Onboard Hospitality 65 December/January 2016

FOR AIR, RAIL, CRUISE AND FERRIES

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016 | ISSUE 65

Spilling the beans Why chocolate is no longer just a sweet treat

APEX/IFSA REVIEW NUTRITION IN THE AIR BEST OF GERMANY WTCE PREVIEW TEA TRENDS AIX PREVIEW OBH AWARDS 2016

Discover the art of satisfying travelers' wishes.

Besides offering tasty meals, exciting equipment, smart logistics and innovative retail concepts, LSG Sky Chefs also provides valuable consumer insight based on thorough studies about global food trends and lifestyles. Discover our advanced approach to creating in-flight concepts that truly meet your passengers' individual needs and explore smart ideas about how to satisfy them.

Follow us on LinkedIn lsg.sc/linked in

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ONBOARD HOSPITALITY DECEMBER/JANUARY

Inside this issue FEATURES 38 Chocolate: Cocoa trends 49 Nutrition in the air: The healthy option 58 Seafood: A difficult catch 62 Rail catering: IRCG celebrates 50 years 70 Tea: Back to basics 74 Neuroscience: Perform better 78 Security in the air: Keeping it safe

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SHOWS 21 Event review: IFSA Expo, Portland 26 New products: What we saw at IFSA OPINION 32 Jeremy Clark: Squeezing into Economy 34 Mark Warde: Flavours of the Middle East 46 Raymond Kollau: Airline trends 54 Ariane van Mancius: Power of spice 57 Rob Britton: Safety is number one

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REGULARS 07 Industry update 30 Onboard Hospitality Awards: 2016 68 Global perspective 76 New arrivals: Get Fruity 90 New products 93 Past events 94 People on the move/events ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT 81 IFEC/Event review: APEX QUICK READS 36 Focus on: DHL 43 Pick of the Bunch: Kids entertainment 36 Focus on: Delta One 61 Focus on: NorthStar Connect

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74 81 ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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WELCOME

Publisher : Sue Williams Editor: Jo Austin Assistant Editor: Julie Baxter News Editor: Laura Gelder Junior Journalist: Cameron Roberts Contributing Writers: Jeremy Clark, Richard Williams (IFEC), Raymond Kollau, Roger Williams, Rob Britton, Marc Warde, Ariane van Mancius, Eloise Bain Creative Director: Matt Bonner Art Director: Tina-Lee McDougall Designers: Louisa Horton, Ross Clifford Junior Designer: Zoe Tarrant Production Manager: Clare Hunter Production Controller: Steve Hunter Subscriptions: Cheryl Staniforth Managing Director: Martin Steady Onboard Hospitality is published by: BMI Publishing Ltd Suffolk House, George Street, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1SR, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 8649 7233 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8649 7234 Editorial email: jo.austin@onboardhospitality.com Advertising email: sue.williams@onboardhospitality.com Awards email: julie.baxter@onboardhospitality.com

Safety concerns The tragic events that took place in Egypt and Paris certainly made us all take another look at our 'priorities'. Safety concerns are our number one focus right now and we address the issue through Rob Britton's focus (page 57) and a timely article on security of the hospitality supply chain (page 78).

But life must go on and we must keep flying. We all work in a highly resilient industry that has, in one way or another, 'seen it all before' on many previous occasions.

On a happier note, we can reveal that the Onboard Hospitality Awards 2016 are now in full swing and our judges are in place to recognise the best in the industry. The closing date is December 14, so you still have a few weeks to send in your entry (page 30).

New technology is also high on our agenda, so don't miss Richard Williams' in-depth report on the recent APEX Conference and Expo in Portland, Oregon. There's a lively interview with David Coiley, of Inmarsat, which touches on the latest satellite network connectivity (page 88). Raymond Kollau adds to the subject with a topical report on pre-ordering technology for increasingly demanding and pressured airline passengers.

Everyone is complaining about pressures on their free time and informaton overload, so perhaps we should take a leaf out of psychologist and former air stewardess Dr Lynda Shaw's book and simply follow our emotions (page 74). This would surely help us reduce our stress levels and help us to better deal with any perceived threat.

Jo Austin Editor, Onboard Hospitalty

Subscriptions email: subscriptions@bmipublishing.co.uk www.onboardhospitality.com © BMI Publishing Ltd 2015. Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, BMI Publishing Ltd cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions.

ISSN: 2046-2042

Cover image: Cocoa beans ©Bigstock.com Find us online at onboardhospitality.com to: read this magazine, share it digitally or subscribe • catch up on back issues • find contact details for key suppliers and caterers in our NEW Caterers and Suppliers Guide • advertise and search for jobs and promote your events.

Our Team

Regularly viewed by readers in over 70 countries worldwide.

Get yourself connected online by following OBHMagazine on Twitter or connecting with editor Jo Austin and the Onboard Hospitality Linked-In Group linkedin.com

Sue Williams

At the heart of the magazine for over 15 years, Sue is always keen to hear your news and is full of exciting ideas on how to promote your products throughout 2016 and beyond.

Julie Baxter

Trained as a newshound on local papers, Julie wants your news. She has over 25 years experience as a journalist writing for the travel and hospitality industries.

Laura Gelder

Standing by to receive all your product news, Laura has worked in the travel and hospitality industries for the past seven years. She is our chief in-house taster and is looking for samples!

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Richard Williams

Our specialist writer for the IFEC section of Onboard Hospitality, Richard is a travel and technology journalist who has is ear to the ground when it comes to onboard trends and new developments.

Jeremy Clark

Look out for Jeremy at SIAL. A trained chef who has worked for leading airlines and co-developed Inflair Software, he'll be casting his expert eye over the new products at the show.

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Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

ONBOARD AMENITIES

onboard catering

Onboard catering

Wessco's creative Gift Effect

Perth Catering wins SAS deal

Monty's Abu Dhabi bakery success story

Wessco International has launched a new range of Gift Effect passenger products.

Exclusively available to JetBlue Mint™ passengers between LA and New York, or San Francisco and NY, the new products give passengers the chance to receive a range of gifts from the likes of Blue Apron, Pair of Thieves, Reserve, Blind Barber and YogaWorks.

Gift Effect brings back “giving" to passengers with curated offers from established and up-and-coming brands in custom-designed cases.

Says Nick Bregman, vp sales and business development Wessco who co-founded Gift Effect with friends Alex Nocifera and Michael Smith: “We wanted to bring curated gifts to the airlines to better the passenger experience. The idea was to bring people something they can’t get anywhere else."

One of these unique deals includes lifetime membership to Blind Barber that comes complete with a free cocktail, preferred entry at all Blind Barber locations and 20% off all food, drinks and services, forever. “This is just the beginning,” adds Bregman. “We’re casting the net wide.

Lifestyle, tech, fashion, food, fitness, beauty, every facet of life.” wessco.net

Perth Inflight Catering has secured its second international airline customer.

After winning the tender to supply Etihad Airways in 2014, the caterer is now working with South African Airways.

A family owned and operated business, Perth Inflight Catering was started by Ismail and Maria Hazife in 1998 and is now run by their son, Salim. Over the years the business has grown from four staff to over 120 today.

Says Salim: “For many years inflight catering in Australia has been dominated by two multinational companies. Our aim is to carve a niche in the market by providing a personalised service matched with quality food to every one of our airline customers”.

Currently producing in excess of 10,000 meals per day for its international, regional and non airline customers, Perth Inflight Catering aims to provide a high quality alternative to the big inflight catering companies.“ Adds Salim: "Being a small company we are agile and able to meet the specific needs of each of our customers.

We do everything we can to make each customer feel like they are our only customer”. inflightcatering.com.au

Initially launched at WTCE 2015, Monty's bakery in the UAE is now in full production, and the range of bakery snacks and recipes is ever increasing.

The partnership with Agthia in Abu Dhabi allows Monty's to manufacture a broad range of hand held snacks, bakery items and food-to-go in the UAE’s foremost bakery facility at Al Wathba.

Monty’s Bakehouse now has the ability to make and distribute a broad range of pastries, sweet pastries, bakery and cake items that can be served to passengers as a single item or combined as a two or three product box.

The specialist bakery also has the capacity to support catering units with galley cart or tray set up, as well as part and fully baked bread rolls, loose or delivered in ovenable bread bags.

The Abu Dhabi bakery is now an integral part of Monty's global supply chain, delivering to airline catering units within the UAE, Qatar, and Oman and by sea freight to the broader Gulf community countries. It also offers costeffective distribution to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia. montysbakehouse.co.uk

onboardhospitality.com

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Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

onboard catering

ONBOARD CATERING

onboard style

World and More's taste revolution

The name's Bond, Heineken Bond

Qantas showcases 95 years of uniforms

World and More (WAM) has launched a new selection of recipes for its long life special meals.

Chefs, Gilles Bosquet and Philippe Audonnet, are both advising WAM on their kosher, halal and conventional meals for over 30 airlines worldwide.

Says Kenny Kevany, operations manager at WAM in Paris: "We have over 20 years' experience in creating special meals for the airline industry. Their long shelf-life also makes them ideal for back-catering and emergency meals.

WAM is currently supplying ready to eat dishes, meal trays and snacks to Air France, Qatar, Etihad, Iberia and TAP. wam-group.com

Heineken has revealed a new TV advert featuring Daniel Craig’s James Bond, linked to a new media campaign and a special edition Spectre bottle.

The advert features Craig in a boat chase, concluding with the new bottle, which features Bond’s iconic silhouette. The limited edition bottle will be available in travel retail channels.

Heineken will also be hosting an exclusive screening of Spectre at which it will take what it claims will be the world’s first selfie from a space, dubbed ‘Spyfie’. The company will use ultra HD photography and a camera located on a satellite 600km above the Earth’s surface. heineken.com

Qantas is taking Barbie and Ken around the world in a selection of its most iconic flight attendant uniforms.

Some 44 Barbie and Ken dolls will be included in the pop-up exhibition wearing mini versions of historic uniforms designed

by Paris-based Martin Grant.

Olivia Wirth, Qantas group executive of brand, marketing and corporate affairs, said: “There are some eye catching uniforms that form part of our 95 year history, including the bright green and blue floral patterned Pucci dresses from the mid to late 1970s, to the bomber jackets with fur trimmed collars worn by Qantas pilots before the second World War.” qantas.com

Looking for a Caterer, Supplier or a specific product?

Look no further. Check out our comprehensive directory today.

All you have to do is click on the relevant headings and find what you want.

What could be easier?

You too can promote your products to our global audience for just £300 for the year.

Contact Sue Williams on + 44 (0) 20 8649 7233 or sue.williams@onboardhospitality.com

www.onboardhospitality.com/csg

Industry Update Top sTorIes from across The IndUsTry

ONBOARD cATERINg

ONBOARD AMENITIES

AK-Services renews Aeroflot kids' kits

Dragonair serves seasonal menus

Business kit refresh for Etihad

AK-Services' latest contract with Aeroflot is for new kids’ kits for age groups three to six years and seven to 12 years.

The new kits are based on feedback from children who took part in a series of focus groups. Games and puzzles are packaged for convenient use after flight ie: a soft bag for toys and books; a case which could be used as a lunch box; a bag for notebooks and tablets and a colourful pencil case.

A pilot kit has been designed for younger passengers and comes with bag and hat, games and an educational activity book.

AK-Services prides itself in trying to make children’s flights amusing and interesting. ak-service.ru

Dragonair will introduce a new range of hot pot dishes to its First and Business passengers for autumn and winter.

The Business rotation will include steamed rice with truffle paste, pork belly, conpoy and black garlic in a hot pot casserole, between November 1 and February 29 2016.

The First menu will include steamed rice with Berkshire pork and goose liver roulade with Chinese preserved sausages in a hot pot casserole, between December 16 and March 31 2016.

Dragonair gm inflight services, Brian Yuen, said: "We are always on the lookout for the latest dining trend." dragonair.com

In collaboration with LUXE City Guides, Etihad has launched a new range of collectable limited edition Business amenity kits.

The kits contain natural facial products developed by skincare and grooming brand, Scaramouche + Fandango.

Six new kits feature in the range and have designs reflecting the LUXE brand and the destinations of Abu Dhabi, London, Madrid, Los Angeles, Sydney and Hong Kong.

Calum Laming, vp guest experience, Etihad Airways, said: “The kits offer intelligent design, functionality and products which are attractive, natural, useful and re-usable.” etihad.com

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11:15

Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

Rail catering

onboard catering

RAIL catering

British Airways adds The glass is half full LSG stays on track with Deutsche Bahn to pre-paid range with Virgin Trains Deutsche Bahn and LSG Sky Chefs will continue their partnership with the oncoming launch of Intercity 2.

Intercity 2 is a fleet of 27 double decker long-distance trains that aim, in time, to offer direct connections between Germany’s 50 largest cities.

LSG Sky Chefs will be responsible for serving passengers in their seats, offering baked goods and snacks alongside both hot and cold drinks.

As part of the deal LSG Sky Chefs will assume service management of the intercity lines connecting Leipzig, Hanover, Bremen, Cologne, Munster and Kassel, which carry 8.8 million passengers a year. lsgskychefs.com

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British Airways has added a new pre-paid meal option on long-haul Economy flights, called Taste of the Far East.

Available on flights out of London Heathrow, the new option features vegetarian sushi, prawn crackers with sweet chilli sauce, chicken pay ca paw with egg rice, wok fried vegetables and green tea tiramisu.

The meal costs £16 and is part of a range with five other pre-paid options that can be purchased from 30 days before the flight takes off right up until 24 hours before the flight. britishairways.com

Virgin Trains has created a new ale called Hop on Board for its east coast routes. The company is also trialling a new Hoptimist glass designed to always look half full.

The ale has been created exclusively for Virgin Trains, which expects to sell more than 55,000 bottles a year. It is a combination of both bitter and pale ale.

The glasses are hand blown and will be available to customers travelling on Virgin Trains routes between London King’s Cross, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Alison Watson, director of customer experience at Virgin Trains, said: "The ale is full of flavour and charisma that epitomises the Virgin Trains spirit." virgintrainseastcoast.com

27/10/2015 15:38

Bon AppÊtit Designed to be strong, lightweight and comfortable, Linstol’s cutlery kits and bulk cutlery items add to any in-flight dining experience.

Completely customizable with unlimited packaging options. All at a value to price ratio you can sink your teeth into.

www.Linstol.com United States | +1.239.530.7865 | United Kingdom | +44.1252.620630 | Hong Kong | +86.156.1855.3533 | China | +86.21.5508.9020 |

LinstolUS@Linstol.com LinstolUK@Linstol.com LinstolHK@Linstol.com LinstolCN@Linstol.com

SKYSUPPLY INTRODUCES NEW LUXURY IN THE SKY We are enhancing the onboard experience. Our team has longterm experience in developing stylish and individual concepts with a high level of design and an emphasis on providing the very best in terms of a tailored client service, serving international airlines and private jets alike.

INFO@SKYSUPPLY.DE I WWW.SKYSUPPLY.DE

Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

onboard catering

on the ground

onboard catering

SAS renews LSG extends Myanmar agreement gategroup deal

FlyFit extends its range

LSG Sky Chefs’ agreement with Yangon Mingaladon Airport (RGN) has been extended for five years, with the option of a further five.

The agreement, which covers concessions and licensing, sees the 105 LSG Sky Chefs employees currently at the airport continue to cater for domestic and international airlines.

All ten of the Myanmar based carriers and 20 international airlines operate out of Yangon Mingaladon. Following extensive redevelopment of new international and domestic terminals, the airport will be equipped to service up to six million passengers per year. lsgskychefs.com

Healthy drinks company Flyfit is seeing a growth of interest in its yoghurt range.

FlyFit recently extended its product line with a variety of new gluten free low-fat flavours to include strawberry, peach and passion fruit, cherry and natural. The yoghurts are halal certified and have a nine month shelf life.

Says company founder, Boudewijn van Eeghen: ''We are receiving huge interest from all over the world in our ambient yoghurt range. We put it down to its great flavour, design and logistic benefits''.

The range is flying with British Airways on African and European routes as well as Garuda, Singapore and Virgin Australia. vitalithealth.com

SAS will continue its catering and provisioning relationship with gategroup through a new seven year contract. The total value of the business, over the life of the contract, is an estimated CHF 650m.

SAS’ three main hubs, Copenhagen, Stockholm/Arlanda and Oslo will continue to be serviced by gategroup as will four other Scandinavian airports.

As part of the new contract, gategroup will take responsibility for the end-to-end management of the airline’s entire inflight supply chain. The expanded contract also requires gategroup to run the full inventory management as well as the worldwide distribution requirements. gategroup.com

Introducing the new quick and tasty food to go

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28/07/2015 10:42

Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

onboard amenities

ifec

ifec

Skysupply brings luxury to the sky

Outstanding design from Meiko

Revolutionary side-slip seat

Germany’s largest business jet operator, DC Aviation is offering its premium clientele a new high quailty amenity kit made of genuine leather.

“It may only seem to be a small detail”, says Skysupply’s managing director Wolfgang Bücherl, “but details make the difference. Especially, when high expectations are a matter of course".

Skysupply created the stylish leather product with metal applications and a premium lining to 'please both senses, vision and touch'.

The announcement follows close on the heels of the company’s launch of BMW’s First unisex amenity kit. skysuppy.de

Meiko is introducing its first major launch in four years in the form of M-iClean.

The new M-iClean range of undercounter machines condenses the most sophisticated dishwashing technologies into one package.

Meiko encourages machines to talk to each other with Bluetooth interfaces enabling the transmission of service data, significantly boosting machine efficiency.

Green credentials include reduced energy wastage, a heat recovery system that cuts steam emissions and a stainless steel combined wash and rinse arm which makes the machine easier to clean and saves valuable resources. meiko.de

Molon Labe Designs LLC has introduced an innovative, slim-line Economy airline seat called the side-slip seat.

The staggered design of the seat offers passengers more space both in their seats and in the aisle.

The seat is designed to permit the aisle seat to slide over the middle seat during aircraft loading and unloading, creating a 41” wide aisle, more than twice as wide as the standard 19” aisle.

This permits faster passenger loading and unloading times, so aircraft can spend less time on the ground and more time in the air generating revenue. airlineseats.biz

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02/11/2015 13:44

Industry Update Top stories from across the industry

onboard catering

onboard catering

onboard catering

Eurostar celebrates with its own gin

Peter Goosens works with Brussels

New selection of wines for Cathay

To celebrate Eurostar’s 21st anniversary the rail operator has released its very own gin, designed by its culinary director, Raymond Blanc.

The gin, named Toujours 21, is designed to be a blend of both British and French cultures. To this end it incorporates French fruitiness and the rich scents of the British countryside.

