for serving trolleys as we know them today was created in 1997 with the German standard DIN 18867-1 D for mobile catering equipment. It states: "The serving trolley must have at least 2 shelves. All shelves must have a raised, drawn and circumferential profile edge of at least 8 mm in accordance with Fig. 2." Details such as the design of the push handle, impact protection and stability are also precisely regulated. When it comes to the dimensions, however, the standard suddenly becomes short-syllabled: minimum dimensions of 600 x 400 mm length and width with a height of 800 mm must be observed. Everything else is up to the manufacturer.

"One for all" would not have been the last word in wisdom in view of the wide range of possible uses for the serving trolleys and the different spatial conditions. That is why a whole cosmos of different sizes has been created. They are all based on the standardised minimum size and extend it in increments of 100 mm or 200 mm. For example, there are compact models with a footprint of 700 x 500 mm - but also XXL versions measuring 1100 x 700 mm. And instead of the prescribed 80 kg minimum load, some models have an impressive 200 kg load capacity.

A serving trolley in itself is already an incredibly practical tool in and around the professional kitchen. But isn't there a lot more that can be teased out of the concept? The B.PRO development team has been asking itself this question again and again for years and has come up with some astonishing and extremely practical answers.

Panelling for hanging transforms the serving trolley into a mobile, opaque storage space. The set of stainless steel worktop, hanging frame for a kitchen roll, knife holder and chopping board creates a preparation station for front cooking, for example - with optional sneeze guard. With a tray shelf and cutlery attachment, the serving trolley is an indispensable part of the canteen or cafeteria. And anyone who needs an option for drying after washing up can use the drip tray for glasses or the rack for Gastronorm containers.