In Person


French connections


Catching Franck Bouat in his Paris office is about as easy as catering in the Congo. They both require a little bit of persistence. Jo Austin persists


Franck Bouat is out of the country more than he is in it. He says he sleeps when he flies, which should be more than adequate if you check out his flying hours to


Servair’s 60 or so kitchens around the world. “I like to go and see a customer every week. This


way I can sense their requirements and retain a strong relationship. I would feel guilty sitting in an office and like to engage with my customers”. Franck does, however, assure me that he will never be out of the office at the same time as his second in command, Gilles Conton. Having spent ten years in operations prior to his


appointment as international commercial director in April last year, Franck is well-versed in every aspect of the business and able to recognise client needs at an early stage. Servair is a subsidiary of Air France-KLM and its network is spread worldwide across four continents, making it the third largest catering company in the world. With a head office in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Servair has a particularly strong catering base here and the company also dominates airline catering in West and East Africa. Working either directly, or through long-term


partnerships, the Servair map extends to Asia (with Nanland), North America (with Flying Food), South America (with Comrio), the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and Europe (with Airchef). Latest figures show a workforce of 9,000 and a turnover in excess of 755 million euros for 2009/10. Franck began his career with Servair in 1994 and


has held a number of posts with the company and its subsidiaries. As operations manager of Servair he had a staff of 1500 and more recently was responsible for the launch and management of Skyflavour (now called Jet Chef Roissy), Servair’s specialist Chinese food unit. Franck’s belief in customer care has also taken


his staff across the globe. “We will go wherever our clients operate,” claims Franck. He now has a technical commercial manager based at every unit and sales managers in Paris each managing between


32 www.onboardhospitality.com


six to seven different airline clients. “We have more than 100 customers in Paris where


it is vital to retain a strong daily relationship. This also enables us to update operations and sales throughout the network with any changes or special requirements. We were the first company to cater Singapore Airlines’ A380 out of Paris and we now do the same for them out of Rome.” Says Franck: “ Our operations and sales departments work hand in hand. It is the only way we can make sure we are taking care of our customers.” This is a totally new working concept for Servair


and it seems to be working. Clients recently returning to the fold include Air Madagascar and Transavia.


So what next`? “2011 is going to be a big year for us”, claims Franck who rashly promises to visit every location in the world where airlines fly! He has recently been to see Air Transat in Canada and looks forward to catering AirAsiaX when it flies into


Opposite: International sales department of Servair


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