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How Qatar Airways Preps 200,000 Meals Every Day — Transcript

by Business Insider · 2,579 words · 418 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00[Music]
0:01every single dish is made from scratch
0:04at the kar AR's catering Kitchen in
0:08Doha it churns out more than 200,000
0:11fresh meals a day even for regional
0:14short Hall
0:16flights it all needs to be prepared
0:19about 48 hours before
0:21takeoff I think perhaps the biggest
0:23challenge is just ensuring that there's
0:25consistency and that everything runs
0:27smoothly the chefs here believe it's
0:29part of the reason the airline has been
0:31named number one in the world for the
0:33eighth time since
0:362011 this kind of cooking used to be the
0:39standard in most flights in America too
0:41no matter what cabin you flew on but
0:44today most US Airlines don't run their
0:47own kitchens opting to buy from catering
0:50services instead so why has economy
0:53airplane food gone from luxury to a
0:56point of ridicule in the US and why do
1:00so few Airlines still cook their own
1:05meals no workers are allowed to step
1:08foot in the kitchen without walking
1:10through this air shower Corridor
1:12first to ensure that we have no
1:16biological or any physical contaminants
1:18go into the
1:20kitchen this is Filipe hemp's
1:23playground 4,000 people from 38
1:27countries work at the cther aircraft
1:29catering company or
1:31qacc it's a part of the cut Airways
1:33group the team develops new menus every
1:373
1:38months all the produce is fresh even
1:42though they're operating in a food
1:45desert they go through 30 metric tons of
1:48fruits and vegetables daily and use
1:50custom machines to help prep them for
1:53meals like this bin that can wash 12,000
1:57peppers a
1:58day and this machine that peels six
2:01cantaloupes in under a
2:04minute other produce like dragon fruit
2:07strawberries white asparagus get a more
2:10delicate treatment they're peeled and
2:13carved by hand it's a big routine making
2:15almost 200,000 meals a day the team is
2:18rotated throughout their time working
2:22here inside the Hot Kitchen the aroma of
2:26cumin garlic and onions fills the air
2:31chefs prepare dishes of several
2:33different Cuisines from Indian to Arabic
2:36and Asian we base them mostly on the
2:39demographics of that flight for example
2:41for America we have a lot of traffic
2:43from the Indian
2:45subcontinent they use over 300 potatoes
2:48every day to make ALU ticki a popular
2:51street food in India the kitchen goes
2:54through 36,000 whole fresh eggs a
2:58week and another 3 and 1/2 tons of
3:01pasteurized egg whites are turned into
3:0312,000 omelets a
3:06day even the smallest change can be
3:09costly we need to ensure that we're
3:11going to able to meet the quantities
3:12without having to make any substitutions
3:15the moment we have any substitutions
3:16then menu cards will be affected and and
3:18things like
3:21that there's also a big emphasis on
3:24making most food from
3:26scratch even for items that are often
3:29bought Frozen or pre-made like
3:33sausages and pasta if you're ordering
3:36ravioli from economy class you're
3:38getting freshly made pasta which not
3:40many airlines do
3:42that bread products are also prepared on
3:45site Bakers churn out 10,000 croissants
3:49an hour as well as handmade
3:53fukas pastry chefs design new desserts
3:57every quarter like these chocolate
3:59brownies made from
4:01scratch we're giving this an economy and
4:04it's a homemade eggless brownie tastes
4:06really good with a moose
4:10underneath while people here handle food
4:13all day
4:14long taste testing is only reserved for
4:18a select few for each of our kitchens we
4:21have a centralized tasting area so I'm
4:24here with Chef Harish who's our
4:25executive chef for
4:27qatc our senior chefs will taste the
4:30food log it down and give their comments
4:32if something does not pass our criteria
4:34we redo the
4:37meals yeah you
4:39agree G Airways has a total of 270
4:43international flights leaving from DOA
4:46per day and on average the airline
4:48serves 350 meals on each
4:52flight this facility also provides meals
4:55to other one world Alliance partners
4:57that fly out of Doha and to the 19
5:00lounges at hammad International
5:03Airport all the food is halal prepared
5:07in accordance with Islamic dietary laws
5:10because Qatar is a Muslim
5:12country so for example you won't find
5:15any pork on the
5:17menu but when it comes to drinks the
5:20airline does serve alcohol once you're
5:22up in the clouds unlike some Muslim
5:24carriers like Saudia or Kuwait Airways
5:27where it's banned
5:31once each dish is finalized it's stacked
5:33on a tray and
5:35labeled the reason we put a barcode is
5:37to ensure we have traceability for every
5:39Dish as well as for the team on the
5:42other side to be able to easily find
5:44what they need for
5:45assembly it also helps them track any
5:48food safety issues down the line we can
5:51trace it all the way back to the person
5:53that made it the day they made it the
5:54time they made it and we can then
5:56further investigate if there's a need
5:59the the trayes are cooled for 90 minutes
6:01to prevent the growth of any bacteria or
6:03pathogens and then temperature is
6:06checked once again by our infra
6:08thermometer then the food is covered
6:11scanned and sent for storage it's not
