Guide to Airline Catering

Airline caterers are professional services that will help you stock your flights with snacks or meals. Flights can be long and tiresome, and keeping your passengers happy is the main customer service goal in running an airline. In-flight snacks or meals help pass the time and make a trip more enjoyable, and can be a great improvement to your airline services.

There are many businesses in the airline catering industry, serving every geographic area. When looking for airline catering companies, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. If your airline operates internationally, find an airline catering company that operates at all of your destinations.
2. For regional airline services, local airline caterers may offer higher quality meals at a lower price, and offer personalized care.
   
3. Larger airline catering companies will have a wider standard selection of meals to choose from—anything from pretzels and snacks to gourmet meals.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find airline caterers that offer a range of services

In a big business like airline catering, the largest companies may often have the most experience or offer the widest variety of services, not to mention operate in the airports you serve.

I recommend: Gate Gourmet is one of the largest airline catering companies in the world, and an industry leader, offering a variety of culinary services. See their offerings for first class catering, or convenience meals marketed to economy class passengers. Also see them for help designing menus for charter flights.

Find an international airline catering business

Airplanes fly to every corner of the globe, so the airline catering industry must be equipped to provide food services in myriad locations as well. If you operate an international airline, find an airline catering service that is staffed and ready to go wherever your planes may land.

I recommend: LSG Sky Chefs operates around the globe. See a map of their worldwide locations to get more information about specific facilities. Alpha is based in the United Kingdom, offering airline food catering to over 100 airlines on 4 continents. For catering operations in Southeast Asia, check out the Ambassador Group's Sky Chef operations, the largest caterer in the region.

Go for gourmet airline meals

Airline meals are stereotyped as being bland and unexciting, but this doesn't have to be the case with the food on your flights. Many airline catering services produce high quality gourmet meals. If you want to serve your passengers food that they would normally see in a fancy restaurant, go with a gourmet meal service.

I recommend: Air Gourmet prides itself in offering a fine dining experience through gourmet meals. They serve a number of airports in the western United States. See a full list of the cuisine they offer.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• If an airline catering service does not appear to serve a menu to your liking, contact a representative to see if you can work with them to design a customized meal for your flights.

The official source of Airline Catering is the Airline Catering page at Business.com