Gate Gourmet is the leading global provider of airline catering solutions and provisioning services for airlines, both in-flight at over 200 airports as well as at airport lounges. From menu design through execution and delivery, our passion is giving our airline customers and their passengers an exceptional experience.
Working with our airline customers and business partners, our talented chefs develop innovative culinary creations that delight the passenger senses. Our operational excellence team and program ensures standardized and consistent catering services across the globe while our extended supply chain and complex logistics operations deliver reliable on-time handling.
Our passion for culinary innovation and commitment to operational excellence enables our airline customers to provide their passengers with an exceptional dining experience.
Culinary Quality
Gate Gourmet’s global team of chefs work with our airline customers to design and prepare delicious and unique menus which delight the passenger. They also help ensure culinary consistency and top food quality across our global operation.
Gate Gourmet is proud to offer customers access to one of the most experienced and innovative teams of menu design and operational chefs in the industry. Our executive chefs have worked at some of the world’s finest restaurants and have a flair for true hospitality – indeed, at Gate Gourmet alone we have over 20 chefs with Michelin stars.
We have a Culinary Center of Excellence in place focused on providing our airline customers with their own “culinary signature” and ensuring consistency on a global scale in all Gate Gourmet kitchens. This philosophy is founded on our culture of culinary excellence and continuous improvement.
Our chefs hail from different regions and countries and are experts in their respective native cuisine. With Gate Gourmet, you can count on a partner with expertise in ethnic and cultural cuisines as well as dietary requirements and religious customs.
Our world-class team of chefs stay abreast of the latest developments in the culinary world. They track worldwide restaurant trends and regional preferences to design contemporary menus that can be replicated in large quantities. They also scout for the latest food trends and evaluate new products, equipment and production techniques.
To deliver on our customers’ vision, Gate Gourmet chefs work collaboratively with the airlines. We set ourselves apart by listening carefully to their needs, presenting multiple options and working together to customize programs to their exact specifications and worldwide locations – whatever and wherever these may be.
Operational Excellence
Our ongoing pursuit of operational excellence led Gate Gourmet to launch its gateOPEX program as a revolutionary step forward in defining and deploying standards and best practices across all functional areas.
Sustaining operational excellence, reliability, and the highest standards of service across global operations in more than 200 locations spanning six continents is a challenge for any organization.
We are a global leader in our markets and the products and services we provide. To this end we must master logistical complexities, time sensitivity, safety and security considerations and a large and diversified work force every day.
We do this through three basic interlinked principles, each with its own set of well-defined processes, practices and initiatives.
People Development
Gate Gourmet puts emphasis and effort on training to build up people’s capabilities. Our training initiatives offer courses, from Lean Principles to coaching and mentoring. Our training also includes methods of sharing information across all levels of the operation and blended learning containing an element of ‘on the job’ training.
Operational Deployment
We aim to identify and mitigate potential issues before they occur and to constantly enhance our policies and procedures which ensure that standards are maintained across the globe. Technology is a true enabler in this area as it allows us to gather data directly at work through tablets and smart phones. Gate Gourmet also encourages employee feedback and suggestions for improvement during shift briefings.
Infrastructure Management
Gate Gourmet equips its employees with the technology to increase the safety, quality and speed of product delivery, enhance customer interaction, and improve communication. With our Mobile Data Collector product delivery and top-off data is captured electronically, increasing speed of reconciliation and invoicing, and driving efficiencies.
Complex Logistics
Before a flight can be dispatched, thousands of individual items must be provisioned to make the trip safe and comfortable for passengers.
Getting the right items on the right flight at the right time is a huge challenge, requiring precise coordination for loading and unloading trucks at busy gates, flexibility to meet critical turn-around times, and a mastery of logistics to ensure reliability. Here’s how we do it:
Pre-Flight Cart Packing, Delivery and Galley Loading
We orchestrate the assembly of meals according to specifications, pack the service trolleys in the prescribed manner, stage the carts for loading in controlled coolers, and execute delivery in high-loader trucks to provision the aircraft’s galley accurately and on time.
Post-Flight Aircraft Stripping; Equipment Washing and Sterilization; Trash Disposal
We remove carts from arriving aircraft and take them to the flight kitchen for unloading and sanitization. At locations set up for recycling, refuse is sorted accordingly. For international flights, we separate trash from the general waste stream according to regulations and sterilize it before disposal. Re-usable items such as crockery and cutlery are sent through the dishwashing/sterilization line. Carts are thoroughly washed and sterilized, according to specifications, and the trolleys undergo safety inspections to check for proper functionality.
Inventory Management, Including Bonded Warehouses
We maintain separate and controlled equipment storage areas for each customer. Our employees collect the data for inventory management either through the customers’ system or via gategroup’s proprietary software, providing confidence that optimal supplies of any service item are always available, inventory is tightly controlled, and waste is minimized.