6:14possible for the airline to prepare
6:16everything on the day of the flight so
6:18usually they make food in advance and
6:21refrigerate it for one day at the most
6:24any longer and The Taste and texture
6:26could change especially for starchy
6:28foods like rice or pot
6:30but nothing is fully
6:32Frozen this cooling chamber is set to
6:35below 5° C and can store 3500 trays at a
6:40time a robotic arm adds and removes
6:43trays as needed across 30
6:46levels in the cold kitchen workers
6:48prepare fruit bows dips and about 12,000
6:52sandwiches a
6:54day many of these items end up on short
6:56hole flights which are less than 3 hours
6:58long Peter here will uh request our
7:01mashed potatoes a few hours before the
7:03flight takes off the food trays that
7:05were stored in the chiller are brought
7:08back in for
7:09portioning workers on this line have
7:11their eyes at all times on the golden
7:15sample the combos are endless and change
7:19depending on the
7:20[Music]
7:22route the economy meals are dished up on
7:25trees and packed
7:28away business class meals are
7:30temporarily portioned in these foil
7:32containers flight attendants will later
7:35plate and serve these dishes paying a
7:38lot of attention to the presentation
7:40which will ultimately look like
7:43this qar Airways tries to bring hints of
7:46luxury to economy too in the
7:49details they offer 18 meals that
7:52customers with special dietary needs can
7:54pre-order we have sort of our religious
7:56meals we also have our medical meals and
7:59then we have are specific meals like
8:00child meals Etc The Culinary team has
8:03designed 50 meal choices for economy and
8:07first class each and 150 for business
8:10class that are dished out based on a
8:12flight's route and
8:14duration every cabin gets real
8:18silverware all these items are dried
8:21hand polished and assembled again ready
8:24for the next flight we're always looking
8:26at at ways of to reduce single use
8:29plastic
8:30we are looking at materials for our meal
8:32kids to be able to to have less impact
8:34on the
8:36environment cther Airways won several
8:38Awards including the Apex Award for best
8:41food and
8:44beverage but they can't maintain high
8:46standards by only sourcing local
8:49products as kutar is one of the hottest
8:52and driest countries in the world with
8:55no lakes or Rivers growing things here
8:58is hard
9:00currently we have more uh imported
9:02ingredients than than local however this
9:04is something that we're trying to
9:07change we're working together with a lot
9:09of local farms Fisheries to to provide
9:12some of our products that includes
9:14tomatoes cucumbers spinach and bok
9:19[Music]
9:20choy the trays are stacked in these
9:22carts that are rolled under trucks that
9:24head for the tarmac
9:29[Music]
9:32the trolley are pushed onto the aircraft
9:34and locked into the
9:36galys flight attendants then work their
9:39magic we have newer generation ovens
9:42which allow individualization of
9:45temperature and humidity when it comes
9:46to reheating the
9:49meals food has been served on PLS since
9:52the
9:53192s but back then it was handed out
9:56cold because there was no way to heat it
9:58on board in the US United Airlines
10:01opened the world's first Airline Kitchen
10:03in 1936 in Oakland
10:06California with just six employees
10:08making about 60 meals a day regardless
10:12of the season your Crossing will be
10:14smooth in those days the US airline
10:16industry was regulated by the federal
10:20government so carriers were legally
10:22required to serve every passenger an
10:25entree two vegetables a salad dessert
10:29and a drink as part of their ticket
10:31price but the glory years of airline
10:34travel and food were the 50s and
10:3760s it was nice to relax in comfort as
10:40pleasant as our own living room and to
10:42be served with such courtesy flight
10:45attendant on PanAm made real scrambled
10:47eggs in The Galley old posters showed
10:50them slicing and serving roast beef
10:52right from the trolley and hot meals
10:55were served even on domestic economy but
10:58in 19 78 President Carter signed the
11:01airline deregulation act allowing
11:04Airlines to set their own fairs routes
11:06and services competition immediately
11:10heated up Airlines quickly cut flight
11:13prices to attract customers but looked
11:15for other ways to make up for lost
11:17Revenue like slashing food options in
11:20fact in the 1980s the head of American
11:23Airlines Robert kandall famously came up
11:26with the idea of removing just one off
11:29from every salad and that reportedly
11:32saved $40,000 a year in 2010 Continental
11:37which is now United Airlines became the
11:40last major US Airline to end free
11:43domestic meals in coach these days the
11:46term airline food has become a joke in
11:49the
11:51US many domestic flights on economy
11:54offer pretzels and nuts at best and
11:57lowcost carriers like Spirit a Airlines
11:59give nothing unless you're willing to
12:01pay up passengers have even criticized
12:04Long Haul meals in business class from
12:07carriers like United but all US airlines
12:11are private or public and they claim
12:13some International carriers like
12:15Emirates qar and Singapore have an
12:18advantage because they're
12:22state-owned these days many Airlines use
12:25a third party caterer for hot meals the
12:28largest players are Gate Gourmet and LSG
12:32group that's the company that caters for
