Special Report
CATERING MATTERS
PART 3
Jo Austin talks to Sue Gin, founder and ceo of Chicago- based Flying Food Group (FFG) in the third of our interviews with leading airline caterers worldwide
OBH: What is your outlook on airline catering for the next twelve months? SG: Catering is market- driven and we must be flexible for our
customers. They need to economise when they can. In certain highly competitive markets they spend more and then they economise in others. Cuts are not ‘across-the- board.’ Our mission is to work very closely with them and to always see things from their point of view. We are primarily long haul caterers. The outlook for long haul caterers is to push our organisations to be as responsive and flexible as possible in finding solutions.
Where are you seeing growth? In the expansion of some Asian carriers, also in the Middle East and Africa. The European economy is in flux and those carriers are naturally being very watchful.
Are you looking beyond airline catering? FFG has diversified by building a strong retail catering business. Our Fresh Food Solutions division produces meals-to-go and snacks as private label products for leading global brands. We have partnered with Starbucks for over a decade and supply sandwiches, wraps, bistro boxes, yogurt parfaits and light entrees to over 4200 Starbucks cafes across the US.
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www.onboardhospitality.com
How does airline catering in the US differ from other parts of the world?
Our airline catering activities are 95% focused on the US, where we have a network of 18 kitchens stretching from Honolulu to New York City. We also have one bustling kitchen in Shanghai, China.
What is the secret of your success? Our 24/7 focus on responsive customer service, combined with a commitment to providing cost-effective, quality products. Another part of the mix is a team-based, flexible organisational structure, so that we can move key people around to support time-sensitive projects for our customers— whether it’s a quick start-up or a restart after an unusual interruption. Also, we are anchored by an outstanding, multi-ethnic culinary team. Our chefs are adept at dozens of cuisines, including Chinese, Halal, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Middle Eastern, Philippine, Thai, Turkish and Western. In every instance, we both innovate and collaborate.
The history
FFG is an internationally known, privately owned company launched by Sue Gin in 1983 to provide passenger meals to a single domestic carrier at Midway Airport. The company quickly expanded and a partnership was forged with Air France catering arm, Servair. Today, the two companies partner on kitchens at five gateway US cities: Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Today FFG is a US$369 million company servicing over 70 leading airlines – mainly international – from a network of 18 US kitchens. The company’s retail division, which Sue created 15 years ago to increase market potential, produces private label packaged foods for top global brands.
FFG has over 3500 employees worldwide, primarily women and minorities and was recently named Minority Global Supplier of the Year by the US Department of Commerce.
In 2012, Crain’s Chicago Business ranked FFG as the Chicago area’s second-largest woman-owned business, and also named Sue in ‘Who’s Who in Chicago Business’. Crain’s also named FFG the Chicago area’s second-larget minority-owned business, ranked by 2011 revenues.
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