Business History Books » Business Consultant » Another tasty thread on airline food
Another tasty thread on airline food
Question:
Just keep booking those 10:57 am flights and you won’t have to worry about eating the sludge because you won’t get a meal. Touche!! :-)
Response:
>Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a >substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard >product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but >attractive. Sort of reminds me of General Motors, which has the world’s best >car advertising and the world worst cars.
I’ve had good, and even great, food on CX, SQ, and BR, but they don’t promote that fact. Agree on GM, though ;-) Ed R.
Response:
>>Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a >substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard >product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but >attractive.
Yet as soon as you see that food cart coming down the isle – you lower your tray, and anxiously look up the aisle in anticipation of the meal your about to receive. Humans are weird that way… AC
Response:
> >Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a >substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard >product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but >attractive. Sort of reminds me of General Motors, which has the world’s best >car advertising and the world worst cars. > I’ve had good, and even great, food on CX, SQ, and BR, but they don’t > promote that fact. > Agree on GM, though ;-)
Agree on CX. Haven’t experienced the others. I’ve got a GMC which ain’t great but a helluva lot better than the last GM product (an old Caddy) and MUCH better than its willingness to stand behind the product (which is the ultimate test for me of the quality of a company). Ibid Jag, which is both a lousy car and a lousy company. RAB, car nut from way back…8-)
Response:
> >>Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a >>substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard >>product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but >>attractive. > Yet as soon as you see that food cart coming down the isle – you lower your > tray, and anxiously look up the aisle in anticipation of the meal your about > to receive. Humans are weird that way… > AC
Well, at least they don’t make you sit up and beg for it. Not yet, anyway. :)
Response:
atwood wrote Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but attractive. Just keep booking those 10:57 am flights and you won’t have to worry about eating the sludge because you won’t get a meal.
Response:
From the March 13th issue of the Economist: (many elisions from full text) Who has the toughest logistical job at JFK? ..James Anderson, general manager of LSG Sky Chef’s [whose] kitchen turns a mountain of ingredients into 7,500 meals for customers such as BA, SAA, etc., [every day]. Despite the aroma of grilled salmon..the football-field sized facility feels more like a Silicon Valley "fab" than a kitchen. Using "cell" production methods adopted from GM’s Saturn factories, they take, on average, 1.5 minutes to build a single meal. Many airlines [contract] out their food to specialist suppliers. Costs have fallen, and food is slightly better. Sky Chefs’..new coolers at JFK can chill part-cooked food from 150 degrees F to 39F in less than 15 minutes, rapidly sealing in juices before the final blast in aircraft ovens. The airlines have squeezed their suppliers. According to GKMG Consultants, the average domestic meal in America now costs just $4.13 per pax, compared with $5.62 in 1992. Even on Concorde, food accounts for only $45 on a $5,620 tix. A Harvard Biz School study at end of 97 noted that on short haul economy in the US, "Sky Chefs was often forced to provide food and beverage services for under $3 a pax." In a new book (Discovering the Soul of Service" by Leonard L. Berry), Berry, a marketing professor at Texas A&M claims that investment in food has helped Midwest Express [become] one of America’s two most consistently profitable airlines. MX is the only American carrier listed in the world’s top 10 for service. It spends around $10 per head on food, twice as much as most domestic airlines. In 1997, Sky Chefs CEO Michael Kay offered $1 million to any airline prepared to launch a marketing campaign based on better food. UA took him up. UA boosted traffic on test routes by 2%, equal to $2.4 million in extra revenue. 10% more pax said they would fly with UA again. UA’s manager of on-board services credits the process with "forcing us to develop a financial model to tell us when improved service leads to higher revenues." End of quotations Interesting – a major airline notices that improved service means increased ridership, and revenue. However, I suspect this is cyclical – a marketing guy will use this to boost rev-miles, and eventually he will be copied by other airlines. Net result: everyone’s costs go up as they provide better services, but doesn’t translate to increased market share. After a while, a bean counter figures that profits will increase if they only put two ice cubes in each drink, and this starts the spiral we’ve seen the last few years. So I guess food and service will, like everything in the airline business, go up and down every few years! Kevin
