The importance of standardizing culinary processes
Sometimes the seemingly simple operations pose the biggest problems.
Advanced equipment and a global partnership with the manufacturer allow gategroup to achieve consistent quality of meals produced in different corners of the world.
A major challenge in airline catering is making sure that thousands of meals produced in large batches and in different geographical locations are of consistent culinary quality. Airline customers operate in many different places and expect their meals to look, smell and taste the same no matter where in the world they have been produced. Standardizing operational culinary processes is the key to achieving consistent culinary quality across hundreds of industrial-scale kitchens in different countries.
In its ambition to apply consistency on a global scale, gategroup has been working with the combi-steamer and VarioCookingCenter manufacturer Rational for many years. This successful cooperation has recently been strengthened through a global partnership under which gategroup has already introduced more than 600 new combi-steamers globally; more will be added as end-of-lifecycle equipment is being replaced. And because new equipment only helps when it is operational and when it is being used correctly, the cooperation with Rational also includes aftersales service and regular culinary trainings.
Every year, a dedicated culinary team from Rational and gategroup’s experts for culinary excellence organize joint workshops with local chefs to drive efficiencies and innovation. They meet in one of gategroup’s units to share ideas and best practices, showcase culinary global operational excellence and address specific pain-points.
Sometimes the seemingly simple operations pose the biggest problems. Getting scrambled eggs exactly right, for example. Producing them in large quantities in uniform and consistent quality turned out to be one of the challenges chefs face in their daily routine. Thanks to the multifunctional kitchen equipment, scrambled eggs can now be produced in a precision controlled cooking cabinet using automated and intelligent cooking processes. Now they come out perfect every single time.
