On Board Catering

[honey lamb]

I could open anpother can of worms and ask does srevice delivery differ from fleet to fleet?

Could I suggest that this be another thread and to keep this one on food? From the links that Highflyer gave (and possibly others) the topic has come up again and again and the general opinion is that both the quality and choice has gone down significantly [:(!]

Originally posted by andrew.m.wright

Originally posted by rcslt
Couldn't there be a notice board display in the CH of the food on offer onboard the aircraft, then you would be able to gauge if you should have more grub in the CH.

There is on the end of the Bar in the LGW Clubhouse:D

I really should investigate the CH more! But the benefit of this forum is that you learn something new everyday....I never knew the CH held copies of the onboard menu. When I am at LGW in a couple of weeks I will have to make sure I ask to see one.

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by rcslt

Originally posted by andrew.m.wright

Originally posted by rcslt
Couldn't there be a notice board display in the CH of the food on offer onboard the aircraft, then you would be able to gauge if you should have more grub in the CH.

There is on the end of the Bar in the LGW Clubhouse:D

I really should investigate the CH more! But the benefit of this forum is that you learn something new everyday....I never knew the CH held copies of the onboard menu. When I am at LGW in a couple of weeks I will have to make sure I ask to see one.

Yeah! I always ask for one and at LHR they will ask which flight you are on as there are variations.

Like Highflyer, I too have sometimes been given a different menu and been disappointed when on board but in IAD the menu had been changed the day before and they came looking for me with the new one. It was just as well. I would have been devastated as the old menu was MUCH better than the new one - which was OK.......ish

[Scrooge]

Thanks Roger,good to have you here btw,seeing as you have just joined up,you may want to do a search for food,you'll find that on the whole the food in Y is rated as good,the food in UC is rated as what the heck is going on here.


edit:When booking our flights for Dec I was asked if there was any spiecal meal I needed,after a little head scratching I did mention that both Jenn and myself have a problem with onions,im kind of scared about this now.

Originally posted by mcuth

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Simple food for simple people Thats my motto!

Dust? Anyone? Dust? High in fat, low in fat? Dust?



Cheers

Michael

No calories whatsoever! [:p]

What's SQ catering then???

My last memorable meal on VA was last October. Flying PE, and we were served - I can't remember the exact poetic description, but essentially it was meant to be a vegetable ciabatta. Cunningly omitted from the description was the fact that it was both unrecognisable and tasteless. I can eat most things, but I really couldn't countenance finishing this piece of corrugated cardboard.

Oh, and instead of the in-flight ice cream, there was some sort of kit-kat biscuity thing. I assumed it was an ice cream version, but not. Hard to put into words how it tasted, but MDF springs to mind here....

Bottom line though people - is there really any excuse for poor food, whatever class you fly? Someone earlier mentioned a figure of something like 70p per head for the main course - are we then to be given less allowance than someone serving time in prison?

Maybe I'll be packing my own for my next trip...

Originally posted by milehigh
As for the wines the new wine supplier introduced Berry Bros is a much benefited improvemnet not to mention the new champagne and peach belini offered on boarding.

The champagne is an improvement, the wine is still sub-par: the only vaguely decent thing on the list is the shiraz... see this thread for more comment. The pinot gris is just plain nasty and the other whites wholly uninspiring.

The wine list, as with the menu, bears the hallmarks of being developed by accountants rather than someone who appreciates how things actually taste when in the air.

BC

[RichardMannion]

milehigh,

I think you have pretty much summed up the sentiments of the thread. I tried forwarding it to the Inflight Catering Manager who I met about 18 months ago, but it would appear they have moved on. A lovely person at VS is tryign to find the right person to put this in front of now.

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by VS-EWR
I have noticed that the Kid meals are really good, whereas the rest absolutely suck. And VS, could you please try to heat up the sandwiches so it doesn't feel like we're eating bricks of ice with meat on them?

I've often wondered just what the kids' meals are - is it some sort of state secret????

Originally posted by catsilversword
I've often wondered just what the kids' meals are - is it some sort of state secret????

I think the "really good" in kids's meals is subjective.

They seem to be mostly composed of pre-packed, additive filled, sugar rich junk foods, and spaghetti in atomic orange "tomato" sauce.

Cheers,
Mike

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by mike-smashing

Originally posted by catsilversword
I've often wondered just what the kids' meals are - is it some sort of state secret????

I think the "really good" in kids's meals is subjective.

They seem to be mostly composed of pre-packed, additive filled, sugar rich junk foods, and spaghetti in atomic orange "tomato" sauce.

Cheers,
Mike

Agreed. My kid never liked them. He'd rather stock up on bread rolls throughout the flight than eat them but then he's never been one for the type of food most kids seem to like today such as pizza etc.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
As some have said earlier, it is a variety of factors:

At the risk of upsetting people, I think more effort is put into selecting the wines that are onboard than what food is onboard. I'm not a wine drinker (obviously) but it always amazes me how many are carried.

I flew UC JFK-LHR on VS-004 (I think that was the flight number)in November and therre was exactly one red wine on offer![:(]

Well I liked them, although the last time I had one was like 5 years ago so they might have changed.

Going back to the CH menus, when I came back in January I looked at the menu in JFK CH to plan my dining and that had 4 main meals on it...and of course i knew there was not going to be 4 meals on the VS10. It was the fish that did not make it onto the GNF menu i think!