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->From the March 13th issue of the Economist: (many elisions from full text) >Who has the toughest logistical job at JFK? ..James Anderson, general manager >of LSG Sky Chef’s [whose] kitchen turns a mountain of ingredients into 7,500 >meals for customers such as BA, SAA, etc., [every day]. >Despite the aroma of grilled salmon..the football-field sized facility feels >more like a Silicon Valley "fab" than a kitchen. Using "cell" production >methods adopted from GM’s Saturn factories, they take, on average, 1.5 minutes >to build a single meal. >Many airlines [contract] out their food to specialist suppliers. Costs have >fallen, and food is slightly better. Sky Chefs’..new coolers at JFK can chill >part-cooked food from 150 degrees F to 39F in less than 15 minutes, rapidly >sealing in juices before the final blast in aircraft ovens. >The airlines have squeezed their suppliers. According to GKMG Consultants, >the average domestic meal in America now costs just $4.13 per pax, compared >with $5.62 in 1992. Even on Concorde, food accounts for only $45 on a $5,620 >tix. A Harvard Biz School study at end of 97 noted that on short haul economy >in the US, "Sky Chefs was often forced to provide food and beverage services >for under $3 a pax." >In a new book (Discovering the Soul of Service" by Leonard L. Berry), Berry, a >marketing professor at Texas A&M claims that investment in food has helped >Midwest Express [become] one of America’s two most consistently profitable >airlines. MX is the only American carrier listed in the world’s top 10 for >service. It spends around $10 per head on food, twice as much as most domestic >airlines. >In 1997, Sky Chefs CEO Michael Kay offered $1 million to any airline prepared >to launch a marketing campaign based on better food. UA took him up. UA >boosted traffic on test routes by 2%, equal to $2.4 million in extra revenue. >10% more pax said they would fly with UA again. UA’s manager of on-board >services credits the process with "forcing us to develop a financial model to >tell us when improved service leads to higher revenues." >End of quotations >Interesting – a major airline notices that improved service means increased >ridership, and revenue. However, I suspect this is cyclical – a marketing guy >will use this to boost rev-miles, and eventually he will be copied by other >airlines. Net result: everyone’s costs go up as they provide better services, >but doesn’t translate to increased market share. After a while, a bean counter >figures that profits will increase if they only put two ice cubes in each >drink, and this starts the spiral we’ve seen the last few years. >So I guess food and service will, like everything in the airline business, go >up and down every few years!
Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but attractive. Sort of reminds me of General Motors, which has the world’s best car advertising and the world worst cars.
Response:
> Never ceases to amaze me how much effort they seem to put into making such a > substandard product, let alone the cost of advertising the substandard > product and in those ads portraying the sludge as not only edible but > attractive. Sort of reminds me of General Motors, which has the world’s best > car advertising and the world worst cars.
Great. Our pal atwood the troll is now showing us that he knows just as much about automobiles as he does about commercial aviation. Very little in either case. Mike
Response:
I also swear by Midwest Express (which, btw, is NOT MX but YX)… I fly them almost exclusively, even though I am only half an hour from O’hare. The food is consistently very good to excellent. I’ve even had lobster on a Sunday noon flight from LAX to MKE…. last week we flew the red eye back from LAS to MKE, boarded at midnight and had a wonderful "snack" that was really a small meal… inc. a terrific roast beef sandwich, veggies and dip, and cheesecake, along with champagne!…. Then we fell asleep. (I’m a walking talking commercial for YX…) Almost forgot about the warm choc chip cookies on many flights… Steve – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >As far as airline food goes: My parents swear by MX (but they’ve only >flown 4 segments in the last ten years). I’ve flown UA, NW, TW, US, MJ, >and AA, but never MX. Total flight segments is something like 30 segments >over the course of about 13 mos (everytime I fly I have to take a >connection, and each connection usually entails a J41/SF340/ATR42 so about >have those flights can be discounted from "meal service." And then, even >on top of that, I don’t get that many meals. AA has that nasty Bistro >stuff, TWA’s stuff isn’t that much better, I’ve never had a UA meal, the >US meal I had was FC. The only hot coach meal I’ve had I had on NW from >MSP-DCA and it was pretty good, especially compared to cafeteria food and >the Bistro stuff. The FC meal I had wasn’t much better, if at all, >compared to the NW coach meal. >Not to cross thread, but why is UA any better than AA? >-Dan > A couple years ago as a temp I was sent to work at NW Airlines Flight > Kitchen