Blanc said: “When designing the gin, my vision was to take travellers on a journey of taste that played upon all the subtleties of the brand.”

The design team was lead by Raymond Blanc who partnered with Surrey based company, Silent Pool Distillers. eurostar.com

Starting December, Brussels Airlines will serve up meals designed by Peter Goosens of three-Michelin-star restaurant Hof van Cleve.

The meals, which are available onboard intercontinental flights to the US and Africa reflect top-end Belgian cuisine.

They are accompanied by a variety of Belgian beers that have been hand selected by the chef.

Peter Goosens said: “We have strived to come up with menus that evoke the restaurant experience at 30,000 feet in the air. It wasn’t an easy task, since there are many restrictions for plane meals, but I’m proud of the result.” brusselsairlines.com

Cathay Pacific has introduced a new selection of wines for its First and Business passengers.

The Business wines will include four premium Argentinian red wines, while First has three red and two white wines from Bordeaux.

Cathay Pacific’s professional catering team, along with wine consultants Lau Chi-sun and Roy Moorfield, were invited to put together a wine selection that offered great flavour and a premium experience.

The new premium wine selections are being served in addition to the current offerings onboard in First and Business. cathaypacific.com

SPIRIANT says Hola now in Latin America!

After a successful launch in the Middle-East, SPIRIANT continues its journey to Latin America. With a dedicated team, we work with you to design and create the inflight process that can make your life easier and reduce complexity.

Explore the SPIRIANT world on www.spiriant.com or contact us for unique solutions at info@spiriant.com to learn more about SPIRIANT and our award-winning solutions.

TRANQ·UIL·I·TY

Industry Update

QUALITY OR STATE OF BEING CALM, PEACEFUL, QUIET, SERENE, RESTFUL.

ifec

Thales goes live with SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Airlines is the first airline in the world to fly the Thales AVANT IFEC system with an application delivering Live News and Weather.

Four A330-300s are currently equipped and in service, with the rest of the fleet to be fitted out by the end of this year.

Live content from BBC News, Agence France-Presse and AccuWeather is displayed on-demand via the passenger in-seat monitor. Live News and Weather delivers news articles with pictures plus five-day weather forecasts for 50 selected cities.

SriLankan Airlines ceo, Rakhita Jayawardena, said: “Our new A330 aircraft is designed to suit the needs of the modern-day traveller. Last year, SriLankan’s new A330 fleet became the launch customer for the latest Thales AVANT inflight entertainment system.

We are marking a first with Thales, by offering Thales AVANT Live News and Weather.”

Thales spokesman said: "AVANT, our Android IFEC solution, features a highly customisable passenger experience with the latest applications on the market. It is available to all advanced, single- and twin-aisle Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and has been chosen by many airlines worldwide."

Thalesgroup.com

72 Johnnycake Hill Road Middletown, RI 02842 USA 1-888-575-AVID www.AVIDproducts.com sales@AVIDproducts.com

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Industry Update

CRUISE catering

Crystal cruises introduces wine and food themes Crystal Cruises will be taking passengers on luxury “Wine and Food Festival” themed voyages in 2016, on board Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity.

The first sailing with Crystal Symphony features Michelin-star chef Alexis Gauthier on a 12-night Mediterranean voyage from Istanbul to Rome departing May 1 2016. The cruise calls in at Mykonos, Santorini/Thira, Navplion, Kefalonia/Argostolion, Crotone and Sorrento along the way.

The second will be the Crystal Serenity’s 10-night Alaskan cruise to Vancouver departing July 17 2016 with master chef Nobu Matsuhisa onboard. Along the way passengers will experience visits to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka, as well as cruising Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage. The cruise will also call in at Victoria and Prince Rupert.

Guests on either cruise will experience the very best food and wine that the regions have to offer, whether that be fresh pasta in Italy or seafood in Canada.

Crystal’s president and ceo, Edie Rodriguez said: "The offerings and expertise of Chefs Nobu and Gauthier will treat our guests to an extraordinary culinary experience abroad."

The Wine and Food Festival voyages in 2016 will also include cruises that explore South America, Southeast Asia, New England and the Caribbean. crystalcruises.co.uk

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Industry Update

onboard catering

onboard catering

on the ground

Goddard and LSG sign agreement

Princess Cruises opens gastropub

United opens new clubs in the USA

Goddard Enterprises and LSG Sky Chefs South America have agreed to renew their existing joint venture (JV) contract extending their working agreement to September 30 2035.

The JV, which was founded in 1995, operates in 21 locations throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. It employs 3,380 workers and is split 51% to 49% to Goddard and LSG Sky Chefs respectively.

Stewart Massiah, divisional general manager of the catering division of Goddard stated: “Cooperating with the world’s leading inflight service provider gives us access to valuable resources and know-how.” goddardenterprisesltd.com

Princess Cruises has announced that it will be opening a new gastropub under the name The Salty Dog Gastropub, on three of its ships.

The menu for the pubs has been designed by Chef Ernesto Uchimura, and will include new twists on classic pub dishes such as spicy stout short ribs, lobster mac and cheese, wild mushroom sauté and pale ale pork cheeks.

“The Salty Dog Gastropub is an enticing addition to our onboard culinary offerings and brings yet another unique dining option to our guests,” said Rai Caluori, executive vice president of guest experience for Princess Cruises. princess.com

United Airlines has unveiled two new United Club lounges in Atlanta and San Francisco, which aim to offer stunning views and a relaxed environment.

Atlanta will now be home to a 5,000-square-foot United Club located between gates 11 and 12 at HartsfieldJackson International Airport.

November also saw the arrival of the 6,000-square-foot United Club at San Francisco International Airport.

Jimmy Samartzis, United’s vice president of food services and United Clubs said: " Our new clubs are beautiful spaces, they are also very functional and will provide the perfect settings for customers to relax in." united.com

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Exhibition Review

IFSA EXPO 2015

It’s countdown to the world's largest business event dedicated to travel catering, passenger comfort and onboard retail.

Oregon on show

Oregon, September 28 - October 1, 2015

This year IFSA was held in Portland, the home of many boutique breweries and wonderful restaurants. The perfect place to welcome all the IFSA exhibitors and attendees from around the globe. Jeremy Clark and Sue Williams report

Best in Show

Chefs’ Competition

Global Inflight Products (G.I.P.), based in Redmond, Washington, won Best of Show again. Celebrating its 20 year anniversary, G.I.P. presented is latest inflight products and concepts to thousands of aviation professionals.

The creative booth was constructed using airline trolley service drawers to showcase the wide range of the latest onboard products including porcelain, service ware, amenity kits, blankets and headsets.

A very real demonstration of modern cooking was on show at this year’s Chefs Competition hosted as usual by Bob Rosar. After a Hollywood-style entrance by the four competing chefs they got down to creating two starters and a main course to include lamb rack, brussel sprouts, scallops, shishito mushrooms and some Oregon beer.

Under the watchful eye of the judges who included Daniel Winterborn and Adam Thompson from the local Cordon Blue school with Cuisine Solution’s Gerard Bertholon looking for technique, the winning dish was from Chef Ajay Rana from Emirates Flight catering. 

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Winning menu by Chef Ajay  STARTER

Pan seared scallops on a bed of sautéed bell peppers; beer-marinated slow roasted brussels sprouts, served with beer-flavoured shishito chilli, mint and cilantro pesto. ��MAIN COURSE

Grilled lamb rack in a mustard marinade; couscous cake stuffed with maple syrup and hazelnut; buttertossed baby carrots and pan grilled asparagus served with warm chipotle chilli harissa.

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Exhibition Review

Exhibition Review

Fifty years on...

Onboard Hospitality invites some of our industry’s best known names to tell us about the changes they have seen over the last half-century:

charge passengers.

A ticket from Los Angeles to New York was the same on American Airlines, TWA, and United Airlines, so food and Harvey Alpert beverage and other inflight president, HARVEY ALPERT services became key to the "My first IFSA conference decision-making process. After was in San Diego de-regulation in 1978, price in 1977. I had just became a bigger factor and established my business and met many food became less important, customers there for the first time. There almost to the point of was no trade show, just some speakers, extinction . During the golf, tennis, dinners, entertainment, and same years food service lots of drinking and card playing late into became more regulated. the night. In attendance were mostly Today we find ourselves male representatives from at least 15-20 in the somewhat unusual US-based carriers as well as folk from position that has the Europe, Asia and the Middle-East. There airline industry profitable were around 10 caterers in attendance. and again moving toward The conference included many improving food offerings, while the significant government is speakers and was imposing ever crowned with a more complicated "IFSA remains at the centre of black tie dinner. labelling and all these changes.

It provides The first trade other regulatory a forum for its members who requirements. show consisted of a few tables in IFSA remains at are often competitors" the meeting area the centre of all Harvey Alpert hallway. these changes.

Over the years It provides a the industry and the conference has forum for its members, who are often evolved. The gender bias has evened competitors, to try to manage a way out, four US carriers now transport 85% of the traffic, almost no non-US based airlines attend, and four caterers enjoy the vast majority of the business.

During these past years, de-regulation and regulation has played a big part in shaping the industry. Until 1978, the government set the prices airlines could Pictured: Times and styles have changed through the past 50 years but food and service onboard continue to be an important part of the travel mix

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onboardhospitality.com

through the constant challenges that face the industry. Like most things, you get out of it what you put into it."

Ken Samara IFSA president 2007- 2009 "While many of the challenges, including cost, are still the major priorities of Inflight management, as I reflect on the past 50 years, a few thoughts immediately come to mind.

They concern the service experience and our shrinking globe. Back in the early 70s, TWA, PanAm and BOAC were the only around the world carriers. Today, so many carriers circle the globe that it seems almost ordinary. Travel then was much more glamorous, with passengers dressing up to fly. Today many dress like they are going to bed or to the gym.

Given the incredible food preparation advances over the past several decades, today's premier carriers do serve meals and snacks that easily rival or are better

Exhibition Review

than the offerings were back then. From an affordability/economics standpoint, Economy travellers have suffered the most from then until now, especially with the proliferation of Low Cost Carriers. Long haul is still the key to a decent full meal service in Economy.

While today's super long haul flights offer incredible dining options, the commensurate increase in technology has introduced superb inflight entertainment and connectivity to pass the time away.

My how we've evolved. I feel privileged to have experienced this period in commercial air transport and can only dream of what will occur in the next 50 years!"

Anita Gittelson eVp, WessCO "Pre-faxes, computers and iPhones, business in the travel industry was a face-to-face experience between the vendor and the buyer. A vendor was as good as his word, and if you earned your stripes, you were a trusted "partner".

You dined together, golfed together. You knew the names of each other's children.

Today, it is not one buyer that will make the decision in a bid programme.

Decisions are now made by committees, most of whom never get to meet the vendors. The personal touch is fading away between vendors and buyers. But that's not all bad.

I can also remember wanting to fly on Today's 'committee' buyers want to ‘see what's out there’. Each vendor, especially many different airlines just to experience what they had to offer. Today it is all in amenities, has unique and most often about points on one airline. exclusive offerings.

And then there is the food itself. In the The travel industry remains a very 70s and 80s in First, flight attendants competitive business. Having the ‘right were carving Chateaubriand, and French brands onboard can give someone an Champagne was flowing in the aisles. edge. The brand you co-brand with is In Economy the food was the stuff that now a strong marketing tool. comedians on late night TV shows love As the industry became digitalised and to make fun of. We came somewhere in wiser, outside marketing people were the middle during the 90s and 2000s. consulted and hired by both vendors Now in First we and hospitality are not quite back experts in the "The personal touch is fading to the 70s but the travel industry.

These experts away between vendors and technology and also used new buyers, but that's not all bad" chefs designing the menus have taken tools as they Anita Gittelson great strides, and become available passengers are truly to make travel a enjoying their menus. There is no free more individual experience. food in Economy but now the new fresh The intimacy buyer and vendor once food menus have turned things around had, has - through technology - been for passengers and are competing well transferred to a new intimacy shared against airport concessions. between employees and guests. That's Today catering personnel from the quite a leap forward! airlines are making great strides to I have to say that I personally do miss improve the food as well as the entire the relationships, the friends, I've built flight experience. over the last 30 years, but what we now Where we go from here who knows, have is called "progress". It's not a dirty but I for one plan on being part of it for a word, and to be honest I think while to come. • it's brilliant!"

Dan Day eVp Us sALes, AMi inFLiGHt "Over my 37 years in the industry the airline world has been turned upside down. From over 10 major airlines and dozens of regional airlines there are now three major airlines and less than 10 regionals. We've gone from passenger attire of suit and tie and glamorous dresses to shorts and tank tops. From every passenger receiving a meal to buy- on-board. And then there was 9/11 and the change from meeting your loved ones at the gate to sadly TSA checkpoints.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

23

IFSA Photo Gallery

The people and products that made the show such a success

If your photo is not featured here then check out our photo galleries on our website for a larger selection www.onboardhospitality.com

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ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

ONES TO WATCH

IFSA review The IFSA Expo took place in Portland, Oregon this year. Cameron Roberts takes a look at some of the companies and products that exhibited.

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Umpqua oats come in a multitude of flavours, from salted caramel to vanilla almond

1. Bounce

3. France Delices

This Protein Bomb from Bounce claims to be at the forefront of health innovation.

The Bounce range has new flavours in both sweet and savoury categories, including Cacao Mint and Superberry which allegedly provide snackers with a “vitality burst�. bouncefoods.com

There is a different flavour on promotion every week with France Delices, a specialist in bite-size desserts, brownies and pastries. The company has introduced eight new flavours and more portion-size options. Francedelices.com

5. Umpqua

Umpqua is oatmeal in a cup, simply add hot water, cover with a lid, wait for three minutes and serve.

The oats come in a multitude of flavours from salted caramel to vanilla almond, all have been designed to be thicker and more filling than other instant oat brands. umpquaoats.com

4. Kohana 2. Sheffa Specialises in snack mixes with no sugar.

The company has also launched a new range of inflight snack meal boxes in compostable packaging. Low in salt and sugar, the snacks are gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO and kosher. sheffafoods.com

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Hawaiian Kohana is a range of iced coffees in a can. Shelf stable and ready to drink, the product comes in four flavours using all-natural, organic cold brew coffee concentrate. The coffee is slow roasted to provide a deeper flavour and make the coffee more authentic to island styles of brewing. kohanacoffee.com ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

6. Old Wisconsin Old Wisconsin supplies shelf life lean meat products with no added sodium or fat. The products range from quick snacks to full-sized salami sausages. Fast Fuel snacks are its newest launch and come as part of a range of snacks produced by the

ONES TO WATCH

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company, including cheese and sausage quick bites. oldwisconsin.com

7. Cambridge Security Seals The company's new one-piece padlock seal was made in its New York plant and is designed to be as visible as possible, indicating whether a seal has been tampered with instantly. The locks can also be customised for specific airlines, with the choice to display a logo and/or branding. cambridgesecurityseals.com

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as crockery and cutlery. On the stand this year were new designs including a special range of three-dish porcelain sets. The concept is aimed at First or Business customers for the offering of ethnic dishes like curries. gipusa.com

9. Zibo Rainbow The Chinese company had some new new snack box ideas, new plastic disposable containers and portable racks, as well as some colourful kids' bags for Singapore Airlines. sino-rainbow.com

8. Global Inflight Products GIP showed off a range of new and innovative ideas for food service as well

K & W Brokerage Services With ever more demand for free-from, ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

low or no fat snacks and alternatives to wheat-based foods, K&W showed some interesting variety with new Lentil Chips flavoured with aged cheddar. Also on show were new ranges of veggie chips featuring beetroot, parsnip and other root vegetables, as well as a new range of chips using pumpkin. Many are baked to reduce the fat content. kwfoods.com

AUI Fine Foods AUI Fine Foods features over 1,300 products from around the world suitable for airlines, cruise lines and leading hotels. Specifically for airlines is its range of foie gras, terrines, truffles, mushrooms and stocks. auifinefoods.com 27

ONES TO WATCH

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10. Lucy's

issue new state china services between Lucy's features single service, gluten 1918 and today and is a leading brand of free, allergen free snacks such as high-end china. cookies, brownies and crisps. All Amko customers can purchase the snacks are also vegan, Lenox china with no minimum peanut and nut-free and order. amkointl.com AUI Fine Foods non-GMO with zero features over 1,300 trans-fats. drlucys.com 12. DFMi products from around New products included the world suited to 11. Amko Creme de Pirouline rolled airlines, cruise The tablewear specialist wafers in vanilla (the lines and was keen to spread the product comes in a new hotels word that it is now the two pack for airlines) and exclusive distributor of a Pure Mediterranean Foods' Lenox-branded chinaware. The hummus-basedsnack in 28g portions American company has been (stays fresh for 55 days). commissioned by six presidents to dfminc.biz

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ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

13. MV Food & Services MV Food & Services featured Golos, a new range of snacks made from olives and healthy beans full of protein and fibre. Also on offer was Moricette, a new line of bread made in France with different topping options. mvfood.it

Intex Comfort This brand specialises in the customised production of cool and fresh duvets to keep customers warm and also has a range of products for inflight comfort, including a sleep suit. intexcomfort.com

2016

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN AIR, RAIL AND CRUISE

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ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

•B

EA

Act now... get involved!

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INN

2016 Onboard Hospitality Awards

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Closing date for all entries: December 14 2015 THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSION TO THE DEADLINE SO DON’T MISS OUT!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY From now • All entries publicised on our website December 23 • Online voting for readers begins February 8 • Finalists announced and invited to submit their product samples or presentations to our elite judging panel Mid-April • All entries publicised in our March/April magazine April 4 2016 • Winners announced at our Hamburg Awards event

Categories include: TEXTILES • AMENITIES • KIDS ONBOARD • SUSTAINABILITY • INNOVATION • FOOD SERVICE EQUIPMENT • ONBOARD TECHNOLOGY • SNACKS • WELLBEING • BEVERAGES

Judges include: RAYMOND KOLLAU • DANIEL BARON • KAREN ROBINSON • LYN HUGHES • MIKE POOLEY • MIKE CRUMP • ROY MOED • KEITH YATES • ARIANE VAN MANCIUS • NIK LOUKAS • CHEF HAPPY

To view entries so far, read about last year's winners and to enter:

onboardhospitality.com

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

31

OPINION

Jeremy Clark

Air Munchkinland Jeremy Clark decries the move towards smaller Economy seats on long haul flights

Those of you who have met the The move by Qatar Airlines reduces the width current (and original) Mrs C, will of each seat by almost two inches, to just agree that she is a woman of calm 17 inches across. QR confirmed that all new and reasonableness. To have put 777 orders will be 10 across in Economy and up with me for the past 36+ years requires a will refit its existing 777-300ERs by 2016.** level of patience rarely found in humans.

