The President’s Report
ITCA success story
STEPHEN WHITE ITCA president
It has now been a month since ITCA Nice and what a month it has been, especially on my side of the world. I arrived in Singapore en route back to New Zealand to hear about the devastating earthquake to hit Christchurch and then Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. All of this just shows how fragile our world is and
why we should live every day to the full. Seeing the devastation and the frightened looks on people’s faces put everything happening in our work and lives into perspective and makes you realise that the really important things in life are your family and friends. It gave me great pleasure to welcome so many
friends and colleagues at the ITCA Trade Show and Networking Forum in Nice. I was naturally nervous about the many changes we had introduced but thankfully that nervousness was unfounded. I am delighted to report that the three-day
event was an outstanding success. We had more operator visitors than ever before and especially more airlines. I have received many emails from colleagues saying how much business they conducted and how successful the open lunch area was for networking. On the Wednesday there were so many people wanting lunch that we were short of tables for a while. There was a real buzz and you could tell that our industry was turning the corner and looking to the future. One of the largest caterers was absent though,
and didn’t even send a representative. I have many friends within that company and they are as concerned and dismayed as I am. I am sure you all are as well. Over the last year I have tried to make contact either by phone, email or letter but to no avail. There must be an ulterior motive, but without communication I am as blind as the next man.
Above: The Cuisine Solutions team; Right: Peter Soltiz, Air Caterer Five Star GmbH with Klaus Englisch. Air Caterer Munich
However, we are not sitting on our laurels.
Your Association is made up of many hundreds of members and it is in those companies and individuals that participate that I am interested. The IFSA President and I have formed a task force
to look at ways we can work more closely together, and that task force will be reporting back to us in London on June 27 this year. ITCA is also running its own two-day workshop in London, managed by a professional mediator, on the future of your Association and the way forward. I have invited 15 very senior members of the industry to attend and all have accepted my invitation or have nominated a senior manager to take their place. One company did not even answer my invitation so will not be able to help steer your Association. I hope to have a preliminary report for you by the end of April. My Board is working hard on your behalf to take advantage of the many new opportunities that we now have. Many congratulations to the Mercurys winners
and a big thank you to Kevin Cox the Mercurys chairman for his excellent leadership. I would also like to thank Martyn Jelley who has taken over responsibility for the ITCA/IFSA task force on behalf of the Board. I know Martyn will work very hard on your behalf. Congratulations also to Dilip Nijhawan who was made my second vp alongside Kevin
Cox. Dilip brings with him an immense wealth of experience and I look forward to working closely with him. Lastly a big thank you to the rest of the Board for a very good year’s work. It takes time to change but they understand that change should only be made when necessary not just on a whim.
ITCA thanks its Sponsors
An ITCA without the wonderful selection of wines provided by our sponsor Paul Sapin would not be the same and the Board and all the participants who were able to enjoy the offering at both the lunches and the cocktail parties thank Paul Sapin again for its sponsorship – Santé! Nestlé Waters was able to keep us refreshed and
enabled us all to keep talking and hydrated during all those business meetings at ITCA Nice. Their suitably chilled Vittel and Perrier water were always gratefully received.
www.itcanet.com
www.onboardhospitality.com 25
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