Rail Catering
A VIEW FROM THE TRAIN Investing in food A regular column by Roger Williams, president of the International Rail Catering Group
Go west for the best - First Group’s restaurant praised for great service In a recent article in the UK’s Times newspaper, which reviewed the types of first class catering services available on trains in the UK, the regular early evening Pullman restaurant service on the First Great Western route, between London and Plymouth, came out as the clear winner. It is one of the only true restaurant car style
services remaining in the UK, as opposed to models where complimentary meals are served to any seat, in any carriage. On the FGW Pullman, customers come to
a central area to wine and dine with fellow passengers and pass the journey in convivial surroundings. It is very popular with regulars, an endorsement of the views previously expressed in this column that there is real customer appreciation of a good meal service as part of the journey occasion. There is certainly no doubt that this catering model can deliver a much better culinary experience with more detailed menus and silver service. Indeed, in the Times article, author Michael Williams (no relation) was quoted as saying that train companies “should be thinking of on-board dining as a loss leader as the reflected kudos of having a great meal on-board is huge”. Well, meal services may be a loss leader to
some, but since it brings passengers onto the trains, just as a good advert or a ticket promotion would, why not call it an investment in marketing? Judging by the popularity of the highlighted
service, it keeps customers happy too! Congratulations to First Great Western!
America – rail passenger growth celebration shows huge potential A learned colleague from America recently sent me a copy of INK, the Amtrak monthly staff newsletter. On the front of the magazine I was surprised to read a headline which stated that
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www.onboardhospitality.com
Space to enjoy food and drink aboard an Amtrak service
Amtrak has just celebrated reaching 30 million passenger journeys in a year for the first time. Given the size of the American population and the vastness of the country it always amazes me that so few people travel by train in the USA. Putting this in perspective, this is equivalent
to just one of the UK’s main regional passenger train operators! Within America though, travelling by train is still seen as a second class way of travelling compared to planes and automobiles.
You read it here first…
“Travellers are just going to have to live with security as an additional and omnipresent feature of their life.” Jean-Jacques Gauer, chairman Leading Hotels of the World
50 ISSUES
Onboard Hospitality Issue 03, June ‘03 C E L E B R A T I N G
To combat this, some of the operations
are being upgraded to include wi-fi systems, digital ticketing and improved on-board services, although my learned friend also tells me that train performance has a way to go, with train delays sometimes being measured in days rather than minutes! This is due to many of the lines prioritising freight with passenger services coming a distant second in the pecking order, not to mention the extreme weather conditions during winter months. However, the potential in America for wider
use (and of course wider provision) of train services seems obvious and there is a great opportunity for catering services on-board to add value and excitement to the longer journeys. According to a recent paper by Congress Representative Schmidt, Amtrak spends around US$60million a year supporting its catering subsidy, far more than the equivalent in Europe so perhaps the answer is to consider a more efficient out-sourced approach? Certainly, this works well on European trains and could help stimulate even more passenger growth.
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