Ten-across seating brings the 777 in line with However, whilst listening to a report Dreamliners, which at 17.2 inches offers one of on the BBC the other day she was heard the smallest Economy seats of all 787 operating to comment “That’s ridiculous!”. airlines. This begs the question: How much do This was after hearing travel reporter airlines really value the Economy passenger?

Simon Calder disclosing the news that some It is well known that the majority of highairlines are now squeezing an extra Economy yield revenue is derived from Premium seat into the B777 making it ten abreast. cabins, but is the Economy passenger Included with his report was the news that really looked at as merely ballast?

Ryanair will ram a further eight seats into the 189 Predictably, Americans have invented a word seat 737. No real surprises for this – “upgauging”, and there and you are unlikely they have embraced this to notice the difference "Some airlines are now squeezing shoehorning policy with when it actually comes. an extra Economy seat into the zeal. American, Southwest The other culprits are and Delta all achieved B777 making it ten abreast" surprising. Air France, recent growth without not in the top five of adding to fleets. As part of the world’s best but by no means the worst, an overall redo of 777-200 interiors, American is which uses high-density configured 777s to going from 247 seats to 289 seats*. At what cost?

South America, perhaps to get them used to The space has to come from somewhere and that ‘cosy carnival feeling’, but I really would people, especially in America, aren’t getting any not have expected this thinner. Of course this could be all part of some from a “5 Star Airline”. ploy to make travelling in the back such misery that, in time, they’ll happily fork out for Business seats. Either way, an essential carry-on item will be some baby-oil to help with moving about back there.

I have to say that Mrs C is more than grateful for the opportunities to turn left at the door on long hauls and appreciates the benefits to be found there, until, that is, she checks the credit card statements at which point I hear her say: ”Well that’s ridiculous!”. • *Dallas Morning News ** Doha News

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ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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OPINION

Food Trends

Just like your mother made…

Every company can count on a threat showing up at its door sooner or later.

For European and Asian airlines, that time is now, as three Middle-East based carriers knock on their door, says Marc Warde

PROFILE

Marc Warde Marc is a trained chef and has run his own multi-million pound catering company, Couture. He works as culinary director with Alpha LSG and is currently writing three cookery books.

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Not only have the Middle Eastern carriers got more and more seats, but as far as food goes, they are all doing a really good job and getting better and better.

The carriers’ hubs in Dubai (Emirates), Doha (Qatar), and Abu Dhabi (Etihad) are already popular stopovers for travellers moving between Europe and Asia and all of them are incredibly competitive. For passengers that can only be a good thing and as they all focus on the inflight experience, good food experiences are coming forward thick and fast.

The other carriers in the Middle East aren’t resting on their laurels either, they have some fantastic innovations all of their own, When we fly we want a taste of home (the including chefs on board, new galley cooking carrier's home), a taste of the destination and equipment on board and a complete and something internationally- recognisable - and modern revitilisation of Economy offerings all of them are delivering this in spades. Some which are definitely even have chefs on improving the board and are looking "When we fly we want a taste of experience for this allat ways to make this a home (the carrier's home), a taste sustainable part of the too-forgotten, larger of the destination and something First service. When you portion of the aircraft. internationally-recognisable" These carriers have step onboard these big resources for food aircraft you want to feel and passenger service like you are entering and with all those flights they certainly need the Middle East, and the food is a huge it. But what can they do to be individual and and fundamental part of that experience. stamp their own identity on their offering?

The Middle Eastern carriers have a great range of dishes and flavours to choose from – exotic, smoky, magical flavours that are extremely regional, but their challenge is to make them their own and have them produced successfully by caterers all over the world. Securing excellent culinary teams is the start of it, working extremely hard to make sure it happens, and it’s those favourite words of caterers the spec and the audit they use to make it happen.

I believe this investment in the culinary is just one area where these airlines recognise that food excellence onboard is important, and that it is important whichever end ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

OPINION

of the aircraft (or bar) the passenger is seated. They are looking to redefine how airline food is perceived and I for one think that effort must be praised.

Middle Eastern hospitality is ever present on these airline's spanking new comfortable aircraft from the medjool dates and Arabic coffee, to the mezzes and warm welcome.

The main dishes, mashbous and shwarma have true international appeal and then there are the sweets – the baklavas, for example, really is something. All this plus a world class range of international food and wine that in First and Business at least are akin to many a good restaurant.

The specification ('spec') is a great recipe to start with and these airlines have a great catalogue of, good authentic ingredients; while the 'audit' makes sure the recipe is followed to the letter. It’s fair to say that I personally know of an important Sheik chefs don’t like recipes or specifications so who took a flight from the UK to the Middle much. They like the East and complained creativity of being able "These airlines in the Middle East to the highest levels to redefine a dish and that his mashbous recognise that food excellence come up with something onboard is important and that it is wasn’t like his mother unique and new. important whichever end of the made (the recipe However to have the aircraft the passenger is seated" used by that airline), same recipe created suffice to say the recipe time and again just like was quickly policed to ensure next time it was just like mother made it (or perhaps it should be the mother made once more… • mothership!) you have to follow every single step in exactly the same way consistently.

This is where Mr or Mrs Audit comes in to their own checking the chef is following every step, weighing and cooking every ingredient in the authentic way intended.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Facing page: First service with Oman Air This page: Virgin America working with Dean and Deluca, (below) Linton Hopkins adding his touch for Delta Airlines

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FOCUS ON

VIA DHL Rail

Reaching new heights DHL has made its mark on the UK catering and logistics sector and is constantly seeking further innovations, Jeremy Clark checks out its latest new initiatives

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ou may recall the surprise and comment that buzzed through the onboard catering industry when DHL arrived on the scene for British Airways in 2010. Observations ranged from “Well, I didn’t see that coming…” to “I wonder how long they’ll last?”

In the intervening period, however, DHL has established itself as a serious player in the airline catering and services market.

Moreover, not only is DHL here to stay, but it will be a driver of innovation as it reacts to the huge changes in business models sweeping through the business.

There have been significant changes to management structures within DHL's supply chain business to meet demands of the travel catering industry, including logistics services for Gatwick and East Midlands airports, and the UK has also become something of a proving ground for the company's wider move into the global travel catering business.

Paul Richardson, md specialist services and envirosolutions DHL Supply Chain, UK & Ireland says: “The UK market and its regulations demand best operating practice in the business, so if we are successful here it puts us in a great position globally”.

A tour of the new facility (opened earlier this year by HRH Princess Anne) revealed a similar set up to the launch operation of 2010. It's a model that DHL is continuously Profile

DHL manages the flow of millions of airline meals from kitchen to plane, as well as the reverse logistics of wash up and waste. In a highly complex environment it seeks new solutions to the catering challenge .dhl.co.uk

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improving and which airlines large and medium-sized are recognising.

United Airlines and SriLankan are both managed from here.

DHL’s ‘Passenger Gateway’ at Heathrow processes around 5.5k meals per day across 17 UA flights and one for SriLankan.

Between its first operating quarter and its last, DHL has reduced waste by a staggering 95% through ground-breaking environmental improvements.

is a 70% increase in load capacity and a faster turnaround at a lower cost because contamination separation allows aircraft cleaning and catering in a single operation.

There is no question that DHL has shaken up the business over the past five years and there is clearly a lot more to come from this dynamic team of experts who understand our rather quirky ways.

My bet is, that on current form, HRH is going to be rather busy in the future! •

Raising the roof DHL's new “supertruck” is another great innovation and one that makes you wonder why we didn’t we think of it before? Working with Mallaghan Engineering of Northern Island, DHL has developed a raising roof that resolves the height limit of airside trucks with a movable internal floor. The result

Pictured: Perry Watts ceo DHL Supply Chain, UK & Ireland cuts the ribbon at the launch of DHL's new 'supertruck' designed with the help of Northern Ireland's airport ground equipment

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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CHOCOLATE

You should

cocoa

As the ultimate comfort food, chocolate is an enduring staple for the onboard industry. Laura Gelder takes a look at some of the trends in chocolate and asks if they are ready to take flight

T

Pictured below: Ferrero's chocolate of choice for millennials, Raffaello.

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his year’s Speciality and Fine Food Fair pack format perfect for the onboard complimentary in London incorporated the Speciality market, to kids’ favourite Kinder and the lighter Chocolate Fair, which hosted over 70 Bueno bar, targeted at women aged 25-34. suppliers of artisan and gourmet chocolate.

Quinn cites its Raffaello brand as the chocolate of The staggering variety of product may not all choice for millennial customers who are on the lookout be suitable for onboard but it for more adventurous flavours. The certainly gave food for thought.

Raffaello chocolate contains a whole "Origins, ethics, As Natasha Quinn, foodservice almond encased in a creamy filling and traceability and bean- wrapped in a crispy shell covered in channel operations manager for Ferrero says, chocolate is a coconut flakes. to-bar are the key must-have when it comes to But is this adventurous enough? I trends in chocolate" on-board catering: "We all enjoy a asked myself, as I tasted chocolate sweet treat and having the right containing tea, wine, bacon, brand will not only add value basil and all manner of strange ingredients at the and enhance the customer Speciality Chocolate Fair. And what other trends experience – especially as part should the onboard industry be tapping into? of a complimentary mid-flight Chocolatier and host of the show’s Chocolate Live hot drink offering – but also event, Will Torrent, said the biggest issue facing help operators to up-sell the industry is sustainability: “I think going back their menus", she says. to basics will be the biggest push with suppliers, Ferrero certainly has the building relationships and education, as well as consumer base covered, uncovering new flavours and aromas”. from premium brands Also presenting at the show, chocolatier Matthieu such as Rocher, which has de Gottal said: “Origins, ethics, traceability and just launched a new twobean-to-bar are the key trends in chocolate.”

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

CHOCOLATE

Sourcing ethically

as a substitute for hard drugs.

With the price of cocoa beans slumping in recent Chocolero plans to wage war on drug years, despite high demand, and disease and production in three ways: by guaranteeing a age damaging cocoa trees, it’s no wonder fewer decent income for farmers who opt to grow cacao young people are becoming cocoa farmers in through Fairtrade, by lending farmers the necessary the developing world. Western consumers are funds to convert their fields for cacao growing and increasingly aware of the growers' plight, meaning by helping associations who treat and prevent chocolate companies are under addiction. pressure to prove their product is I also tasted Austrian-based ethically produced.

Zotter Chocolates, which are "Zotter's unusual and Cadbury was the first mainstream experimental flavours 100% organic as well as FairtradeBritish brand to become certified certified and EMAS-certified, include bacon bits, Fairtrade, in 1991. The company meaning it has been audited for and sacramental wine its environmental as well as ethical currently buys 16,000 tonnes of and frankincense" Fairtrade-certified cocoa a year performance (rated exemplary). from Ghana to make its iconic Owner Josef Zotter works Dairy Milk bar and Buttons. with small farms everywhere At the Speciality Chocolate Fair I met Chocolero, from Kerala to the Congo and has 365 varieties one of the many small companies who are of chocolate with some very unusual and committed to ethical sourcing. Chocolero goes experimental flavours including bacon bits, one step further and describes itself as an “activist caipirinha, cheese-walnut-grapes and sacramental chocolate dealer.” The self-styled ‘rebel brand’s wine and frankincense. mission is to fight drugs with chocolate by Unusual flavours supporting Latin American farmers who want to Anglo-Indian brand, Duke of Delhi is owned by a grow cacao instead of coca (for cocaine). brother and sister who were inspired by their travels The company operates a tongue-in-cheek stance to India, their grandma’s Indian cooking and the with its branding, playing, rather provocatively, on tastes of their British childhood. The result they drug stereotypes. describe as “Queen Victoria meets Phileas Fogg.”

The website shows pictures of rolled up bank Duke of Delhi started out making a unique notes and lines of cocoa powder. While Chocolero’s Bombay mix including chocolate – as well as other tagline is: “Stop drugs. Try chocolate,” its newest sweet flavours like honeycomb and orange, mixed range of chocolate-covered cocoa nibs and coffee in with the usual savoury ingredients you’d expect. beans are called Crack and it describes its milk The success of the mix lead the company to chocolate as a substitute for soft drugs and its dark ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Pictured above: Duke of Delhi's unusual savoury flavours use chilli

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CHOCOLATE

turn the idea on its head and make chocolate bars incorporating Bombay mix. They now have six different flavours: three milk chocolate flavours, with cinnamon, orange and cardamom, and vanilla; and three dark chocolate flavours: plain, with lime, and with toasted coconut.

Russell Pullan from British Fifth Dimension Chocolates told me that the public is increasingly getting an appetite for both unusual and fine flavours. “My best-selller last year was a whole grain mustard flavour chocolate which won a Great Taste Award," he told me.

Many of Fifth Dimension’s individual chocolates are themed around different destinations and quirky flavours include mango and soy caramel Ghana, the Congo and India, to name a few.

(Hong Kong), yuzu and pink peppercorn The beauty of the bean-to-bar/single origin trend (Kagoshima) and mandarin and is that it connects small-yield star anise (San Francisco). farmers in remote parts of the All of Fifth Dimension’s cocoa is developing world with other small "A new wave of single origin – a trend which was brands in the West. I visited Pump health-conscious evidently booming at the Fine Street Bakery's stand, a small chocolatiers extol Food Fair 2015. business grown from a single shop the virtues of raw in a tiny village in Suffolk, UK. It chocolate" works with cacao producers in the tiny village of Patanemo in Venezuela and Crayfish Bay Estate Tracability in Grenada, amongst others.

bean to bar

From top: Gut Springenheide's Peace Egg is natural eggshell filled with Praline Chocolate. Each package contains a message of peace; two of Zotter's more unusual flavour chocolate bars

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Bean to bar simply means that the chocolate company has both sourced and processed the cocoa beans themselves, rather than melting and processing chocolate from another source.

A representative from Edinburgh-based Coco Chocolatier told me: “People are starting to ask about the origin of their food is, meaning that bean-to-bar is a big trend.”

Coco Chocolatier uses only single origin cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic which it says are ethically traded and organic. It also covers the quirky flavours trend with gin and tonic and haggis spices.

Single Origin chocolate is not just about accountability, it’s also about taste. Much like grapes and wine, the terroir, variety, growth, harvest, fermentation and drying of cocoa beans all affect the chocolate flavour.

Zotter Chocolate has a whole range of singleorigin chocolate bars from Peru, Bolivia, Belize,

Is healthy chocolate possible?

It’s not just ethical concerns driving new chocolate products. There is a new wave of health-conscious chocolatiers, many of whom are extolling the virtues of raw chocolate.

Manufacturers claim that making sure cacao is not exposed to oven temperatures above 42 degrees allows the preservation of nutrients such as iron, zinc, magnesium, copper and vitamin C, in a similar way to uncooked vegetables. It’s also claimed that uncooked cacao contains higher levels of antioxidants.

Raw Halo chocolate goes one step further by being free of refined sugar, gluten and wheat as well as certified organic. Eight out of its nine flavours are also certified vegan. The company offers dark and ‘mylk’ varieties, the former made from 76% Peruvian raw chocolate and the latter crafted with the addition of cashew nut butter, lucuma powder (a natural sweetener derived from a South American fruit) and vanilla.

The range of flavours offered by Raw Halo incorporates unusual, often superfood-themed

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

©TINA-LEE MCDOUGALL

CHOCOLATE

ingredients such as Himalayan pink salt, sour cherries and goji berries.

Zotter hasn't gone raw but it cites sugar reduction as an important trend and has recently re-invented its white chocolate with less sugar and more milk.

The brand has also launched ‘Cheeky Fruits’ – its first Divine’s marketing co-ordinator Lisa Storey. “Our vegan chocolate. main aim is to create a commercially viable product Meanwhile, Copenhagen-based Simply Chocolate that delights chocolate lovers and generates as has a range of quirkily-titled chocolate bars with much income as possible for the farmers in Ghana.” added protein and antioxidants, incorporating Divine is co-owned by a cooperative of farmers in natural ingredients like dates, nuts Ghana as well as being certified and berries, superfoods such as Fairtrade. This means it ticks "Divine is co-owned by the single origin box and has a acai, sea buckthorn, and covered in a single layer of dark chocolate. completely traceable supply chain, a co-operative of Rich Arnold, Speedy Tom and Fit farmers in Ghana and from bean to bar. Divine is also Fiona have less sugar and calories committed to being palm oil-free. is Fairtrade-certified" and two of the bars are also The chocolatier already works gluten-free. with Virgin Atlantic (its milk chocolate bars are handed out All aboard? with tea and coffee) and recently worked with The above trends are clearly gathering pace but are easyJet to produce a special anniversary bar of travel companies ready to follow suit? milk orange chocolate, which was handed out to Lily O’Brien’s James Duff feels many of the current all easyJet travellers on the day (November 10) – trends are still too niche to be taken into account: showing that the onboard industry is getting an “We’ll be keeping an eye on raw chocolate over the appetite for quality over quantity. • coming 12-18 months but it’s not something we will pursue at this point. We have created single origin chocolate collections in the past and again found these to be very niche and not entirely understood by the consumer.”

However, Lily O’Brien is onboard with the ethical trend, as an active member of the UTZ certification programme which promotes sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers.

Divine Chocolate agrees that raw chocolate is a step too far for now: “It is not something that we will be looking to move into at the moment,” says ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Pictured from left: One of Simply Chocolate's healthy bars; and Divine's special anniversary bar for easyJet.

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Delicious egg specialities exquisitely prepared.

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PICK OF THE BUNCH

Kids' flight entertainment

Childish behaviour 1

Taking a child on a flight can be a daunting experience, but here are a few ways airlines are making flights easier, says Cameron Roberts

Head, with the intention of engaging and relaxing kids for the duration of a flight. buzzproducts.com 4

AK-Services

1

The Russia-based kids' amenity company is currently working with Aeroflot to create a range of accessories based around education and iconic airline imagery. The products are in line with one of the trends AK-Services notices in the industry, namely that mascots and airline representation is key in product development. ak-service.ru

skysupply

Focusing on different child age groups, skysupply believes that airlines and suppliers should be looking at the requirments of ages two to six and seven to 12 when designing inflight entertainment. This initiative was applied to the Air Mauritius products which have two different mascots targeted at each age group. skysupply.de

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Kidzinflight

Kidzinflight focuses on creating single item activities that can appeal to different age groups. The Magic Square Puzzle and Matching Pair Game combination has a memory game for kids age three plus, but it can also be used as a puzzle for older children who have to put the pieces together to create a square. kidzinflight.com •

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Kaelis

Convenience as well as design appeal are the objectives of Kaelis, which has created a kids' toy for Iberia. The product is appealing and easy to stow away. The company considers the entire family when creating toys and this is where the need for convenience comes into play. kaelisgroup.com

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Buzz

Buzz has recently worked with Qatar Airways and Hasbro Gaming to create a set of meal and activity boxes for children. The kits feature characters such as Mr and Mrs Potato

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FOCUS ON

Delta One

Preparing a premium menu This December Delta launched its new menu for Business customers, offering new dining concepts and more seasonal, fresh food. Laura Gelder took a tour of the Heathrow kitchen

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he launch of the Delta One menu follows a two-year period of workshops with US celebrity chefs and Gate Gourmet chefs.

