Well fed

zoom

Flying and food often make a bad combination. For economy passengers in particular, food is usually feared rather than revered. Meanwhile, business and first class travellers now have extremely high expectations to match the rising prices they pay.

But there are exceptions. Indeed, Emirates Airline consistently scoops awards for best carrier in travel magazines, such as Business Traveller, Condé Nast and Travel Weekly. It has a loyal clientele, particularly in business class, with many passengers pointing to the airline's in-flight entertainment (IFE) and food as the reasons for it popularity. Emirates' recipe for securing critical acclaim is simple: money.

At a time when high oil prices have hit the airline industry hard, causing many to cut back their in-flight services, Emirates has continued investing heavily in the latest IFE and finest foods. For some passengers, this spending spree has set Emirates Flight Catering apart from the rest.

Logistical nightmare

Most airline passengers rarely think beyond whether the food is tasty or hard to swallow. It's likely few understand that in-flight catering is actually a lesson in logistics rather than cooking. Indeed, huge volumes of meals must be prepared and packaged in limited time to tight specifications. Those meals and all accompanying equipment must then be loaded onto the right plane at the right time. Given that all routes offer different meal services for each class - with long-haul flights requiring between 4.5 and 9.5 tons of catering equipment - there are several issues to deal with.

Bob Ferguson, senior vice president for aircraft catering at Emirates Flight Catering (EFC), is responsible for ensuring passengers on all aircraft are well fed. During the past 15 years, he has seen Emirates' flight catering business grow significantly. In 1992, Emirates received 11,000 meals daily from the flights catering business. Today, EFC produces between 68,000 and 86,000 meals, with a total capacity of 120,000 for the carrier. Emirates Airline is the flight kitchen's largest customer, although the company also supplies meals to several other established carriers.

At 69, Ferguson has the energy of a man half his age. He has been in airline catering most of his life, working under the wings of an aeroplane in the Falklands, serving the Queen of England and the US president on special flights, and travelling to more than 100 countries. His passion for the business and achieving the highest quality is boundless. Ferguson is equally enthusiastic about hiring the best chefs, no matter where he finds them.

Ferguson believes in promoting from within and is especially proud of the people he has nurtured through the business. They include Mamjit Sohal, the first female food product manager at Emirates, and several "tea boys" whom Ferguson developed into administrative assistants and flight stewards. "Success involves looking after your people," he says. Ferguson likes to monitor all aspects of the kitchen and often has food from several flights delivered to his office for quality checks.

The internal auditing process is handled by Emirates' food product managers, but Ferguson is keen to know what is happening with the food. Each item on the tray is weighed, tasted and photographed to make sure they match the exact specifications. With hundreds of meals to keep track of, this is a hugely complex job.

Despite the huge volume of meals, EFC's kitchens contain no bubbling vats or average quality produce. Indeed, the company prides itself on using the best ingredients for its in-flight meals. "We use beef tenderloin from Australia, while other airlines use Brazilian beef," Ferguson says. "We make our own chocolate decorations by hand, using Callebaut chocolate, while others use Felchlin.

We make everything ourselves except Arabic bread - even ice cream. You need to start with a very high quality because the food goes through several more [processes].

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

READERS' COMMENTS

View all comments (0)

Have your say

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM