Caterers EncouragedTo Share Exhibit Space
In past years, the Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference and the Flight Attendants Conference sponsored by NBAA have had a major representation from the catering community.

At the Schedulers & Dispatchers event in January 2008, there were 20 catering exhibits. A year later at the Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference, as the impact of the recession was just beginning to be felt, 18 caterers exhibited. The impact was far more apparent at the Flight Attendants Conference. At the June 2008 conference, 18 caterers were represented. A year later, the conference drew just six.

According to Paula Kraft, president of Tastefully Yours in Atlanta and coordinator of the NBAA caterers working group, caterers can manage the cost of exhibiting at the 2010 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference by sharing booths.
While sharing booths is permitted, only one free admission is allowed per booth. Each additional person sharing a booth will be required to pay $450 for admission. Each booth also gets just one listing in the directory.

Each additional listing will cost $250. The rental cost is $1,950 per booth (10 foot by 10 foot). For additional information, contact Paula Kraft at (770) 455-7002.

Royal Jet Introduces Personal Chef Services
Royal Jet of Abu Dhabi is offering guests a personal chef, “providing them with bespoke gourmet dining based on their own individual preferences.” The company claims it is the only private jet charter company to provide such a service. “They prepare and plan the entire culinary side of a guest’s journey, discussing preferences and providing customized menu solutions in the planning stages, including not just the food itself but also the finest quality beverages from Royal Jet’s cellars,” said Aubrey Tiedt, director of services and cabin crew.
In addition to providing pre-flight consultancy at the time of booking, Royal Jet chefs are available to travel with the client.

Skyjet Adds New Standard Catering To Jet Card Program
Bombardier Skyjet, the provider of the Skyjet card membership program, has announced a new standard catering service.

The new standard menu, called Skyjet Café, is available on request at no additional cost to card members. It includes a variety of individual meal and platter options. Four breakfast options are available for morning flights. For afternoon and evening travel, passengers have a choice of entrée salads and sandwich meals, or fresh fruit, crudité, cheese, deli and dessert platters.

Skyjet card members still have the option of ordering special catering, the cost of which is debited from their accounts.

International Catering Group Plans Food Guidelines
The International Association for General Aviation Catering (IAGAC) is in the final stages of publishing a set of guidelines and standards, according to Paula Kraft, steering committee member and owner of Tastefully Yours catering in Atlanta. They will include guidelines for catering facilities, food handling safety, food allergy management, food labeling, security procedures, cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, insect and rodent control and waste management.

Also planned is the hiring of a professional auditing company to maintain catering facility standards. “Our plan will be to accept caterers that have passed the auditing [and] once passed, they will be allowed to display the IAGAC logo on business cards, stationery and Web sites. The organization will also maintain an online registry of IAGAC-certified caterers.

Launched at the NBAA Convention two years ago, IAGAC was established to improve the overall standards of general aviation caterers and provide the aviation industry with food-safety and security information.

The next meeting of the IAGAC is scheduled at the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in January.

Classico Offers In-flight Sommelier Service
Classico Group, a Los Angeles-based sommelier agency, is now offering a professional wine service for private aircraft as well as yachts, offices and homes.
According to agency founder Marko Paavolainen, a professional sommelier from the agency will assist in planning the wine list for trips, or for a company wine cellar.
The service may also include the in-flight presence of a Classico Group sommelier.

Paavolainen comes from a European hotelier family
and graduated from Helsinki Culinary School’s chef program. He has also participated in the Culinary Institute of America’s wine program.

New EU Rules To Affect Catering
The European Commission intends to introduce next year new
regulations applying to private aviation catering the same standards that previously applied only to airline catering.

The rules will require full security screening for those involved in every stage of food preparation and delivery. The tighter security will inevitably reduce flexibility in the already demanding job of getting high-quality meals onto flights that are often subject to shifting departure times.

For example, if a food supplier fails to deliver an ingredient at the last minute, the caterer cannot simply go to another supplier unless that company also has been fully screened. Further, the caterer has to specify which of its staff are legally responsible for compliance with security rules, and those individuals may face prosecution if they fail to ensure that all controls are met.