Now Gate Gourmet is producing more than 600,000 Delta One meals a year from its Heathrow kitchen - one of 120 locations it occupies around the world to serve up a 250 million meals a year for airline clients.

After some stringent hand washing we entered the kitchen to observe the incredibly fine-tuned process of food production, from the unloading and washing of used trolleys and trays, to the chilled preparation room and even a glimpse into the bond, where supplies ranging from duty free booze to complimentary nuts are kept under guard.

Gate Gourmet holds enough produce on site for more than 40 flights – and this is used and replenished at least once a day.

The first thing I noticed is how calm the atmosphere is and how few staff there seemed to be. Although Delta and Virgin are the most prolific customers, the kitchen caters for nine airlines in total and I spotted branded crockery from Cathay Pacific, Korean and Philippine Airlines too.

There's no chance of confusion though, thanks to the control room.

I met the team who track the progress of every

Pictured: Gate Gourmet chefs prepare a Delta One dish and the beautifully-presented end product.

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meal on a master production schedule, cross checking with flight information to make sure that a delay doesn’t cause too much pressure on the supply chain. Flights don’t stay on the ground for longer than two hours so there is no room for error.

Even the delivery vans are GPS-tracked!

The whole operation is paperless and the staff use iPads which picture the exact presentation as well as the details of preparation, ensuring each meal looks and tastes the same.

Paul Knight, head chef at Gate Gourmet UK, explained how they curated a high-quality menu taking into account obstacles such as the 20-30% ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

loss of palette that flyers encounter (using vegetable bouillons and mushroom powders rather than salt and MSG) and the fact airline food must be reheated (picking robust ingredients like cod rather than delicate fish).

The Delta One service starts with a welcome drink, followed by an appetiser, a starter and soup course from the trolley and then the passenger’s choice of four entrées served direct from the kitchen.

The meal is rounded off with a choice of dessert, fruit and cheese or Delta's famous ice cream sundae with whipped cream, chopped nuts and strawberry and chocolate sauce. No Delta One customer is certainly ever going to leave hungry!

The menus will refresh every three months and all meals are paired with wines selected by Delta’s master sommelier Andrea Robinson, who tastes a staggering 1,600 wines each year! •

OPINION

Airline Trends

Skipping the queue Raymond Kollau reports on the changes in consumer behaviour and the ways airlines can meet this on-demand

PROFILE

Raymond Kollau Raymond is founder of industry and consumer trends research agency airlinetrends.com and a frequent presenter of trend sessions for airlines.

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Our on-demand economy has generated a sense of entitlement to fast, simple, and efficient experiences as it taps into consumer appetite for greater convenience, speed, and simplicity.

For example, analysis from quick-arrival taxi business Uber shows the longer Uber has been in a city, the less willing to wait for a car everyone becomes.

In the F&B industry, ordering and paying via tablet devices has become the new norm at casual dining chains such as Applebees and Chili’s across the US, while airport restaurateur OTG has installed thousands of food ordering iPads at half a dozen US airports.

And a growing number of airlines – including Virgin America, Air New Zealand, Norwegian, Azul and Finnair – allow passengers to order meals, snacks and drinks via the IFE system in between regular meal services, while passengers onboard TUI Netherlands can order drinks and duty free via their own smartphone

10 and 15 minutes using this option. A similar service is being tested by McDonalds and Wendy’s. At multiple airports in the US, passengers can pre-order meals from airport restaurants using mobile apps such as Grab, AirGrub and HMS Hosts’ B4 You Board.

Passengers using these pre-order apps select a restaurant, place an order, pay and schedule a pick up time. When they arrive at the restaurant in the departure hall the freshly made meal is Convenience is everything waiting to be collected. Orders can be placed Saving consumers even days in advance, or even more time, Starbucks "Pre-ordering F&B has evolved when passengers are has rolled out an orderfrom being rather dull to being a queuing at security. ahead mobile application smart move that is about across all of its 7,000 Catering choice convenience and getting the stores in the US, as well Previously reserved for things the way you want" as across 150 Starbucks passengers who ordered locations in London. As a special meal for cultural, soon as people have ordered, religious or dietary the app gives them an reasons, a growing approximate pickup number of full-service time, and Starbucks airlines let passenger estimates pre-order their meals and customers drinks before their flight. can save The service is popular with between frequent travellers and those who are looking for a more varied choice.

As Chris Chamberlin from WWW.ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

OPINION

Australian Business Traveller says: “It’s a win-win for both travellers and [airlines]. Passengers can lock-in their preferred meal choice in advance, rather than take a chance on missing out on their first choice. On the other side of the coin, [airlines] can reduce wastage and ultimately its costs by serving every passenger the meal they prefer and limiting the extra servings on board.”

Singapore Airlines’ Book The Cook allows passengers in First, Business and Premium Economy to choose their favourite dish from an extensive menu, while those passengers travelling in Business and First can select from sixty menus on outbound routes from Singapore.

Whereas many airlines only allow passengers to pre-order from the airline’s home "Passengers can virtually 'drag and Grab and AirGrub, port – in order to control drop' their preferred menu items passengers on Alaska Airlines can reserve their logistics and quality – onto a digital airline tray" favourite meals on the Singapore's Book The airline’s smartphone app Cook is also available on up to 12 hours before their flight and pay when many flights departing from outstations – be it the flight attendant delivers the meal onboard. that a more limited choice is offered.

Austrian Airlines is one of a dozen full-service Qantas’ Select on Q-Eat pre-order service is airlines that offers Economy passengers on also available in Economy on international long-haul flights the option to upgrade to flights departing Australia. Passengers can prea premium meal for a fee of 10 to 20 euro. order their choice of meal – including a fourth They can also pre-order a meal in a later “online exclusive option" – between seven days stage via Austrian’s mobile app. At Vienna and 12 hours prior to departure online or using Airport passengers can pre-order meals at the the Qantas app. last-minute at the ‘DO & CO A La Carte’ desk Pre-ordering paid meals until one hour prior to scheduled departure.

According to inflight catering expert Nikos Passengers who have ordered a paid gourmet Loukas: “Pre-orders are definitely on the meal are served before the regular food service increase, but more so with the ‘free’ pre-order starts in the Economy cabin. programmes of First, Business and Premium Customise your meal Economy. Paid pre-order still seems to be an In an effort to provide passengers who preissue, and for example Aer Lingus recently book their meal with even more choice, cut back the number of its pre-order dishes airBaltic has gained worldwide attention for its from around five to one which goes to show, customised food ordering system. Passengers perhaps, Economy passengers aren’t ready to can virtually ‘drag and drop’ their preferred part with their money for paid airline meals.” meal items onto a digital airline tray and This means airlines will have to become more create one of more than 70 pre-order meal inventive in order to increase paid pre-order combinations. According to airBaltics' vp take rates. corporate communications: “the airBalticMeal Mobile-based ordering service has seen a positive uptake because Taking a cue from smartphone-based ordering it gives passengers the option to personalise deployed by the likes of Starbucks, McDonalds, their meal”. • ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Facing page: The Grab app is proving popular for hurried travellers at airports; the pre-order option from Starbucks, (this page) airBaltic's digital airline tray offering the 'drag and drop' option for preferred meals

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here’s health

All is revealed

Allergen labelling has put the spotlight on ingredients. Trainee dietitian, Eloise Bain, looks at the impact of this attention to the nutritional small print

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ew EU labelling laws have been in force for moved higher up our personal agendas and almost a year now. Food product providers, what we are served in the air is increasingly including EU airlines, now have to highlight scrutinised as much as the items we take from the all ingredients that contain any of 14 main supermarket shelves. allergens including eggs, milk, cereals containing Airlines and their caterers do seem to be gluten and peanuts. The aim is to make food responding but it is clearly a challenge. Our sense choices easier for allergy sufferers but it has had a of taste is reduced by around 30% at 35,000 feet so knock-on effect on non-allergic consumers too. ensuring maximum flavour has always been a high Passenger preferences and global food priority in airline catering. That has often resulted in trends are constantly changing high levels or salt, sugar, and fulland airlines and their catering fat creams added to give taste and suppliers have long had to richness. These are all now red light "Ingredients served in ingredients for those determined to accommodate that, but now the air are increasingly stick to a healthy diet. all the fine detail of ingredients are being revealed, passengers scrutinised as much as So how have airlines progressed generally are becoming more items bought in the their offerings to be nutritious aware of what they’re eating as well as delicious? Traditionally supermarket" and demanding more nutritious meals tailored to specific dietary or specific choices. requirements such as allergy-free, When the bulk of our travel halal or vegetarian have only was just pleasure, perhaps a little over-indulgence been available if ordered in advance and while onboard was accepted as part of a holiday splurge this will no doubt continue to be a good solution but with so many of us now travelling regularly for passengers making food choices on specific for work and trying to stick to our preferred eating medical, ethical or religious grounds, for those just regimes as we go, so too the nutritional content has trying to make healthy choices it is by no means onboardhospitality.com

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here’s health

Above: Swiss Economy meal, below, easyJet gets healthy Right: Frankenberg's vegan meal option featuring pearl barley risotto

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place on nutritional labelling and food provenance, says it is continually working to ensure a balanced range of products. In particular fat, sugar and salt levels are being kept to a minimum, as those are the nutrients the public is known to be keen to reduce. The airline’s First and Business menus flag up the ‘Wellbeing’ meals, which are the lighter, healthier options, and there is also always a ‘Healthy Meal’ featured in World Traveller which includes an appetiser, entrée and dessert with a total calorie content of 838 kcals.

Swiss International Air Lines aims to offer fresh products with good nutritional value, and since autumn 2014 all products served out of Switzerland in Economy are made in Switzerland to underline the airline’s quality and Swissness.

Sonja Ptassek of Swiss says: “Our ambition to serve passengers a high quality product has nothing a one size fits all fix. Health-conscious customers, to do with nutritional labelling but we do believe quite rightly, demand just as much choice as passengers in the future will become more health those who don’t bother to check the ingredients conscious. It is always a double-edged sword and acknowledging this and providing relevant however and you can compare it to the cinema options will doubtless help carriers win passenger effect. People are more aware and concerned about loyalty and word of mouth what they eat but sometimes they recommendations. make exceptions and enjoy a little "Airlines have Some airlines acknowledge bit of “sinning”, treating themselves extended their this and are clearly choosing to popcorn, nachos, chocolate, ice menus and buy-onproducts and brands that show cream and junk food in general. board offer to they recognise the demand "We see similarities when it comes and care enough about it to include low fat, low to certain passengers on board. adjust their offerings. Many have calorie and healthy They are on holiday and want to extended their menus and their treat themselves so sin a little when options" buy-on-board tariff to include it comes to food. If we only served low fat, low calorie meal options, fresh apples we would soon receive complaints from passengers.” and healthy snacks.

Air Canada, in association with Food with a As well as their usual sandwiches, salads and snacks easyJet, for example, has added a healthy Conscience, has developed the ‘NutriCuisine’ range Saviour Snack box containing products made from said to provide the ‘highest standards of nutrition, 100% ‘clean’ ingredients and all are less than 150 safety, quality and taste’, maximum flavour and calories. It includes dried fruits, nuts and seeds, nutritional goodness. NutriCuisine menu choices oatcakes, Nakd bars and Green include an appetiser, a main course and a dessert & Blacks dark chocolate. all with reduced fat and sodium and including Ryan Air too has recently only wholegrain products. They are prepared using launched a new inflight menu fresh, regional ingredients with no unnecessary with more options and a additives or preservatives, artificial sweeteners, healthier and bigger range of monosodium glutamate or margarine. To reinforce products to choose from as their thoughtful content, the meals are served in a part of its Always Getting environmentally-friendly packaging.

Better programme.

Onboard caterers such as LSG Sky Chefs and British Airways, aware of Frankenberg have been at the forefront of the the importance customers health-conscious catering trend. onboardhospitality.com

Here’s health

LSG Sky Chefs has noted a trend towards passengers who travel lighter and are more health conscious as they go. They are asking more questions about what they are eating and have increased awareness of the environmental effect their meals and packaging have on the planet.

Josefine Corsten of LSG Sky Chefs said: “We recognise that travellers are more educated about food than ever before, making them more difficult to please. They show a growing preference for fresh ingredients, vegetarian meals, cross-cultural cuisine and fish products. Passengers want more control over what they eat and when, so we increasingly aim to provide healthy, individualised meals.”

LSG Sky Chefs produces over 100 types of ‘special meals' including those suitable for diabetics and allergy suffers, as well as those that fit certain healthy diet regimes. These are especially popular on some routes, reflecting local trends and cultural preferences. North American passengers, for example, have shown particular interest in nutritionally-balanced meals; while in Europe, meal choices are influenced by a preference for healthy Mediterranean cuisine, using olive oil instead of butter, more fish and more vegetarian options.

Even before the new labelling requirement, nutritious meals were a high priority at Frankenberg.

The labelling changes came at a time when wider food trends were all pointing towards healthier menus so the caterer was already conscious that consumers wanted to know more about what was going into their food service.

Frankenberg's Kai Wittkowski, who is responsible

We are the leading producer of traymats and all kinds of paper products designed specifically for use in aviation, rail, cruise and ground transportation industries

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onboardhospitality.com FSP OBH 59.indd 1

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here’s health

for the food compliance, said: “We have certainly ‘scientific evidence’ is often presented in ways that noticed a growing demand for healthier meals suit the journalist or the headline and may not among our customers since the launch of the new actually be reliable and it has to be accepted that regulations regarding nutritional labelling. However, scientists in the nutrition field are not always great even before, it was always our goal to create healthy, at presenting their research papers in a readable fresh and at the same time authentic, delicate meals, and engaging way for the public. Many have left me which meet the high expectations of our customers. bored and bewildered by scientific jargon, numbers "To achieve that, we always use high quality and over-complicated language, and I am personally herbs and spices for our seasoning, as little salt as interested in it all! possible but as much as necessary to complement So, all credit must go to those in the onboard our meals in just the right way. catering sector that are trying to Every meal is designed with clear "Frankenberg has keep up and react to the changing labelling in mind, so we use natural evidence and passenger priorities. cut the use of ingredients instead of artificial Legal necessities and labels are saturated fat and ones and good high quality fats one thing but since food really is a increased like extra virgin olive oil to increase vital part of the travel experience unsaturated fats by for many of us, onboard the healthiness of meals..” using high quality offerings can make or To stay on trend the research and development chefs at break a passenger’s olive oil" Frankenberg regularly adapt their opinion of the carrier. menus to reflect new food fashions and for the Great taste experiences and recipes from health conscious this has included incorporating around the world help create the best of ‘super foods’ like kale and quinoa, to name but a few. travel memories whether we are travelling for business or leisure. If airlines and caterers can Frankenberg’s meals are frozen prior to distribution to airlines which also helps ensure the nutrients are reflect changing dietary habits and help us locked in better and freshness is maintained. do the right thing wherever we go they Food fads, dietary advise and government are sure to be rewarded by the healthrecommendations get plenty of media exposure. conscious at least.

Scientific research and studies are regularly quoted Helping those who are striving to in magazines, newspapers or online, and regularly maintain good eating habits might in turn sway public opinion one way or another, towards help the industry to avoid those negative one food choice or another. Often reports on headlines about weighing their heavy consecutive days contradict each other and it can passengers before departure and certainly be hard for the lay person – let alone an reduce the need for investment in airline or onboard caterer - to keep up. So called facilities for the obese! • 52

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Above left: Swiss Economy meal Right: Frankenberg's vegan sweet potato curry

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OPINION

Trend Spotting

The power of spices Ariane van Mancius of Now New Next is a trendspotter championing product innovation and sustainability. Here she highlights how Dutch trading heritage has put them at the forefront of today’s spicing trend

I live in Holland and perhaps it is because of our rich Dutch trading heritage that trends around spices catch my attention.

Holland has historically been at the heart of herb and spice trading and to this day has a solid position in that international market. It’s a thriving market too as ‘the journey through our senses’ becomes a culinary trend to watch.

In the chaotic world we live in, rife with over stimulation, the emerging trend suggests it is time to go back to basics and remember we measure all external impulses via our senses. So in design, food, drinks and packaging, sensory concepts increasingly need to take precedence.

Intertaste is an 80-year-old spice and herb house which has begun working with big airline catering companies. Its quest has been to find new natural ways of enhancing flavour, and comes in response to growing demand for more natural (clean label) meals.

by the look of the product, how it feels in our mouth, its temperature, texture (ie crispness) and the heat that comes with it (ie chilli/pepper content). Our expectations have a role to play too and our past experiences, as smell and taste have a very direct link to memory.

What is taste?

Flavour perception in flight

Any such quest requires, of course, a good understanding of how we taste and appreciate flavours. There are five basic flavours recognised by receptors on the tongue – sour, sweet, salt, bitter and umami - but 80% of flavour is experienced through the nose or other senses.

How we experience taste is also determined

Having come to terms with all those variables, creating tasty onboard flavours has another challenge. The fact that passengers have a 20-30% reduced taste perception while flying - induced by the low cabin air pressure, the dry air and the noise within an aircraft. Passengers have a reduced perception of sweet and salt which can be compensated by adding salt, sugar and umami (perhaps using MSG). Flavours can also be balanced using Kukumi which allows appropriate flavours to interact with each other to harmonious effect. The use of spices can further influence the taste receptors and increase sensitivity, such as you can experience when adding nutmeg which boosts complexity.

PROFILE

Ariane van Mancius Ariane has worked in marketing innovation for 15 years. She deals with over 150 airlines and is passionate about translating trends into products. nownewnext.nl 54

Market trends A little while ago Hesten Blumenthal’s focus on Umami for British Airways inflight menus saw the introduction of flavourful ingredients like parmesan, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

OPINION

mushrooms. Now we are entering a new period to balance sweet, sour, salt and the spicy. which focuses on the layering of flavours. This Currently, a new Korean chicken dish is being requires caterers to create more depth of flavour served on KLM’s US Intercontinental flights. by focusing on individual spices, and with a Korean cuisine also often features fermented good knowledge of natural flavours caterers flavours and deep tastes. Typical ingredients can begin to create a new include Kochuchang flavouring palet from all(fermented natural herbs and spices. pepperpaste), "Good taste comes from pure Artifcial taste enhancers danjoeng (misopaste), ingredients, carefully combined cut off the peaks in the rice vinegar, nori, to build complexity taste profile, especially in fishsauce, red pepper, layer by layer" the air, so Intertaste works soy sauce, sesame with a variety of natural oil and shrimp ingredients to create a more complex/layered paste. Typical dishes are Kimchi (fermented taste experience. By adding complexity, the vegetables) and Bulgogi (marinated beef). passenger gets a greater taste sensation.