as an accounting clerk. It was supposed to be a one week > vacation replacement and lasted three months (it would have gone longer > but the union has a 90 day limit for temps). > One of the benefits of the job was free lunches from the kitchen. I can > safely say I have never eaten better food for lunch as I did in those > three months (particularly when dessert was serviced from the first > class menus. I have not flown NW in many years so I don’t know how well > the food tastes when it actually reaches the passengers > I would also like to say both the supervisory staff and the kitchen > people worked their tails off tto produce a good product and when the > auditors came in from MSP to check on the operations they were tougher > than any government inspector would ever be as to health standards as > well as on insisting that the kitchen meet corporate standards as to > food quality. Also the international flights were catered by a top > quality local Japaanese restaurant. > I am not sure if the kitchen is still in operation. The airport > authority was planning to raze the building (it is still there) to > build additional terminal facilities and NW was planning to close out > its operations and contract their catering to another company. > George, who gained weightt July-Oct 97 > And, as Alex the Great once said "Let us walk off the map" in pursuit of > our dreams
Response:
As far as airline food goes: My parents swear by MX (but they’ve only flown 4 segments in the last ten years). I’ve flown UA, NW, TW, US, MJ, and AA, but never MX. Total flight segments is something like 30 segments over the course of about 13 mos (everytime I fly I have to take a connection, and each connection usually entails a J41/SF340/ATR42 so about have those flights can be discounted from "meal service." And then, even on top of that, I don’t get that many meals. AA has that nasty Bistro stuff, TWA’s stuff isn’t that much better, I’ve never had a UA meal, the US meal I had was FC. The only hot coach meal I’ve had I had on NW from MSP-DCA and it was pretty good, especially compared to cafeteria food and the Bistro stuff. The FC meal I had wasn’t much better, if at all, compared to the NW coach meal. Not to cross thread, but why is UA any better than AA? -Dan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > A couple years ago as a temp I was sent to work at NW Airlines Flight > Kitchen as an accounting clerk. It was supposed to be a one week > vacation replacement and lasted three months (it would have gone longer > but the union has a 90 day limit for temps). > One of the benefits of the job was free lunches from the kitchen. I can > safely say I have never eaten better food for lunch as I did in those > three months (particularly when dessert was serviced from the first > class menus. I have not flown NW in many years so I don’t know how well > the food tastes when it actually reaches the passengers > I would also like to say both the supervisory staff and the kitchen > people worked their tails off tto produce a good product and when the > auditors came in from MSP to check on the operations they were tougher > than any government inspector would ever be as to health standards as > well as on insisting that the kitchen meet corporate standards as to > food quality. Also the international flights were catered by a top > quality local Japaanese restaurant. > I am not sure if the kitchen is still in operation. The airport > authority was planning to raze the building (it is still there) to > build additional terminal facilities and NW was planning to close out > its operations and contract their catering to another company. > George, who gained weightt July-Oct 97 > And, as Alex the Great once said "Let us walk off the map" in pursuit of > our dreams
Response:
A couple years ago as a temp I was sent to work at NW Airlines Flight Kitchen as an accounting clerk. It was supposed to be a one week vacation replacement and lasted three months (it would have gone longer but the union has a 90 day limit for temps). One of the benefits of the job was free lunches from the kitchen. I can safely say I have never eaten better food for lunch as I did in those three months (particularly when dessert was serviced from the first class menus. I have not flown NW in many years so I don’t know how well the food tastes when it actually reaches the passengers I would also like to say both the supervisory staff and the kitchen people worked their tails off tto produce a good product and when the auditors came in from MSP to check on the operations they were tougher than any government inspector would ever be as to health standards as well as on insisting that the kitchen meet corporate standards as to food quality. Also the international flights were catered by a top quality local Japaanese restaurant. I am not sure if the kitchen is still in operation. The airport authority was planning to raze the building (it is still there) to build additional terminal facilities and NW was planning to close out its operations and contract their catering to another company. George, who gained weightt July-Oct 97 And, as Alex the Great once said "Let us walk off the map" in pursuit of our dreams