12:35several major airlines like Delta and
12:37Air New
12:39Zealand their head of culinary Justin
12:42Cohen Works closely with LSG to develop
12:45recipes and prepare 6.7 million meals a
12:49year just for Air New Zealand and its
12:51lounges look I think I've probably got
12:53the best food job in the world to be
12:55honest um I get to uh fly around the
12:57world taste and food meet amazing people
13:01and deal with big hairy problems I'll be
13:03showing you guys um a little venison
13:05dish that we got serving inlight at the
13:07moment he says the biggest challenge is
13:10making food that will taste good at
13:1232,000 ft or
13:15above on some planes your taste BS are
13:18about 30% less sensitive to sweet and
13:21salty foods that's because of the
13:23pressure dryness and engine sound in
13:26older trip 7s and a320s the cabin is
13:30pressurized up to 8,000 ft so it feels
13:33like you're eating lunch on Machu Picchu
13:35and humidity on board can sit as low as
13:3812% less than some deserts when you have
13:41a dry mouth and a worsened sense of
13:43smell foods can be twice as Bland so
13:46historically that meant Airlines piled
13:48on the salt for you to even taste the
13:50food sometimes leaving passengers
13:53feeling bloated but in new planes
13:55manufacturers are making conditions on
13:57board easier on your body in the a350s
14:01380s and 787s cabins are pressurized up
14:04to 6,000 ft so instead of Mau Picchu it
14:08feels like you're eating dinner in
14:09Denver and because new planes are made
14:11of more carbon fiber it's possible to
14:14increase humidity to about
14:1824% still Air New Zealand prepares for
14:21all
14:23conditions you have to be very precise
14:25in your cooking temperatures and not
14:28only in production but but also inlight
14:30we then have to heat it to the exact 12
14:32minutes that we specified and you know
14:34should anything happen like turbulence
14:36it kind of throws those timings out and
14:38so yeah it has to be very precise very
14:40specific that's a lot to remember for
14:43flight
14:44attendance also understanding that our
14:46cabin crew are not chefs right they're
14:48doing the best that they can to make
14:50their lives easier Justin's team avoid
14:53serving certain foods altogether things
14:56like fried foods don't heat up too well
14:57as well as pastries
14:59another hurdle is the sheer scale of the
15:02operation there's probably around 200
15:04dishes flying at any one time getting
15:06made here out of Oakland you take in
15:07your special meal requests there's 14
15:10different types of special meals and so
15:11you can see how quickly that number
15:13compounds across all the different
15:14courses different cabin
15:17classes all these challenges feel
15:20overwhelming but Justin isn't easily
15:23intimidated pressure is a gift in my
15:25opinion you know diamonds are created
15:27from pressure so we embrace it we roll
15:29with it um and that's just the airline
15:32industry planes need to go on time and
15:33Catering must be
15:36there meanwhile demand for inflight
15:38catering keeps growing worldwide as the
15:42number of airline passengers is expected
15:44to rise from 42 billion in 2019 to 4.7
15:49billion in
15:512024 and some airlines in the US are
15:54beginning to shift strategies again
15:57recently American Airlines opened a
16:00brand new facility in Dallas that
16:02prepares nearly 15,000 fresh meals a day
16:06they're mostly reserved for their
16:08International routes or passengers in
16:10premium
16:11cabins the airline says the in-house
16:13kitchen helps American cater flights
16:15more efficiently and serve customers
16:18traveling from their largest
16:21Hub Emirates the UA's National carrier
16:24is a big player in the business making
16:27over 77 million meals a year even for
16:30short toall flights and they'll cater
16:32their menu based on
16:35destination so if you're headed to Paris
16:37you'll get a croon in the morning flying
16:40to Mumbai you'll most likely get
16:42kachoris stopping off in Japan how about
16:45some soba or a Bento
16:47Box and if you're heading to the
16:49airline's home base in Dubai you'll get
16:52the Arabic MZ
16:54selection it also specializes in Middle
16:56Eastern sweets all made in
16:59house the assembled trays are loaded
17:02onto trolleys that run along this 1 and
17:041/2 Mile monil it's how massive amounts
17:07of inventory move safely through the
17:12building back in Doha Felipe team has
17:15ways of figuring out which meals
17:17passengers actually
17:20prefer we do something called offload
17:22checks three or four times a week we
17:24will personally go and check what's
17:26coming from the flights and then we can
17:28sort of see the trends of what people
17:30are eating what they're not eating the
17:32cabin crew also carry a tablet to gather
17:35feedback on meals and send those reports
17:37directly to catering using that data the
17:41kitchen can supply the aircraft with
17:43more dishes that people want while
17:45reducing the meals they hardly touch and
17:48that also helps cut down food waste so
17:52after all this what's the favorite meal
17:55of the man who's tried them all every
17:58day we're tasting food I have a a soft
18:01spot for Asian food so we keep our food
18:03pretty authentic and I think that's
18:05that's very important for our passengers
18:06as well
18:10[Music]

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