Middle Eastern flavours, including Za'tar, Sumac, Ras el hanout and Harissa, are also Ultimately, if the taste is good and complex, less taste enhancements and salt are required, making their mark.

Watch out too for the flavours of herbs less MSG and fewer E-numbers. Good taste and spices being combined to great effect comes from pure ingredients, carefully with gourmet ingredients to create combined to build complexity - layer by layer. upscale offerings through roasting, This increased focus on herbs and spices smoking and caramelising. Grilling onboard reflects the increased usage of herbs and barbecuing adds unique and spices in consumer products and recipes flavour too, and the use of general. Consumers have recognised that herbs and spices add flavour and help ensure complex different peppers is bringing a great diversity to hot and and intense flavour profiles. Health trends and spicy dishes from peri advice have also encouraged less use of salt in favour of herbs with health giving properties. peri and green chilli to sweet chilli and Trending cuisines jalapeno; while The trend to herbs and spices lends itself sauces such as particularly to certain cuisines. Korean flavours soy and ch'ti are for example are based on recipes designed featuring too. • ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Facing page: Fresh spices straight from the bush and the Chinese flavour of star anise This page: Peppercorns and cloves

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

AWARD WINNING “HOT MEAL CASSEROLES” FROM SEM

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The project was awarded during the Green Business 2015 Summit for SEM's contribution to low carbon emission practices in the aviation sector.

SEM is the only company in the aviation sector to be awarded this recognition alongside Unilever and PepsiCo. As a leading manufacturer of inflight service equipment for airlines, SEM has achieved great success in developing and producing environmentally-friendly and sustainable products for the market. Most recently it successfully developed and launched the ovenable Hot Meal Casserole range using natural renewable materials, positioning SEM a as a leading player in the industry.

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OPINION

Rob Britton

Safety is number one Rob Britton focuses on that all important topic of safety as being the ultimate in service quality for airlines, rail and cruise

Onboard Hospitality magazine focuses on service quality and all the ways that airlines, rail and cruise lines can improve it. Safety is not generally thought to be within our focus, but I’d like to address the topic, in large part because it is the ultimate in service quality.

Aviation safety is one of those things we tend to take for granted, largely because we should: in most parts of the world, flying has become astonishingly safe. But in the last two years, a number of huge and highly visible disasters have led the public, the media, and politicians to question airlines and their commitment to safety. This makes it a good time to make sure that we’re all on the same page.

Let’s start with some facts and data. In the United States, not a single passenger has died in an aircraft accident involving a US registered airliner in almost seven years (there have been a tiny number of crashes, with crew deaths, on non-scheduled operations).

Air-safety professionals’ favoured metric is fatal accidents per 100,000 departures, but this number is so far to the right of the decimal point – or zero in recent years – as to become meaningless. Almost a decade ago, the then most senior safety official at the US FAA, turned this statistic ‘on its head’ to make it meaningful: using data from the US, 2007-14 (8 years), if you took one flight a day, it would be 420,000 years before you would have a 50-50 chance of dying in a plane crash. That means that if King Tut were

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

a frequent flyer, he’d still have at least 415,000 years of safe flying! Statistics for most industrial countries (Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, etc.) would be similar, and as suggested above, the numbers keep getting better – when the FAA official did the math in 2006, the number was 43,000 years!

This astonishing achievement didn’t just happen, but is the result of four main factors: First, the machines have become almost faultless. For example, a CFM engine (made by General Electric and France’s Safran) operated for 13 years – more than 50,000 flight hours – on a TUIfly Boeing 737 without removal, and then to replace life-limited parts, not a result of failure.

Digital technology, including sophisticated systems monitoring, has helped enormously.

Second, pilot and mechanic training have improved substantially. Forty years ago, I flew through thunderstorms. No one does that today.

Best practices in flight training are routinely shared. Although there are legitimate concerns about increasing automation in the cockpit, smart systems have almost without exception reduced human error.

Third, voluntary reporting of inflight incidents has generated enormously useful information.

The US, Canada, Britain, and many other nations have accessible systems for flight crews – pilots and cabin staff – to voluntarily report incidents, without fear of identifying nor penalising the reporter. These systems work because they ‘don’t shoot the messenger’.

Fourth, since the beginning of powered flight, every aircraft accident, although grim, has become the basis for further improvement – why planes no longer fly into thunderstorms.

Entities like the US National Transportation Safety Board investigate accidents, identify root causes, and make significant recommendations that further improve safety of flight.

Finally, when seated, always keep your seatbelt fastened, even when the sign is not on! •

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seafood

Flying fish Serving seafood in the air does not come without its challenges.

Cameron Roberts reports

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irline passengers have come to expect a seafood option when travelling long haul and suppliers are coming up with a range of strategies to meet that demand.

But it is far from easy. Chief strategy officer of Cuisine Solutions, Gerard Bertholon, says: “The fish needs to be of a minimum thickness so as not to overcook when reheated in the air, as all the meals are reheated at the same temperature and at the same time.

“The fish has to be very white too and have a very clean taste, and airlines want only the well known fish that their customers can recognise.”

Duncan Davis, svp of airport catering services for Emirates Flight Catering, highlights the need for “good packaging and temperature controls” too when serving seafood onboard.

Storing and maintaining the product inflight is a challenge too so how do airlines and suppliers combat these problems and create world class inflight seafood options?

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is one airline which knows its seafood. By preparing Business meals close 58

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to departure SAS claims it can ensure a fresher fish.

The airline can broaden the choice of seafood it offers too as it can make sure it is being cooked at the right temperature. it draws on its national traditions too.

Peter Lawrance, head chef and manager meal planning onboard products for SAS, said: “We tend to use fish that has been salted, cured, smoked or pickled. This is naturally a big part of our Nordic cooking style.”

Lobster works well Jeff Duffin, global vp marketing, Clearwater Seafoods in Canada, focuses on shellfish products for the onboard market. “Raw lobster can be used in a variety of applications and cooked using a wide range of temperature and cooking methods, making it ideal for the limited preparation facilities onboard aircraft," he said.

Clearwater also supplies its own range of 'scallop selects' as an alternative to sea scallops. Adds Duffin: "Our scallop product is excellent for travel food service operators due to its uniform shape and consistent sizing. They’re a great value alternative to

seafood

such as cod and halibut, in decline prices are also on the rise. Cuisine Solutions' Gerard Bertholon suggests looking for alternatives and recommends the use of more sustainable ‘trash Sustainable caviar fish’. The term ‘trash fish’ is Caviar makes a regular appearance in First meals, slang for bycatch, which is the especially in the Middle East, Asia and more recently sea life that is caught but is not on flights out of Australia. There is much debate about traditionally eaten. These fish are not sustainability but Laura King of Kings Fine Foods only more abundant and cheaper to purchase, confirms that nearly all caviar is farmed today. but can also provide a different taste. Fish such as eels, "We are busier than ever as airlines actively invest in carp and drums come within this category. They are high quality catering. Demand is mostly for Oscietra far easier to attain and are sustainable. caviar as it is well known and less expensive than the Adds Bertholon: “I think airlines should pick up on highly regarded Beluga," says Laura. She adds: "Make trash fish and encourage their marketing departments sure you buy from a good food to really communicate to their source and look for a good sized, customers directly on the menu and "Trash fish is slang for in onboard magazines. Each time I firm egg with not too much oil.The bycatch, the sea life talk about using trash fish to airlines taste must never be musty. The most that is caught but is they say that their customers are not important time of a sturgeon's life is the last three or four weeks when ready for it, and it is still too early. not traditionally the fish are purged with clean water We all need to work together on it, eaten. It is time to to ensure a fresh taste." encourage airlines to or we could run out of seafood by Although demand is high, the the year 2050.” pick up on the use of actual consumption of caviar has Bulk buying common fish is trash fish" gone down in recent years from becoming more and more difficult around 650 tonnes of Russian and according to SAS's Peter Lawrance: Iran caviars in the 1980s to 240 tonnes last year.

“Today I need to secure our supply of shrimps a year in A new 'alternative' to caviar, suitable for vegans, advance in order to meet our government's quota," he comes from Spain's Andalucia region. Cavariane® says. “As a result we don’t have the same leverage of positions itself on the crossroad of food, fashion and negotiation on price as we used to have when buying technology. Small caviar-like olive oil beads are filled big volumes.” with the finest virgin olive oil in a membrane of natural Close partners with SAS are Leröy, producers of and vegan alginate with not a fish egg in sight! seafood and the second largest salmon farmer in the With suppliers finding availability of popular fish, world. The company wants to promote sustainability and sales manager, Anders Olsson explains the advantages: "Sustainability and the environment are a natural part of our discussions with SAS and have been one of the key points when developing new product solutions together.

"Certification is also an important part of our co-operation as it is a strong requirment of SAS and the majority of our customers."

By using alternative seafood products caterers can both sustain the fish in our seas and create new experiences for onboard diners. Ironically utilising ‘trash fish’ might just be the best way to escape the muddied waters of our current onboard seafood offerings. • onboardhospitality.com

CLEARWATER

sea scallops, with a remarkably similar appearance, taste and texture.”

Emirates' Duncan Davis also highlights how opting for salmon can solve problems onboard as it retains its distinctive flavour even when reheated. He does also advocates using more sustainable products that are perhaps less well known.

Above: Lobster is ideal for serving on board (Clearwater) left: Serving it fresh with SAS

59

FOCUS ON

NorthStar Connect

Cashless management Anyone who has ever been involved in introducing technology into the travel sector knows that there’s a trade-off between what is feasible and what is practical. Jeremy Clark reports

I

n principle, anything is feasible these days. However, getting them to work with people and the stresses of the airline world is quite another thing.

No-one knows this better Karmjit Sidhu, vp Business Development and Scott Pickett chief technology officer of NorthStar who I met at IFSA in Oregon.

We talked through the subject whilst looking at the Duty Free and Onboard Sales systems they have developed and are currently rolling out. I also had the good fortune of seeing the system in operation during a recent visit to the Bahrain Airport Services flight catering which manages this on behalf of Gulf Air.

Reducing stock The system is a full inventory, tracking, sales and reconciliation support system for GF. Passengers may pre-select meals and/or duty free for collection onboard a returning flight. Scott emphasises: “The system can dramatically reduce the amount of stock held in inventories and on aircraft by pre-ordering and placing known supply into the correct locations”.

This includes the ability to order duty free items for collection on arrival at the DF shop, thus eliminating the aircraft altogether. But how practical is this really for both passenger and crew to use?

Early entrants to buy-onMain image: Android tablet; right, NorthStar Connect's hand-held device currently in use by Gulf Air crew for cashless sales

board suffered with many issues from poor inventory tracking through to missing cash on aircraft. All that is now resolved, it seems, with cashless sales only and very strictly controlled management of products on the ground and in the air – including buyon-board food sales.

Karmjit does concede: “There are always human interface challenges. The passenger must not be inconvenienced by the imposition of perceived convenience”. Generally, passengers have enough to contend with, without the burden of negotiating complex technology.

The point of sale units NorthStar develops also take into ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

account crew demands for ease of use and fast transactions. For my part, if I know there is a product I want and what price I am prepared for it, the convenience of ordering it on a flight and picking it up on arrival back home has obvious benefits.

I am still unconvinced that waiting for crew to process my credit card to pay for an inferior sandwich whilst my tea gets cold versus a quick service free-meal handout is the way forward, but it is increasingly the way things are.

Anything NorthStar can do to expedite that experience is surely a good thing. • Profile

NorthStar Connect provides airlines, crew and passengers with a selection of technology products designed to enhance the travel experience. northstarconnect.com

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rail catering

Rail goes gold I

Roger Williams, chairman, International Rail Catering Group (IRCG) reports from Rome as the association celebrates its 50th anniversary

nternational Rail Catering Group (IRCG) has reached its Golden Anniversary with 50 years of being the trade association for railway catering companies now behind it. Formed in 1965 in Kiruna, Sweden, the organisation has evolved into a very different one from that originally conceived.

The advent of railway privatisation and the inevitable contracting out of hospitality and catering services by train companies means that IRCG now represents a real mix of ownerships and interests, bringing together product suppliers as well as catering, hospitality and logistics providers.

Many of the member companies are very firmly grounded in the private sector, and caterers such as Chef Express (Cremonini Group) and Rail Gourmet (SSP Group) are amongst the largest travel caterers in the world.

Other members are part private/ part state railway owned, such as Avecra in Finland, whilst some still remain firmly within the state railway organisations, such as the team from Deutsche Bahn which is also one of the biggest caterers in Europe in its own right based on a huge market potential, with DB carrying over seven million passengers a day.

IRCG membership now reaches out as far as North Africa and the USA and new members such as GWR (First Group) joined in Rome, so the group is continuing to lead the way in representing the rail catering industry in the modern era.

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When in Rome This year IRCG members assembled for their annual meeting in the city of Rome, with a full day's conference on Day One and return trips to Florence on Trenitalia and NTV on Day Two. The conference was based on the theme of “Service Improvement through Innovation” and, perhaps inspired by the world-leading Roman architectural innovations that surrounded them, the members didn’t disappoint.

Around 50 delegates, including some cuttingedge product suppliers, shared their businesses' progress and best practice service concepts, and presented innovation projects that they have delivered, or have been involved in delivering in partnership, during the last year. As always there was a lot to learn and the outputs were very enlightening.

Train ‘rules’ in Italy The event's keynote speaker, Dr. Paolo Ripa, who left Trenitalia to run NTV in Italy, gave a strategic overview on the development of Italian railways. He also emphasised the value of high quality customer service when the railway is a direct competitor of airlines on short and medium haul routes.

With a view that the distances between most of the key Italian cities, such as Torino, Milano, Venezia, Bologna, Roma and Napoli, were “too long by car too short for air,” he set about winning market share from cars and planes.

onboardhospitality.com

RAIL CATERING

In terms of customer service, Most Innovative Caterer Awards The IRCG Day One Conference culminated his mantra when setting up the in the Most Innovative Caterer new NTV company was to move competition, an annual award scheme away from Trenitalia’s traditional that is judged and voted for by model which concentrated on industry peers. punctuality, cleanliness and Each member is able to enter their food, to one that was based on innovation into one of five categories: quality, speed and price.

Restaurant, Retailing, Hospitality, He recognised that customers Logistics and Technical. coming to rail from the airlines The five finalists were: were doing so looking for a Restaurants - Deutsche Bahn, for its service based on those principals, new season of onboard restaurant as that was what they were used menus with a variety of organic and to with air travel. Car drivers also healthy product choices cleverly wanted these elements to entice designed around their key traveller them away from the flexibility and demographics. convenience of their own transport.

Retailing - Wagon Slovakia, for its Airline customers expected a exciting station-retailing concept “Cup certain quality of service that had of Coffee”, with a unique style of flexible to be matched. This meant new unit literally shaped like a coffee cup. luxury trains, a new identifiable Hospitality - DSB (Denmark), for its Italian food brand (not traditional innovative approach to hospitality training rail restaurant food) and a quality which that has helped dramatically raise logistics operation to support customer satisfaction. this service.

Logistics - Elevetino (Switzerland), for its Utilising the benefits of the convenience logistics loading solution for the new Zurich and fluidity of railway stations in city centre underground station to service through trains in a locations, offered customers an easier and faster limited spaceTechnical - A tie between Rail Gourmet alternative to the airport network, and the speed (UK), for its industry leading StarChef integrated of the journey with new high-speed trains was information system which seamlessly feeds product very competitive. data throughout the supply chain from producer Finally, prices had to be affordable and include to consumer, and WARS (Poland), for a new App intelligent ticketing options which linked to called ‘mWARS’, which allows customers passenger volumes, capacity and time of day offers, as well as linking The Most Innovative to order food on the train from the comfort of their seat. directly with other forms of transport.

Caterer Prize for 2015 was awarded After deliberation by the members, This encouraged customers to travel to WARS of Poland the vote confirmed (almost at the right time, helping to manage unanimously) that the IRCG Champion seating capacity, increase yield, and Most Innovative Caterer prize for 2015 was and improve customer satisfaction with journey awarded to WARS of Poland. comfort.

One clear advantage he had over airlines was the Travel Diary advent of onboard wifi, which has been introduced Roma to Firenze (Florence) on Trenitalia widely during the last few years. This proved to be a Bolstered by our newly-found knowledge of winner, with both business and leisure travellers on Trenitalia and NTV we set off on Day Two of the NTV rating it a key reason to travel by train. assembly to sample the service for ourselves.

Welcome drinks in Premium, a range of classes of Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa 500s originally had four travel and the good news story of creating 2,000 First class coaches, seven Standard class and a new jobs at a time when Trenitalia were dramtically café bar carriage. However, with private operator thinning down their services, all helped to create a NTV’s Italo trains now competing on the Milanbuzz around NTV. ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Above from left: The IRCG Award trophy went to WARS of Poland

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RAIL CATERING

mWARS wins

Rome-Naples route, Trenitalia has refurbished its Frecciarossas (renamed 1000’s) with four different classes: Standard, Premium, Business and Executive.

The new trains are capable of 360km/hr but are restricted to 300km/hr due to signalling and track infrastructure. Rumour is that the necessary improvements might be made soon to facilitate the additional speed, but that's anyone’s guess.

Premium is virtually identical to Standard except you get a welcome drink and newspaper.

In Business you can also order a simple meal for delivery to your seat at around 18 euros. In Executive you get a complimentary meal and drinks.

There is also a coffee bar and carriages are equipped with a sound system, power sockets at seats and air-conditioning.

As a caterer, if you do nothing else in Florence, go to the incredible food market at San Lorenzo in the Mercato Centrale and marvel at the fabulous foods on offer from the region and across Italy. The market is in a beautiful building designed by Giuseppe Mengoni and built from 1870-74 when Florence was still capital of Italy. It reminded me of an old Victorian railway station with a high-arched roof.

Here you can watch how bread is made, how the famous Italian cheeses are handcrafted or see how artisan gelato is still made from scratch.

Florence to Rome on NTV Being a through service and, given it was Friday afternoon, our return journey on NTV was very busy. However the wifi was free and efficient even in Standard for most things except video and music streaming. The seats were probably more

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The ‘mWARS’ App is fully tested and up and running on intercity services across Poland.