The only truly memorable food I've had on VS was about 5 1/2 years ago in UC coming back from IAD real English Breakfast with great sausages! Rest in UC has been OK, but in PE has varied from edible to yuk, especially the breakfasts, memorable by their lack of!
I've had truly great food on other airlines over the years: BA ( in F rarely CW never in Y), CO (J), CX (F), SQ (J), PIA (great curry in J!!) and the late great B-Cal (F and J).
So come on VS improve the food, especially in UC and PE.
Also why do airlines "outsource" catering? I can understand at out-stations, but at home base? If you want a job doing properly do it yourself? It can't be Rocket Science! They used to do it.

[fozzyo]

Originally posted by ColourPhil
Also why do airlines "outsource" catering? I can understand at out-stations, but at home base? If you want a job doing properly do it yourself? It can't be Rocket Science! They used to do it.

Same reason as all the ground staff in the States have been outsourced. The bean counters.

Mat xxx

[honey lamb]

mike-smashing's photos of the meals on UA are what VS should be offering but aren't. The nearest I have come to any of these is the lobster and crayfish starter which I had as a main course during the bangers and mash debacle!

Originally posted by honey lamb
mike-smashing's photos of the meals on UA are what VS should be offering but aren't.

I've been flying UA across the Pond for about 7 years - 5 of them as a Gold-level member in UA's FF programme - and I've had about two really duff meals in that whole time.

Clean plates are the norm, and I've usually had to decide what I want, rather than be "pushed" into what I get because I don't like the sound of anything else.

Overall, UA's meals in the pointy-bit seem to be simple and well executed.

I put a lot of that down to the fact that UA still operate their own in-house development kitchens and employ a full-time Executive Chef on the staff, Gerry Gulli, to manage the menu design process.

I'm not sure that bringing in "Celeb Chefs" will fix the issues in VS' food. I read in an article online that some need a lot of "breaking in" about what is and isn't doable in the confines of an aircraft galley before the relationship starts to really bear fruit.

I'm looking forward to an SFO-LHR trip in UA's F-cabin, at the end of March. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and do a TR!

Cheers,
Mike

[Scrooge]

While I understand that in Y/PE you cannot expect alot when it comes to food,though I have said the best meals I have had on VS have been in the back I think that VS is missing a golden opportunity.

Being a small airline in a lot of markets it could make a mark with it's UC menu very easily.It could do this in a number of ways.

With it's main hubs being LHR and LGW it's pretty much has it's hands tied,with the number of pax it's stuck using Sky Chefs etc,though if it increased it's budget even slightly there could be a vast improvement.

With the airports in the New York area the same pretty much applies,however instead of using the Sky Chef's of this world,why not buy the meals from it's closest US partner CO.They know how to make a good meal in the air.

Most of the other airports VS serves it has one or two flights a day (MCO not included,still trying to figure that one out)why not go outside the norm.

They could use a company like Rita in Boston,each and every airport has them,for the most part they deal with catering to private jets,however with only 14-45 seats on a flight they should be able to handle the amount of food required.

Something tells me that the food would be better than what is served now.

Also as we know the VS website pretty much sucks,again with a little bit of money spent a pax could pick his/her meal,hell if Applebee's can figure out how to make food that taste ok after re-heating it than couldn't VS? heck could VS order from Applebee's [:0].Ok may be going to far with that one,but you get where im coming from.VS is not AA or United,heck AA caters more biz class meals out of DFW then VS serves world wide in a day.

Got to agree with that Dave, I had a most wonderful Filet Mignon while travelling EWR-FLL business first several years ago. It was warm, not overcooked, tasted excellent, and displayed really nicely (and the flight was only 3 hours long!). I know some of you may think that a celebrity chef maybe too much, but VS really does need to think about having a designated sector of their corporation that deals with the food/drinks services.

[HighFlyer]

I'm not sure that bringing in "Celeb Chefs" will fix the issues in VS' food. I read in an article online that some need a lot of "breaking in" about what is and isn't doable in the confines of an aircraft galley before the relationship starts to really bear fruit.

Thats a very good point actually, while its novel to have a name or celebrity chef for your airlines meals, the most important thing - which doesnt seem to be happening now - is having somebody in charge who understands food at high altitude. Its not really a case of being a chef but more of being a scientist.

Many people do not realise that their tastebuds are compromised at altitude, i think the reduction in the ability to taste different flavours is around 30-40%, i recall hearing that airplane meals eaten at a normal altitude would taste very different as the flavours/seasonings are enhanced to avoid a bland taste. Water also has a different boiling point at altitude, so all these things need to be taken into consideration to create meals that really 'fly well'.

Many other carriers do manage it though, and i really hope its an area VS concentrate on as its a real let down area at present.

Thanks,
Sarah

[Scrooge]

Well one problem I see with using a celebrity chef is that fact that they prefer to use the best products,I cant see VS paying for the most expensive steaks etc.

Yet, as paying passnegers, we're expected to pay through the nose for 'quality service'!

Okay, I found one of the catering articles about working with Celeb Chefs that I mentioned in my last post - it was actually with UA's Gerry Gulli.

The article is about 5 or 6 years old now - so the $ cost of the entrees will have gone up some amount, of course there isn't as much domestic catering anymore, Dobbs is now part of GateGourmet, and Gulli's former colleague, Eric Kopelow moved to the post of Exec Chef at Universal Studios.

Nevertheless, it's still an interesting read for the airline food geek.

Clicky

Especially worth noting are Gulli's attitude to cutting food items from the aircraft - how it damages people's perception of your product, keeping food simple so it's easy for the cabin crew to assemble in the galley, and avoiding fried food which needs to remain crisp.

I can think of VS breaking all the above rules:
* Pulling the fourth J entree
* OTT food that's difficult to plate
* Remember the "fish & chips"?

Hehehe...
Mike