Rail Catering
A VIEW FROM THE TRAIN Raising the profile
Roger Williams, new president of the International Rail Catering Group, talks about the trade association’s new initiatives; UK rail franchising and FoodLab
Roger Williams has been apointed president of the International Rail Catering Group (IRCG), an independent trade association for railway
catering companies and professional individuals engaged in the business of catering on-board trains. Formed in 1965 in Sweden, its 13 active member companies have between them a huge combined annual turnover and represent around 90% of Europe’s train catering industry. Members are currently all based in Europe although there are plans to widen the membership to include non- European countries. Existing members include companies such as Avecra, Cremonini, DSB, DB, E-Express, Elvetino, JLV, MAV Nostalzgia, MAV Start, Rail Gourmet, SJ, Togservice, Wagon Slovakia and Wars. Based in the Czech Republic, IRCG has its own
separate legal identity and committee structure, with members meeting twice a year on average. At least one of these meetings is organised around a trade show such as ITCA so that members get the chance to network together and share best practice and new innovations from across the industry. In 2011 the association’s coveted annual
award for the ‘Most Innovative Caterer’ was awarded to Austrian train catering company E-Express for its excellent new six-course tasting menu. The beautifully sculptured solid glass prize is presented at the AGM to the company which brings the most innovative new service idea to the group, voted by all IRCG members. At the most recent meeting
in Oslo, Norway, the outgoing President Tiina Niemenen (md of Avecra, Finland) said: “The association is in great shape to take on the challenges of the new
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www.onboardhospitality.com
UK government cooks up a real railway hot-pot UK rail franchising arrangements are probably the most competitive in the world with all the different railway contracts decided through a vigorous public tendering process. But the period between December 2012 through to December 2013 sees the competition come to the boil with the UK Government due to be awarding the West Coast Main Line, the Great Western Region and the East Coast Main Line all within a 12-month period. Between them, these three giants of the UK
Virgin Trains stays on track in the rail franchising tender for the West Coast Main Line in the UK
decade during which there will be many changes in the railway industry. The future aim of IRCG must be to raise its profile in the railway industry, support its members in their work and encourage new membership from across the world”. As the new president of IRCG, I have taken up
this challenge and we have launched a series of new initiatives to add value for our members including the construction of a new website and a major market research project to create a new customer service database benchmarking onboard service operations from across Europe. We will also be linking with the new World Travel Catering Exhibition (formerly ITCA) to support their exciting new expo in Hamburg, meeting with key suppliers and other onboard service industry representatives.
We welcome new members and
those interested in joining the IRCG, should contact Kamila Vavrova at
sekretariat@jlv.cz or Roger Williams at
viewfromthetrain@aol.com
rail network carry over 100 million passengers a year between them. The shortlist for the West Coast Main Line franchise competition has already been announced with Virgin Trains (the current operator), a joint bid by Keolis and SNCF, First Group and Abellio (owned by NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen) all being pitted against each other. These are all big hitters in an industry that is growing fast so the bid strategies will be fascinating. The surprise was perhaps that DB did not get through the initial stage. The German-based company already has a share of both the UK passenger and freight markets and is currently applying to operate a new service through the Channel Tunnel. From a railway catering perspective, the three mainline operations being tendered all provide extensive catering operations onboard and it seems that marketing managers are again coming to realise how good quality catering onboard can attract (and retain) customers. Virgin Trains is famed for being the first
domestic intercity route in the UK to provide full complimentary meals in First and the East Coast Main Line, under the control of the Government at present, has recently followed suit. Word on the street is that the initial results from East Coast indicate that they have had a very good response from customers, with increased First patronage and higher service satisfaction levels. This, of course, mirrors the successful
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