It has already had a positive impact on sales, improving customer perception of the overall F&B offer as well as the train company’s service.

A number of train operators are looking at introducing similar technology but are resisting due to practical issues of providing the service in reality. However, WARS demonstrated that its solution was thoroughly thought through, and that significant work had been carried out to avoid and solve the common pitfalls that have so far acted as a barrier to implementation elsewhere in rail.

The App allows customers to remain in their seat and still benefit from the hot food that is available from the café. They can now use the App to order hot food from an extensive menu, send the data directly to the crew in the kitchen, enable the crew to acknowledge the order and only take payment on delivery to the customer’s seat.

The App order is made in four easy steps – choose the train carriage where you are located; take a look at the offer presented; add selected products to the basket and order.

Product availability is automatically updated so any stock-outs are quickly communicated to maximise satisfaction, and initial concerns about technical issues or misuse have not materialised and the sales results are positive. Overall this is an excellent innovation and one from which other parts of the industry can learn.

Many congratulations go to Maciej Popiolek, director of marketing strategy, and all the team at WARS for this excellent achievement.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Left: NTV’s high speed ‘Italo’ train at Roma; Below: The 'mWARS' App in action

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rail catering

From left: The iconic Trenitalia Frecciarossa train; Italian style and service personified

comfortable than on the Frecciarossa and were leather in all classes. The floors were carpeted and there were vending machines for hot and cold drinks and cold snacks.

We had heard that the NTV staff were a step up from the Trenitalia staff but in fairness our interaction with both was very good. The only apparent difference with NTV staff is that they are multi-lingual as an employment standard – quite useful considering the cosmopolitan mix of tourist nationalities using the service.

After a great couple of days this final part of our Italian tour was, in truth, a slight anti-climax. The lack of catering service to seat in every class except Premium (where you only get a welcome drink) seemed to be a real missed opportunity and I left the train thinking that NTV was probably resting on its laurels from early success in the Italian market place, even though the tickets were cheaper. In the end I guess that quality and speed didn’t matter as much as price!

For more information about IRCG membership please contact viewfromthetrain@aol.com

Product review - SmartTrain Developed by 21st Century Technology in London, SmartTrain has been designed to allow train operating companies and their caterers to use industry-leading systems seamlessly across a single communications platform.

The company has built a three-carriage SmartTrain unit to physically demonstrate to industry visitors how different, and often stand-alone, systems can be brought together to improve their customer service operations.

SmartTrain takes managing the customer experience to a new level, combining CCTV

monitoring, automatic passenger counting, passenger information systems, timetable information and potentially onboard service systems to maximise the efficiency of the overall passenger service.

Passenger-counting data may not seem like a solution that can offer caterers much more than occupancy information, or perhaps fare validation for train operators. However, by amalgamating the technology onto a single communications platform, it allows integration across other existing systems. As a result, this intelligent data collection can facilitate better coordination of the on-train activities of customers and staff alike.

The passenger counting systems operate in real time via a network of sensors. The sensors can count customers boarding and leaving trains and track their movement throughout the carriages. The live data can then be communicated to passengers and staff via information screens to tell them which coaches have spare seating and which are the busiest. The data can also be communicated offboard and could form part of the service planning process of train operators and caterers alike.

Whilst some trains already have video screens in the conductor’s office for viewing activity in the train, now onboard staff can take the screen with them, by use of a video enabled smart device.

There are also benefits of having a better understanding of customer choices, behaviours and trends in respect of their needs during their journey.

Says Garry Bellman of 21st Century Technology: “It’s possible that a trolley with wifi can be tracked and the digital carriage screens can show its progress through the train or potentially it could even be viewed on a customer’s smart phone.”

21stplc.com or email info@21stplc.com •

onboardhospitality.com

67

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

The world view Our high-flying columnists from around the globe tell it how it is in their neck of the woods and spot onboard developments with a difference. Tell us what's happening near you via julie.baxter@onboardhospitality.com

Telling it straight...

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Europe

Middle East

USA

Israel

According to Euromonitor data, wearable electronics have become the world's best-selling consumer electronics product after smartphones. Wearable electronics are forecast to exceed 305 million units in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 55% over the next five years.

Continued innovation and new applications will help define its importance to the travel industry. Leading the way is the Apple Watch which now gives access to airlines, taxi bookings, trip planning and hotel check-ins with more set to follow. Watch this space! euromonitor.com

Emirates has joined forces with leading academics at Oxford University in the UK to examine new ways of forecasting demand and optimising seat inventory.

A five-year data science lab partnership will see worldclass scientists, engineers, social scientists and domain experts work together to crunch the numbers and ultimately identify ways the airline can redefine the customer experience through improved personalisation for individual customers. emirates.com

Virgin America has discovered a new way to tempt passengers into its Airbus fleet. Using Google's Street View technology, the airline is now offering a 360-degree viewing of its Airbus 320 interior. Internet users can log onto Google Street View and search for Virgin America, LAX. The link takes them to Los Angeles Airport where they can 'step' inside the plane and then move around on a virtual tour, experiencing the signature mood lighting and inflight features. virginamerica.com

Watch out for airline developments and innovation coming out of Israel where El Al Israel Airlines has launched a digital programme called Cockpit designed to support and accelerate startup businesses in the fields of aviation and travel. The programme creates opportunities for entrepreneurs by giving them access to internal experts, resources and the airline network to support their new concepts and development plans as they work to make them 'fly'. elal.com

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

...Making them smile

USA

Taiwan

France

UK

US airports have taken their pre-departure facilities and services to a new level. Alongside the usual Duty Free superstores, souvenir shops and wealth of catering options, passengers now have the option to grab a winter flu jab while they wait for their flight. The US Department of Health advises frequent flyers to get vaccinated and this service is now being offered at walk-in clinics in Chicago O’Hare, JFK, San Francisco International and LAX among others. Passengers already feeling unwell on arrival at the clinic are advised not to fly!

You've heard of airlines working with designers and celebrity chefs, but perhaps EVA Air is leading the way in audio excellence with the launch of a new in-flight soundtrack to accompany the new livery. The airline worked with renowned soundtrack master Ricky Ho to create a signature sound for the boarding and take-off. Ho used the ocarina, an ancient wind instrument with a worry-free quality, to specially create three melodious pieces that would create a 'pleasing atmosphere'. He also adapted Taiwanese folk songs for EVA Air’s new landing music. evaair.com

Could it be that onboard hospitality will soon be a thing of the past? Airbus has filed a new patent application which would see aircrafts more like a dormitory or hotel with a new, stacked, pod-like arrangement designed purely for sleep. Similar to those seen in some international airports, the pods would be arranged so that the passenger would lay perpendicular in pods equipped with beds and inflight entertainment.

The manufacturer also has a concept plane that would give passengers the ultimate window seat all through their flight (see image). airbus.com

UK leisure airline Jet2.com has joined forces with World Duty Free to tackle the growing problem of disruptive passenger behaviour onboard. They are trialling the use of tamper-proof bags on sales of alcohol in Glasgow and Manchester airport shops in a bid to stamp out antisocial behaviour caused by illicit alcohol consumption onboard. Passenger goods are placed in a sealed, tamper-proof bag prior to boarding, to be enjoyed on arrival rather than onboard.

Jet2.com

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

69

Tea

What's brewing?

Onboard Hospitality asks Lucy Chappell, tea specialist at The London School of Tea, to explain what happened to the simple cuppa

T

oday’s tea consumers are talking about tea Tea trends are changing considerably, with more cocktails, iced tea, chai latte, matcha latte, tea in and more people requiring whole leaf tea. Whole leaf food, rooibos, and latte infusions. But let’s get gives a better quality cup when prepared correctly, back to basics. which leads to a better experience.

Tea is an essential part of many people's day. In fact We can all make tea bag tea at home so when tea is the second most consumed beverage in the we are out and about, or travelling we want to be world, second only to water! pampered and enjoy the little luxury of leaf tea.

When tea was discovered back These trends are already being in 2737BC by the Emperor ‘Sheng recognised in some sectors of the "Most countries Nung’, in China, the humble leaf travel industry and the UK’s top 20 have their own was just plucked from the bush airlines have embraced loose leaf particular way of and added to boiling water. Since in their First offerings. Qatar offers preparing tea, their the largest range of teas on board, then the ways in which we drink own ritual" tea have changed significantly with including roasted Japanese, Earl most countries having their own Grey and Moroccan mint. Turkish particular way of preparing it, complete with their Airlines’ website boasts: “Our new catering concept own ritual. In Japan they have the Cha do; in Morocco, offers lots of surprises at 37,000 feet, including being mint tea with sugar; in the US it's ice tea and in Britain, able to drink a glass of freshly-brewed tea served in for the last 60 years, 98% of the population has been traditional Turkish style”. addicted to ‘builder’s' tea bags - for a strong tea You can watch videos to understand the origins of served with milk. the tea on Singapore Airlines' ‘understanding your needs’ website. The website gives you a real sense of how they are considering customer experience,

70

onboardhospitality.com

tea

citing: "A warm welcome. It’s that special feeling of sipping your favourite tea, served just the way you like it. It comes from the thought that goes into everything you taste and touch. Because we understand that there’s nothing as comforting as enjoying the things you love, without having to ask.

It’s just one of the lengths we go to, to make you feel at home". infusions. These are not actually tea as they do not This rings true on so many levels. Ironically, what we contain any of the tea plant Camellia sinensis, but most desire when we travel are our home comforts, instead consist of herbs, flowers, fruits and spices. but better. And this is what the Infusions have been drank for increase in speciality tea has shown. centuries and are considered a "The huge increase in great alternative to tea as they Even easyJet has recognised that a better cup of tea is paramount, do not contain caffeine, so great demand for green serving Twinings' whole leaf mesh tea due to the health for relaxing and drinking before bags in a variety of flavours. We are bed. With every tea company factor is certainly also seeing this trend at sea with jumping on the infusion wagon apparent" Carnival Cruise Lines choosing to there are some fantastic ones out serve Twinings' whole leaf and there. Walk into any supermarket mesh bags. and there is now a whole wall of brightly coloured boxes with fantastic names like ‘vitalise’, ‘Active’ and Leaves for health ‘Illuminate’ all vying to grab your attention.

At the moment sugar is being demonised in the Practicality media for causing all sorts of health issues. Tea used Not only does whole leaf tea taste better but it does to go hand in hand with sugar, but only to make not need boiling water! One it taste better!! Most people would never drink tea of the biggest complaints is bag tea without milk or sugar because it just tastes that tea is not hot enough too bitter. Whole leaf tea, however, does not require when on an airplane. This is either as there is no bitterness, making it instantly because commercial planes healthier with no calories. The huge increase in are not pressurised to air demand for green tea due to the health factor is pressure at sea level, but at certainly apparent. But again, if made with a tea about 8,000 feet. Water at this bag it can be bitter; therefore consumers are either altitude boils at 91 degrees. turning to flavoured greens or the whole leaf.

Couple that with adding milk Let’s also talk about the rise in ‘herbal teas’ or onboardhospitality.com

Pictured: Top: Dilmah's High Tea challenge; Dimah tea.

Bottom; rosy fig white tea.

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Tea

Pictured: Twinings' New York blend tea onboard British Airways; Dilmah's Real High Tea Global Challenge.

and the tea will taste cold. Whole leaf tea does Dilmah launched its new t-lounges in Colombo where not need boiling water to brew, in fact this will customers are invited to “indulge in the finest luxury have a negative effect on the taste. In the new range of designer gourmet leaf tea, experiment Dreamliners, however, the air is pressurised to 6000 with flavours, immerse themselves in the colourful feet and the boiling point is at 93 degrees which is traditions of tea culture and get acquainted with tea”. still fine for whole leaf tea, making the stewards life Dilmah t-lounges have since been opened in Poland, a whole lot easier.

Malaysia, Kuwait, China and India.

Today’s consumer has become more discerning Dilmah’s introduction and implementation of tea and we must now think of the overall experience gastronomy and mixology are two subjects that have that the customer desires. What captured and intrigued the hearts makes a good experience? Is it "Tea gastronomy has and minds of tea and culinary table wine or a Sauvignon Blanc? enthusiasts all across the globe. Last captured and Instant coffee or ground? Is it year the company held its first ‘Real intrigued hearts and High Tea Global Challenge’. over-brewed bitter tea which minds across makes you gag or the whole leaf Says Dilhan Fernando, Dilmah ceo: the globe" experience? Plus charging £2 per “High tea has been characterised by cup for a tea bag when it costs the scones and cucumber sandwiches, customer 6p at home doesn’t make them feel like food that is generally unconnected with tea. Our they are getting a good deal! endeavour has been to build around the indulgent So what is the future for tea? Well it’s already here. luxury of real tea, its amazing diversity of flavour, Whole leaf tea either in mesh bags or the traditional character and fragrance from different estates, way in teapots, with infuser baskets for ease of with food pairing, mixology and gastronomy. In use. But let’s keep it going; show the customer cooperation with chefs and mixologists from around that tea is special and by whatever means the world we have made great progress. We will we travel we can get a decent brew. define afternoon tea for the 21st century”.

What the suppliers have to say:

Dilmah Sri Lanka has earned a reputation as the leading tea producer in the world. It is also the home of Dilmah, one of the onboard and hospitality industry’s leading tea suppliers.

In July last year 72

Twinings Tea is often overlooked, according to Ali Goode, Twinings’ shopper marketing manager in the UK. “Tea drinking should be a memorable experience.

Choice is important as is the way tea is served and this is especially true for air and rail passengers who are looking for something better than they get at home.

An airline’s choice of tea brand should reflect the airline brand.

onboardhospitality.com

Goode says: “At Twinings we are seeing a surge in the consumption of loose-leaf tea as tea drinkers move up to the next level. We are especially selling loose-leaf tea pyramids. Twinings tea is often served in lounges as well as in the air across various routes and cabins. Passenger expectations can be completely different away from home. Where service makes a difference, ensure you train the crew on how to prepare and serve a great cup of tea."

Tetley Isabelle Haynes, senior brand manager comments: “Tea is hugely profitable for onboard caterers. Our research has shown that when travelling onboard planes and trains, one in every eight passengers will purchase a hot drink, and these customers are willing to pay a premium, if they can be confident their spend will be rewarded with consistent quality. Airlines that have switched to Tetley, have reported a 20% uplift in sales, or more. A well known brand is the most important factor in tea drinkers choice

The healthy options As consumers become more health conscious, herbal teas have seen significant growth with people cutting the caffeine in quest for healthier options.

Says Paresh Thakkar, md of Oteas in the UK: “The rise of fruit, herbal and green teas is encouraging consumers to diversify their consumption habits and with the added health benefits people are pro-actively swapping standard tea for healthier alternatives without milk.” The Oteas selection of teas includes PROFILE: white, green, Olong, black, lucy chappell herbal, fruit and detox teas. The tea infusions are sourced from Lucy Chappell is md of The London School all over the world including of Tea, a certified tea plantations in India, Sri Lanka, specialist with a China and Japan o-teas.com. post-graduate Greek saffron is the main diploma from the ingredient of Krocus Kozania National Institute of organic teas.

There is growing Tea Management, evidence suggesting the Darjeeling. Lucy regularly advises expensive spice has potential hotels, restaurants beneficial effects on human and cafes on the health and this range of latest trends, tea tea comes in seven flavours culture and food greeksaffron.co.uk. pairing.

Clearly the tea market is thelondon evolving, watch this space to schooloftea.com see just what will come next. •

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NEUROSCIENCE

A healthy workforce Brain research and psychology can play a crucial role in improving individual and business performance in the travel industry, says Dr Lynda Shaw

W

hilst neuroscience is the new industry buzz word, the travel industry is falling short of truly understanding motivation, personalities and emotions and their impact on retaining and attracting new clients. As a former air stewardess, I have first hand experience.

Motivation Motivation is vital. Our motivation and reward systems in the brain galvanise us into action with energy and enthusiasm. It is not always about money and special offers. Taking the time to find out what motivates people is a deal breaker. Dopamine is one of the brain's pleasure chemicals.

Behavioural neuroscientist John Salamone offered rats the choice of one pile of food or another pile of food twice the size but behind a small fence. The rats with lowered levels of dopamine almost always took the easy way out, choosing the small pile instead of jumping the fence for greater reward. In business if you create a happy dopamine environment full of rewarding experiences, then we become more motivated to push ourselves.

Brand Brand association and brand loyalty are increasingly being explained by consumer neuroscience. To understand emotional response to brands is a key to effective marketing. The experience, including emotional and cognitive processing such as memory, decision making and attention, determines customer satisfaction and loyalty to the brand. This means that the prefrontal cortex and limbic system are busy evaluating and determining consumer choice 74

Emotion Using consumer research and neuroscience we can record brain activity with electrodes and determine specific regions of the brain that are responsible for consumer behaviour. Studies of emotion are crucial to the advertising industry because we know that emotion plays a significant role in our ability to remember an advertisement and in making decisions.

Importance of the group Consumers can be more influenced by the choices and decisions of their peers than their own internal standards. Many environmental factors influence the things we choose and the way we think. In particular a group or community we want to belong to can have a huge impact. Group membership not only supports us but also moulds our beliefs and preferences. This may be both at a conscious and unconscious level.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

NEUROSCIENCE

DR SHAW’S

top five tips HAVING the ability to be open minded, using lateral thinking and pushing the boundaries every now and again can push business into the realms of stratospheric growth. Using lateral thinking enables us to market to audiences that we might not have otherwise considered. Don’t always choose the obvious.

WHEN the stress hormone ‘cortisol’ is 2 over stimulated for an extended period, we experience memory loss, high blood pressure and possible depression, which are costly to the individual and the organisation. Good business needs a healthy workforce and this starts with performance management that is consistent and transparent to avoid stress in the workplace.

STAFF need to be given opportunities 3 to develop and grow, but in small chunks, both physically and mentally.

Synapses in the brain grow and strengthen with new information, but we can overload the system if we deliver too much all at once.

Research shows that we retain information better when we learn in chunks. Positive, upbeat delivery for short periods of training will allow the brain to assimilate and use the information well.

RESEARCH now supports the efficacy 4 of gut feelings in monitoring our behaviour, as does our cognitive braking systems such as the prefrontal cortex. Use your gut instinct in every situation you can.

WHEN a company is harnessing their 5 employees’ individual personalities, goals, needs and abilities, and is employee focussed, the employee will feel valued and valid which helps to build a successful and intuitive working environment. This in turn empowers them and alleviates stressful situations calming down stress hormones such as cortisol which can narrow their attention to any perceived threat, and opens them up to broader thinking, better problem solving and greater creative thought.

1

Know your audience Having a better understanding of the difference between male and female thinking can affect the sales outcome. Whilst there is no direct evidence to suggest that one gender experiences compassion more than the other, women naturally show more emotional connection than men. The success of marketing exercise goals for instance is, to a certain extent, influenced by stereotypical gender differences.

Assumption is foolish but understanding the brain and marketing differently for men and women may be key. • PROFILE: Dr Lynda Shaw Dr Shaw is a neuroscientist and cognitive psychologist and as a former air stewardess is well positioned to discuss how concepts and techniques derived from brain research and psychology can play a crucial role in improving individual and business performance in the travel industry. drlyndashaw.com

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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NEW ARRIVALS

ONBOARD INNOVATORS

Get Fruity Onboard Hospitality is looking for new and innovative players pushing their product onboard.

Check out our latest discovery aiming to make a mark on the onboard snacks market Everyone loves a success story and at Onboard Hospitality we have been excited to see just how successful specialist companies can be once they get onboard.

We’re on the look out for newcomers to the industry, be they young people, young companies or young products: those that may be the faces of tomorrow.

So if there is a young innovator in your company who deserves recognition for fresh thinking, get in touch and we’ll spread the word, champion the cause and watch your business as it heads sky high.

Innovator of the month Founded by mother of two, Davina Whiteoak, Get Fruity produces fruit bars specifically designed to be nutritious, moist and packed full of flavour.

Davina grew up on a farm in Cornwall and returned to the country to launch her own business after working in the food industry for 15 years for a variety of companies such as Kerry Foods, McDonalds, KFC and Del Monte.

She says: “Get Fruity has been a 10 year dream of mine and with the support of my husband and family I have finally launched it.

Taste and health were the most important factors when developing the bars.” The company started in her farmhouse kitchen and is fast spreading worldwide. It is now moving into the 76

onboard hospitality sector with contracts to supply Whizz Air, BMI and First passengers on Great Western Railway.

The bars come in three flavour combinations, are gluten free and suitable for vegans. They are presented as a vibrant brand offering a 100% natural product that doesn’t compromise on fresh fruity taste.

The company ethos is to make snack bars that taste really fruity, by combining the fruit flavours with virgin coconut oil and gluten free oats.

The bars have already won ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

the bar category at both the Free From Awards and Vavista Awards, and were shortlisted for the Quality Food Awards.

They are made using high quality produce and are full of superfood ingredients.

The three current flavours are Scrumptious Strawberry, Moist Mixed Berry and Juicy Apricot, Orange and Ginger. The bars are lightly baked and packaged in foil to give them a premium feel and a 10 month shelf-life.

High in dietary fibre, the bars are also said to support digestive health and help control blood cholesterol levels. They are also rich in vitamins and minerals essential for energy, stamina and strength. getfruitybar.co.uk Send your innovator ideas to: julie.baxter@ onboardhospitality.com

Personal Travel Comfort +44 (0)1422 372237 www.johnhorsfall.com

Blankets Duvet Sets Pillows Headrests Pillow Covers Table Linen Hot Towels

OPINION

Security

Keeping it safe Malcolm Mathieson, managing director of Flightweight, addresses the challenges facing airlines in ensuring total security onboard

PROFILE

Malcolm Mathieson A qualified accountant with over 30 years' experience in a variety of industries, Malcolm has more recently focused on interim finance director roles for start-up and turnaround projects. He also has extensive consultancy experience.

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Hospitality for commercial flights chain for airlines – many of them agency or is one of the most complex temporary staff. This includes staff working pieces of logistics within the in airline kitchens, teams that load up the aviation industry. With upwards individual trolleys, drivers who transport items of 100,000 flights taking off daily across the to the airport, and then finally the loaders who globe, the logistics of providing food, drinks move the trolleys onto the planes. and toiletries for all of these passengers is Security around staff enormously complex, which in itself presents The potential for a security lapse in such a a number of challenges – security being the mammoth operation is considerable. In fact, most important. a study by CNN found that only two major Both airports and airlines have a responsibility airports in the US, Miami and Orlando, currently for the safety of their 8.7 million workers, as well require back-of-airport employees to go as three billion annual passengers. And with through security monitoring procedures on a the airline industry on course to experience an daily basis before accessing the airport tarmac estimated seven-fold increase in air traffic by and aircraft itself.

2050, security is growing even more vital.

Of course, governments have begun to react Current security measures focus to the need for increased security after recent predominately on just one aspect of aviation escalations in threat levels. Back in 2001 the UK security – the screening of passengers travelling Government introduced a minimum of five-year through airports and the baggage they carry. mandatory background checks on all aviation However, airlines need to be taking a closer look staff, in addition to criminal record checks. at other entry points, such as the hospitality Employees of airline catering services supply chain. within the UK now also have Breaches of security background checks undertaken could happen anywhere in “Theft along the prior to appointment, as well this complex chain – from supply chain is an as supervisors overseeing the inside one of the enormous enormous issue for the goods moved from kitchens outsourced kitchens, right aviation industry” through to warehouses and through to within the then ultimately onto the holding areas of the airport. aeroplanes.

Theft along the supply In addition, there is a mandatory chain is an enormous issue in the regulatory requirement for all carts, industry, and while it is difficult canisters and ancillary goods to be to place a precise figure on the searched prior to despatch from scale of the loss, it’s conservatively the caterer or warehouse. predicted to cost tens of millions However, with the millions of of dollars a year. The potential for individual products boarded terrorist activity from tampering daily onto aircraft, it is arguable with galley trolleys, or other that such a system is open to supply chain items, is not as likely, both neglect and abuse. but would have an even more It is therefore of huge devastating impact. importance that the global Huge numbers of staff are aviation industry takes a very involved in the hospitality supply ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

OPINION

close look at better ways to monitor employees throughout the entire supply chain and ensures that appropriately thorough security checks are carried out, in accordance with universally agreed procedures and regulations. It is also imperative that these security checks are carried out regularly.

Galley cart security Although the aviation industry has seen massive amounts of innovation in the build of its planes, the associated hospitality industry arguably hasn’t followed suit.

Current security measures to ensure against tampering or theft between the trolley being loaded through to being used on flight primarily relies on Any attempt to force entry to plastic or, increasingly, metal the cart is quickly detected and seals and padlocks, which recorded, thereby enabling a swift investigation to be undertaken using provide a visual cue if either has been removed. downloadable information.

However, this is a far Using electronic card keys “The entire concept of can help decrease thefts, from thorough solution to trolley cart security as they track exactly which safeguarding trolleys from needs to be tampering. A recent survey employees have access to from the US found that one in the trolleys. This in itself re-evaluated” four airline catering workers say is likely to provide a huge that unauthorised people could deterrent, not only is the access kitchens and trucks in order to place high physical locking mechanism but the key card risk items in any of the carts or containers. tracking which can pinpoint identity.

It is therefore not simply a case that the It can be argued that current guidelines are material used for the seals needs to be improved not robust enough to prevent either security – rather, the entire concept of trolley cart threats or decrease the high levels of theft. security needs to be re-evaluated.

We’d therefore call on the aviation industry – and in particular airlines – to take a fresh look at Investing in technology its back-of-house security procedures.

Electronic locking systems can enable quick Current systems of sealing and locking and easy sealing of carts and will immediately carts and canisters are ineffective, costly flag up if the cart has been tampered with or and labour intensive, in terms of maintaining if products have been removed outside of any security and operational processes. The authorised service period. resulting risks associated with the current Flightweight's SmartCart uses electronic, catering supply chain model are quite simply multi-point locking and intelligent sealing some of the highest in the industry. systems, through which the risks are At Flightweight, we have found that significantly mitigated. For example, every time innovation and technology are absolutely key the trolley is accessed via a personalised high to developing future-proof security procedures as commercial flights continue to increase yearsecurity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card key, the resulting data is stored within the on-year. Only when the entire supply chain is seal, ready to be accessed and downloaded by made secure can the industry say it has done an authorised operator. all it can. • ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Pictured: Opportunities for theft and tampering of galley carts are enormous

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TM

The leading global event for travel catering, onboard retail and passenger comfort

Save the Date

5 – 7 April 2016

worldtravelcateringexpo.com Co-Located with:

Organised by: Alternativ e Ener gy

ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT

ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT APEX REPORT

Richard Williams reports from Portland, Oregon, on the APEX conference and Expo

APEX AWARDS

ONE TO ONE

Who won what in the industry's hotly contested Awards

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David Coiley, VP Aviation, Inmarsat, talks about Global Xpress Ka-band

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Joe Leader new APEX ceo

BY RICHARD WILLIAMS

TO kick off the conference, Ingo Wuggetzer of Airbus took the stage to introduce the new ceo of the organisation.

This is a brand-new appointment, which was considered by the board to be necessary to get APEX to the next level.

The winning candidate was selected from a shortlist of ten interviewees.

The new ceo, Joe Leader, then walked on to enthusiastic applause.

He announced that the expo this year had attracted 2750 registrants from 50 countries, with 207 exhibitors over 7500 sq m of floor space.

He then introduced a number of innovations: the Apex Cool Award for the most innovative product at the show, voted by the attendees on a one vote basis. He also introduced new initiatives including the year-round Silver and Golden Heart Awards to reward exemplary activities, service, and even heroic actions onboard.

Leader announced that the Apex Asia and FTE Asia shows would be taking place concurrently in Singapore on November 16-19 this year. The Multimedia show would be in Turkey in Q2 2016 and the main expo also in Singapore, rather than in the USA, in Q4 2016.

Picking highlights from the Apex 2015 Global Survey, Leader said that the primary driver for passengers was comfort, connectivity and entertainment, with 84% of respondents marking it number one. Only 16% selected service and food.

About 28% want more connectivity onboard, and 33% got online. An amazing 70% liked the food served, and 71% carried their smartphone with them.

A quarter of all passengers surveyed watched a film during the flight.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

Leader quoted the Economist magazine's estimate that $10bn is being spent on passenger experience upgrades, which is half a billion more than last year.

This figure of $10bn represents roughly half of all airline profits. Leader said: "They are re-investing because this is a time of plenty for our members."

Leader affirmed APEX's mission statement to continue to strengthen the industry and promote opportunities through Networking, Education, Innovation and Recognition.

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IN THE NEWS

APEX Conference report SAndY SteLLInG, md Customer Research and Development at Alaska Airlines (pictured above), was inspirational with her case study of how this small and inconveniently located airline pursued a plan for sustainability and growth.

She emphasised how it was vital to ‘put the customer at the centre of the decision-making process’. For example, Alaska provided bigger bins for cabin baggage although it adversely affected Ancillary Revenue from bags. They also focused on punctuality, locally-sourced food and drink, better leather Recaro seating, greater entertainment choices, wifi for PEDs and power in every seat.

Most crucial was investment in staff training, with Stelling seeing them as the chief differentiator in the 'arms race' between airlines. Alaska also relies heavily on passenger surveys, with 20% of respondents leaving additional feedback.

The airline acts on this, by passing on favourable reports to the employees concerned, but also responding 82

personally to passenger comments.

Werner Lieberherr, president and ceo of B/E Aerospace, said that this was a great industry to be in, with traffic doubling every 15 years. Of the world population of 7.3 billion, four billion are in emerging markets who are looking toward to travelling by air in the future.

With load factors at around 80%, fuel costs low and ticket pricing high, airlines now have money to invest. New aircraft with new technology, such as the B737 NG and A320 Neo, are being introduced, and there is a huge opportunity for IFEC suppliers.

Rainer von Borstel, ceo Diehl Aerosystems, went out on a limb by taking issue with the trend towards IFEC. He said that there are soon to be ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

1.35 billion people over 65 and airlines have to accommodate them. They have three main priorities: mobility, access and comfort. For this market, he said, wifi is not such a priority.

Devin Liddell, chief market strategist at Teague, delivered a lively presentation with the theme of ‘Anticipating Disruption for Better Experiences and Better Profitability’. His strategy was to develop a plan for an airline of the future and design it from the ground up. Its name was Poppi, and it was predicated on inspiring love rather than loyalty.

Liddell suggests banning cabin luggage to produce a 1814kg weight saving, $25 million pa fuel saving and even more useful, a 71% increase in speed of boarding.

Even more controversially, Liddell suggests getting rid of luggage carousels.

With the logistics experience of Amazon, FedEx and DHL, your baggage can be picked up from home and delivered to your hotel room. Updates on your phone app would tell you where your bags are.

Liddell's final idea was to give More to the Middle. The middle seat costs the same as the others, and is always a disappointment for the boarding passenger. So why not get it sponsored by a leading brand, with giveaways waiting for you when you board the plane? Possible brand candidates could be Uniqlo, Adidas, or even Fiat.

Liddell summed up by suggesting that the concept of membership should supplant Loyalty Programmes. The drive for Ancillary Revenue is perceived by passengers as a way of taking money from them. Instead, airlines should be asking themselves: “How can we seek to add value to the flight experience?”

onboard entertainment

APEX Awards After a welcome by APEX president Alfy Veretto, the APEX Awards ceremony and presentation, sponsored by Phitek and Global Eagle Entertainment, kicked of with a witty introduction by Rajan Datar of the BBC's Travel Show. He confirmed that the Awards were indeed ‘all about winning’ and asked the audience to observe a moment of silence in advance for the losers.

There was a Lifetime Achievement award for industry veteran Rick Warren, and Outstanding Contribution Awards for Runway Girl Mary Kirby and Steve Harvey of Global Eagle Entertainment.

Rakitha Jayawardena, ceo of Sri Lankan Airways (pictured below), was the popular winner of an award for commitment and achievement in the region.

Gogo won the Technology award for its 2Ku service, and El Al got the Passenger Experience Award for its Cockpit high-tech innovation hub.

In the 13 individual awards, Emirates stole the show, grabbing awards in seven categories, and winning in every category for which it was shortlisted.

Low-cost carrier Norwegian won Best in Region: Europe for the second year in a row, and Korean Air won its first award, in the Best in Region: Asia and Australia category.

Thales gets personal Under the banner 'The smart choice for the connected airline', ceo Dominique Giannoni said at the show that the company had just under 100 airline customers. Thales was certified for line fit and retrofit of IFEC and connectivity on a wide range of aircraft types. Around 700 planes were flying with inseat TV supplied

by Thales, and 400 planes in the JetBlue and United fleets were flying connected via Ka-band satellite link in the USA. Giannoni said that the Avant inseat system that is linefit on many platforms is evolving. The new passenger-controlled AVI interface and display for the system was due to be launched in December 2016. He also said that work was also being done developing integration with the passengers' own portable devices.

"Airlines are always asking how they can better take care of their passengers, and personalisation by pushing targeted information to the passenger through the inseat display or via their own device is a key trend," he said.

On the connectivity side, work is being onboardhospitality.com

done to make their portal more flexible, and to reflect the tastes and preferences of their airline customer. “We have worked on the tools that allow the airline to present the face of their brand to the passenger in an interactive way. We are also looking at how we can better monitor and anticipate the performance of the system. We are also developing ground tools to let the airline know what the passenger is doing.”

Glen Latta, head of LiveTV, said: "We are positioning to have the best product in each region, for that aircraft type, for that customer. For the global web platform Global Xpress, for lower bandwidth we have Iridium Next. If you need a big pipe for a region we have the Ka pipe.”

In Europe, Thales are conducting a trial with Vueling and Telefonica, with two planes fitted out so far and two additional planes underway. They are awaiting approval from the Spanish aviation authority before proceeding. Thales say this is going to provide the equivalent of the JetBlue full video-streaming experience in Europe. thalesgroup.com 83

IN THE NEWS

David Withers

DigEcor backs seatbacks david Withers, ceo, talking at the show, emphasised the transformation over two and a half years of DigEcor from a company known as a manufacturer and supplier of portables, to one offering an integrated flight experience.

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dIGeCOr still offers its NV portables in 8-,10-, and 12-inch screen sizes.

These are rugged purposebuilt units with replaceable batteries, designed from the ground up for rental use on aircraft. They combine the practical features of a custom device with the look and feel of a modern consumer tablet at a low cost.

DigEcor also has its GLIDE seatback range, which has been recently certified for retrofit installation. GLIDE is a scalable embedded system for both narrow and wide-body aircraft, with a range of screen sizes from 8 to 21 inches, USB power and 110V in-seat power. It is simple to install with minimal aircraft downtime. With seat, arm or monument mounted screens, reinforced dual headphone jacks, seat box power units and a cabin management terminal, Withers says it is the lowest weight, lowest cost and most reliable fully featured IFE solution available.

The company also offers its ENGAGE software for Cabin crew, which is currently used by Qantas and is known as Red on their aircraft.

ENGAGE has three modules: Cabin, Forms and Ground. These connect via the ENGAGE Ground Server to an airline’s reservation, departure,

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

CRM, operations and crewing systems to bring current data into the cabin. ENGAGE Cabin provides passenger details of Frequent Flier status, flight connections, and preferences, and can pull in data from any back office system such as catering.

ENGAGE Forms enables crew to gather and share data via electronic forms on their mobile device. The forms are submitted back to the airline for fast, efficient operational reporting.

It is generally used for cabin defect, crew performance and passenger reporting.

ENGAGE Ground is used at the airport. It gives staff real-time flight and passenger information at the lounge, check-in, kerb-side and gate and enables them to input passenger and operations data to be passed through to the cabin.

Supplied to flight attendants on their own tablet, currently IOS but potentially cross-platform, ENGAGE can help crew to engage both with their customers and the airline. Withers says crew are better informed and empowered to improve service and rectify problems in the air.

He adds: "There is competition from airlines producing this software for themselves, but this can take up to 18 months, whereas we can get an airline up and going in 6 weeks."

He says that the market for embedded IFEC is growing faster than the portable market, because of the number of A330s and B777s coming off lease and being re-equipped.

Withers says that the difference in price point between installing wifi and power and a seatback system has narrowed to a point where the latter makes more sense, particularly when the potential revenue from advertising is added into the equation. digecor.com

ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT

Gogo gets APEX Award for 2Ku SteVe nOLAn, vp of Communications and PR, talked about the 2Ku system that won the coveted Apex Technology Award. The 2Ku system has already been installed on two aircraft flying with Aeromexico and Virgin Atlantic, and goes into service in Q4 2015. Gogo is expecting to ramp up the installs in 2016.

The system offers a speed of 70Mbps, and will have a capability of 100+Mbps when operating with the next generation of HTS satellites.

Gogo has also contracted to provide the Brazilian airline GOL with 2Ku, starting next year. The whole GOL fleet will also be fitted with its wireless IFE system, Gogo Vision, and also live Gogo TV, which Nolan describes as the best IP (Internet protocol) TV on the market.

“We look at these technologies in terms of coverage, cost, capacity and reliability,” said Nolan. “So what kind of geography are we looking at - is it a regional or a global solution? Does it have enough capacity to support the types of things we want to do today? Is the connection going to be consistent?

Is it going to deliver that bandwidth at a cost that is going to be reasonable?

“When we launched the ATG system design of the antenna, nothing on the in 2008, it definitely delivered on cost, market can compete with Gogo on routes capacity and reliability. But coverage was near the equator. It is also a very lowlimited to the US. With the proliferation profile system, and though its weight is of iPads, iPhones and applications that a little bit more than some conventional were taking up ever-increasing amounts antennas, it has lower drag." of bandwidth, capacity became an “We believe 2Ku will be the best issue too, because it was limited by the performing technology on the market amount of spectrum allocated to it by the when it is launched. The key distinction US government. So is that it has 2Ku, we believe, global coverage, delivers on all the while others have "We believe 2Ku will be the four counts. capacity and best performing technology on “In terms of service that is the market" coverage it is a regionalised.” global solution.

The standard It has significant Gogo service has capacity, so passengers can do what they been adopted by eight airlines, operating want with the service. There are two a total of over 500 aircraft. It offers a parts to reliability – there are not a lot near-global network, and has been of moving parts on the equipment, and adopted by fleets ranging from the Delta you are leveraging the Ku network which international fleet to JTA, the domestic has lots of satellites in the air, probably carrier of JAL. However, there is, as yet, 180 plus, whereas Ka has just a handful. no coverage over China.

You can also deliver a lot of bandwidth at Nolan says: "We are leveraging significant cost discounts. connectivity to help our airline partners "This means we can do video streaming," run a more efficient airline and to enable says Nolan. "We are satellite network their customers to have a genuinely great agnostic, and our system operates with experience onboard."

SES, Intelsat and Inmarsat. Because of the gogoair.com ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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IN THE NEWS

Lumexis supplies Caribbean JOn nOrrIS, vp sales at Lumexis, announced a new deal to supply Caribbean Airlines with their Fiber-ToThe-Screen® (FTTS®) and FTTS Second Screen™ system for their fleet of B737s.

Caribbean Airlines have 19 destinations operating out of their headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago. The first install is scheduled for June 2016.

Alicia Cabrera, marketing manager for Caribbean, said: "This is a milestone for us and we are very excited about adopting the Lumexis FTTS Seatback system. Now we can offer our customers the choice of IFEC that they deserve." When asked why they had chosen a seatback system over wifi and connectivity, she said: "Most of our routes are over water, for example into North America or over the Atlantic into London. We cannot justify the expense of wifi for these routes."

Jon Norris added: "Many airlines still want to have seatback. They can also use wifi within the cabin to augment the service, by operating a second screen, to watch the moving map or order a drink etc. Our system uses browser technology, and there is no preflight download for the customer to do. We see no sign of seatback being dented by wifi. Over a three- or fourhour flight passengers want a choice of movies, including early window content." lumexis.com

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Lufthansa goes portable Lufthansa Systems was demonstrating BoardConnect Portable, a downsized wifi infotainment system. Developed on the same software base as BoardConnect, already installed on El Al, Lufthansa, Virgin Australia and other fleets, this product is targeting carriers wanting to avoid costly STC and the installation of hardware.

Due to its low footprint, weight and reduced cost, BoardConnect Portable is likely to appeal to low-cost, regional and domestic carriers that want to differentiate their cabin product and open a new mobile channel for advertising and ancillary services.

Like its larger brother, BoardConnect Portable is designed for use with the customer's own PED or an airlinesupplied tablet. All of the components, such as the server and access points, are combined in the Mobile Streaming Unit (MSU), supplying video streams to 50 passengers in parallel. By simply adding additional MSUs the number of users can be extended accordingly.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

The MSU is the size of a tablet and weighs about 1.5kg. According to Norbert Mueller, senior vp BoardConnect, it qualifies as nonpermanently installed equipment and hence does not need certification. It comes with a battery and a socket for external power supply and an integrated modem for fast content updates.

BoardConnect Portable competes in the same marketplace as the recently launched AirFi product. This light and low-cost system also requires no cables or installation. It has been ordered

by Estonian Air, Transavia, Adria and is currently in operation with TUI. Verona-based Air Dolomiti is the launch customer for the new BoardConnect Portable system, and will be installing it on ten of their E190 150-seat aircraft.

Norbert Mueller said: "Some airlines hesitate to make the investment in the full BoardConnect system, so we have introduced BoardConnect Portable to lower the entry barrier." lhsystems.com

ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT

ViaSat enables Netflix streaming dOn BUCHMAn, vp and general

Panasonic means business At the Panasonic press conference, Neil James, executive director, was eager to emphasise the Business For Business nature of their offering. The first question for a potential airline customer is ‘What is the outcome you want?’ James said that their mission did not end with a successful install, but continued until the customer had achieved their desired outcome.

James also pointed out that all but one of the APEX Awards winners announced on the Monday night was a Panasonic customer.

James announced that since April, Panasonic had installed IFE systems on 560 aircraft, saw a further 400 aircraft committed for IFEC installation, and had acquired seven new customers, bringing their total to 64. Among the new customers were Alitalia with 22, Air Serbia with 10, Air Europa with 20, and Finnair with 11 aircraft.

James also said that Air Asia had selected Panasonic's FlightLink, Air

Map and TAMDAR connected services for 90 of their A320s. FlightLink uses Iridium’s global satellite-based system to support flight deck voice and data communication, as well as GPS-based flight tracking, in all areas Air Asia flies. The system also provides data communications for the aircraft’s ACARS system and Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs).

Panasonic’s Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) atmospheric sensor is claimed to be the aviation industry’s most advanced airborne weather instrument. It will enable Air Asia to benefit from improved flight planning and situational display of atmospheric conditions, including icing and turbulence.

Among other announcements were a five-year extension of the partnership with Guestlogix for the use of their secure, endto-end transaction solution. Also a fiveyear extension of the contract with IMG to bring live sports coverage to eXTV. A second channel named eXTV Extra will bring new live sports programming when events are simultaneous. panasonic.aero ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

manager Commercial Mobility at ViaSat, talked at the show about the progress they had made in the short time they had been operating in the aero market. Starting with their deal to supply connectivity to JetBlue in September 2013 through their partner Thales, ViaSat has now launched a direct service with Virgin America, acting as the prime contractor.

This launched on September 29 with typical Virgin razzamatazz.

ViaSat-1's 140Gbps enables video streaming onboard and the launch focused on passengers' ability to stream Netflix content. The San Francisco to Washington DC flight had a House of Cards motif, with the Doug Stamper character making in-flight announcements, and most of the passengers indulging in binge-watching.

ViaSat recently received an STC for their in-cabin distribution so that they can develop their own hardware and work directly with customers. They are expecting a further STC early next year for their hybrid Ku/Ka band antenna.

In September they signed an agreement with Boeing to start the evaluation process for airlines to specify installing their in-flight wifi on aircraft. Commenting on the deal, Buchman said: “Our agreement with Boeing is an important milestone, giving our airline customers the ability to get the best onboard wifi system delivered with their new aircraft."

viasat.com

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 INTERVIEW

David Coiley VP AVIATION, INMARSAT

Richard Williams gets the low-down on Global Xpress Ka-band

Q. How does your satellite network connectivity, GX Aviation, stack up against the competition?

A. Ours is the only solution truly fit for purpose, as it has been devised from its inception in 2010 to provide global coverage to mobile receivers. Inmarsat’s DNA is in its establishment 35 years ago to enhance safety of life at sea, which was all on a global basis, and all about consistent levels of availability and performance. With our aviation safety service, for example, we have to provide 99.9% availability, and we exceed that

for direct-to-home TV services, neither of which demands the rigour of a mobile aviation solution. So we are the only solution that is fit for purpose. It’s shown in the coverage of our satellites. Three satellites, which is the minimum you need for global reach, are now in geostationary orbit, and in summer 2016 the fourth will be launched to provide spare capacity and some overlap. The aircraft systems are also designed from the ground up to maximise the dependability of the system. For example, we have a feature called ‘Make Before Break’; we have two receivers on

Ours is the only solution truly fit for purpose, devised from its inception to provide global coverage to mobile receivers standard. This is reflected in the way our people work, our attitude to fixing things and making sure they don’t go wrong in the first place. That is the backdrop to our provision of a much more robust, consistent, dependable experience in the passenger cabin as well.

Q. How good is the coverage of your network?

A. It is the only one that is global. Other Ku and Ka networks are more targeted on providing backwoods connectivity to remote places that the fibre-optic and cable networks don’t reach, or they are 88

every aircraft, so the aircraft can be using one satellite spot beam while the other receiver acquires the next, so you have continuity of signal throughout.

Q. do you have any plans for further satellites?

A. We have three now in space, with a fourth scheduled for launch next year. This will be the culmination of our Inmarsat 5th generation satellite programme that began in 2010. We don’t envisage the programme ending there. Any future satellites are likely to provide additional capacity in regional areas, wherever ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

that is required. They may use updated technology, for example, new antennas, to provide a more powerful service.

Q. How does Ka-band compare with Ku band connectivity?

A. We have an exclusively Ka-band network, designed to follow on from our original L-band network. It provides approximately four times the bandwidth of Ku, which makes the cost per bit much cheaper. Ku band is designed for direct-to-home TV services, but Ka is where everyone wants to be right now. It requires the same weight of antenna on the aircraft, at about 250lb. A 2Ku system, for example, requires a 400lb antenna.

Q. Who is your main customer and who do you partner with?

A. Lufthansa adopted our service after assessing 13 bidders of every flavour of Ku and Ka provider. They were interested in connectivity for wide-body continental aircraft. They are a global airline and our combination of reach, power, reliability and experience convinced them that we would be the best partner for them.

We also work with a network of partners such as Thales, SITAOnAir, Rockwell Collins and Gogo, with Honeywell as our hardware partner. We’ve got a dozen or more airlines queuing up to deploy our connectivity when we launch in Q1 2016.

Q. How does the cost of your service compare with your competitors?

A. We are obviously competitive as we beat off 12 other providers to come out

ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT

Ka-band is where everyone wants to be right now on top of that contest to supply Lufthansa.

It is a very competitive market and airlines study the attributes of GX and the attributes of other solutions in infinite detail to find the one that meets their requirements.

Q. How do you stay ahead of the game?

A. Studying our users and the applications they want us to serve helps us to keep ahead. Our experience in the maritime business helps us to anticipate trends and to know how to evolve technologies over time, and there is quite a strong synergy between the maritime and aviation industries. Because we are following a B2B2C model, we also look at consumer trends, for example, how they are using their PEDs in transit, and how that will impact demand on our systems. On our previous aviation service, we have increased data rates from 2.4Kbps to 1.6Mbps, and we are always looking to improve efficiency and performance by making use of new antenna technologies and new radio technologies.

PROFILE: David Coiley David Coiley is in charge of marketing Immarsat's complete portfolio of Aviation services in Europe.

He has over 25 years' experience working in aviation satellite communications.

ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

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NEW PRODUCTS

F&B innovation

This year we scoured the stands at lunch! and the Speciality and Fine Food Fair for the most innovative or interesting new products. Here’s what we found: 1

3

5

4 2

1. Mornflake and Nutella

3. Group Soi

Cereal producer Mornflake is bringing out its Top Porridge Pot with the addition of a sachet of chocolate spread Nutella.

The wholegrain oatflakes turn to thick porridge in three minutes. Mornflake.com

The new stone oven baked hot snack, Sorrentina, is 110g and made using local ingredients and regional recipes. The naturally leavened pizza dough comes topped with porcini mushrooms and mozzarella, sauteed vegetables and mozzarella, spinach and cheese and Italian mozzarella and fresh pomodoro. groupsoi.com

2. Nothing But These crunchy snacks of freeze-dried fruit and vegetables contain no sugar, salt, flavouring or preservatives. Each pack is gluten-free and under 80 calories.

They come in apple and fig, pineapple and grape, strawberry and banana; pea and sweetcorn, beetroot and parsnip, and mange tout and red pepper. nothingbutsnack.com 90

4. Simply Seedz The company has launched its porridge pots on Chiltern Railways in the UK. They contain no added salt and only natural sugar (from fruit) which is equivalent to just one sachet of sugar. The pots ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM

contain pumpkin and sunflower kernels and come in four flavours: dark chocolate and ginger, apricot and cranberry, apple and cinnamon, and date and apricot. simplyseedz.co.uk

5. Taking the Pea A vegetable-based snack offering, these coated crunchy peas contain 140 calories a pack and are high in protein and fibre. They come in four flavours: wacky wasabi, smoked ham, sweet chilli salsa and cheesy peasy & onion. takingthepea.com

InnoTrans 2016 20 – 23 SEPTEMBER • BERLIN 2

International Trade Fair for Transport Technology Innovative Components • Vehicles • Systems

innotrans.com

1

Ones to watch: BIRCH SAP WATER Birch sap is the new coconut water, so it seems, and we saw it all over the show at both Lunch and the Speciality and Fine Food Fair.

Birch sap is tapped straight from the tree and has been regarded as a healthy drink for centuries in Scandinavia, eastern Europe and Russia.

Harvested once a year in early spring, the sap is believed to strengthen the immune system, lower cholesterol and help weight loss. It is very low calorie. and high in manganese and other trace minerals.

1. Buddha Water Made from Finnish birch water, Buddha water is sparkling and comes in original, lemon/lime, mango, cherry, cranberry and hibiscus flavours. buddha-water.co.uk

2. TreeVitalise This organic range comes in original as well as lemon and mint and is carefully tapped in the Carpathian mountains to ensure no impact on the tree or surrounding environment. The water contains four calories per 100ml. Treevitalise.com

Tapped A birch water from the forests of Finland, Tapped comes stylishly packaged in original, apple and root ginger and bilberry and lingonberry flavours. Tapped.co.uk

Contact Messe Berlin GmbH · Mr. Erik Schaefer Messedamm 22 · 14055 Berlin · Germany T +49 30 3038 2034 F +49 30 3038 2190 schaefer@messe-berlin.de

Defining the future of the passenger experience industry The leading global conference and networking forum delivering content, driving innovation and developing connections to transform your business.

Registration is now open Early Bird price only â‚Ź485 Organised by:

rly a E * VIP rice Bird p 185 only â‚Ź T +VA Hosted by: TM

www.passengerexperienceconference.com/register * VIPs are subject to approval

EvEnts

The world’s largest tea party Where: Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya and Kandy When: August 28-29 2015 In a bid to win another place in the Guinness World Records, APOT.Asia along with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Ceylon Tea Board organised an amazing tea party which engaged local and global industry players and generated worldwide media interest.

SriLankan Airlines was an event partner.

The event saw the fastest amateur and professional tea pickers gather, with 1,000 people plucking tea, processing and serving to 35,000 people - the largest number of attendees ever at a tea party.

In all, 3,000kgs of green leaf were picked at the Pedro Estate.

En Route supports Breast Cancer Care Where: Onboard Emirates • When: October 2015 En Route gave its support to October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month for the second year running.

For the first time, passengers onboard Emirates flights on UK routes were served cheeky pink strawberry shortbreads with their tea made with natural, organic ingredients and packaged with the logo “Raise your Pinky”. Airline crew were also offered pink porridge. En Route also pledged a £10,000 donation to Breast Cancer Care.

Choc au Vin Where: ICA, London, UK • When: September 17 2015 A masterclass in matching Lily O'Brien's chocolates with a selection of wines and drinks was held by Mary Ann O'Brien and Jilly Goolden, one of the UK's best known wine critics.

Jilly was asked to match up the famous and delicious chocolates and truffles with wines that are available in UK supermarkets and she didn't disappoint!

The pairings included: • Zesty Orange Chocolate with Dessert Semillon 2009 • Crème Brûlée Chocolate with Offley Rose Port • Praline Perfection with Asti • Creamy Caramels with Sea Salt with Morgenhof Estate Chenin Blanc • Stem Ginger Batons with Mavrodaphne de Patras • Raspberry Infusion Cup with Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir • Key Limey Pie with Pointsettia Cocktail • Chocolate Truffle with Santo di Montepulciano Crociani • Passion Fruit Posset with Grand Reserve Maury.

onBoARDhospItAlItY.Com

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Events /people on the move

Time for lunch!

Where: Business Design Centre, London When: September 24-25 2015

Over 6,000 attendees demonstrated their appetite for lunch! this year including key buyers and decision makers from food retailers, travel caterers and distributors.

The show featured 350 exhibiting companies (up 25% for 2015) showcasing an eclectic mix of food, drink, packaging, catering equipment and technology.

“I’ve been attending for the last four years and each year just gets better.

Innovative exciting food, something you can really get your teeth into!” says Heerum Fleary, category manager procurement at Gate Gourmet.

Said Chris Brazier, group event director

Show highlights for 2015

of lunch!: “We are delighted that our eighth year of lunch! was our biggest and best show yet. The venue was full of senior decision makers and a record number of innovative exhibitors, and their feedback has been phenomenal.”

Save the date for lunch! 2016 lunch! will return to the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, on September 22-23 2016. lunchshow.co.uk

People on the move Jimmy Samartzis United To: Vice President, Food Services and United Club From: vice president of customer experience, United In this role, Jimmy is responsible for all catering and onboard services that are part of the customer experience.

He oversees teams of employees at United’s Chelsea kitchens and all catering operations around the world. He is also responsible for United Club strategy and operations including the renovation of more than 50 properties around the world.

The Working lunch! Theatre and new Menu Innovation Theatre enjoyed a host of standing-room only sessions.

Onboard Hospitality was a media partner of the event and hosted a session in the Keynote Theatre titled "F&B to go on the go - realising the value of the onboard sector". Guest panelists included Gail Yates, head of inflight services, Virgin Atlantic; Caroline Thompson, director, Gastro; and Amy Fry, commercial manager, En Route.

Jeremy Clark was in the chair.

Fabien Levet Pidy To: sales Executive, pidy uk From: food and beverage manager, Brioche Pasquier Fabien will be working in conjunction with Paul Eason to develop the Pidy brand position in the hospitality sector. His skills will help strengthen Pidy’s position in the foodservice market. Fabien Levet said: “I am looking forward to working with Pidy UK, I believe the brand, and products have a fantastic reputation. The products in particular are very distinctive."

please send your appointment news to laura.gelder@onboardhospitality.com

CALENDAR December 7

–9 SIAL Middle East , Abu Dhabi Natio nal Exhibition Cent re, UAE sialme.com December 9 – 10

ARC Africa & Mid dle East, Cape Town, Sout h Africa arcevents.co

February 23 – 24

Aviation Festival 2016, Suntec Singapor e Convention & Exhibition Cent re terrapinn.com

February 24 – 25

Casual Dining, The Business De sign Centre, Lond on casualdiningshow .co.uk