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Special Report


Go go gadget - picnic!


If you go down to the woods today, or rather the airport, you’re in for a big surprise! There’s a new type of ‘picnic’ as Jeremy Clark discovers talking to GoPicnic founder Julia Stamberger


For the Teddy Bears not much has changed, but for airline passengers there is a whole new type of picnic - in this case, GoPicnic. Julia Stamberger has had an


interesting journey bringing this product to its current success and is clearly passionate about GoPicnic.


The concept is simple. Pack into a lightweight easy to store and carry box, a selection of tasty and varied products that the purchaser can tuck into when and where they feel like it. How did this come about? Julia explained to me how the GoPicnic concept morphed from other things as early as 2006. Two years before that Julia was working with a team at United looking for ancillary revenue programmes for the spin-off airline “TED”. This was in the early days of Buy On Board programmes and the snack-box was born. Inevitably TED went the same way as British Airway’s “GO” and other attempts by the legacy airlines to compete with the LCCs by launching spin-off subsidiaries.


The struggle at TED continued and Julia and her colleagues found themselves diverted by non- catering issues in an effort to boost alternative revenue streams, However, Julia persevered with the picnic in a box idea and, seeing an obvious gap in the market for a carry-on food box in the style of a small airline snack, created GoPicnic. Now she and her team have launched a range of such boxes appealing to a variety of tastes. They are also not just looking at the airline passenger but any on-the-go locations where a market for this concept resides. Motorway rest- stops, petrol stations, railway stations – all have potential for GoPicnic.


It is hard, very hard to make long shelf-life food items in snack form without using a host of artificial aids to maintain palatable products that still taste good. No-one is suggesting that


38 www.onboardhospitality.com


opening a Go-Picnic box is akin to a hamper from Fortnum and Masons, but then you won’t get much in F & M for between $5 and $10 so value for money as well as nutrition is right on the nail with these items. The accent however is very much on ‘Natural and Organic’.


The result is, and I speak from experience here, something you can actually eat. I particularly


“The concept is simple. Pack into a lightweight, easy-to-store carry box a selection of tasty products for easy eating”


liked the Chili-lime Salmon Spread with oatmeal crackers. There are some mini salamis too which, once you have negotiated the highly protective packing, are not at all bad! The beef is very tasty but watch out for the turkey one. It’s deceptively but still excitingly hot!


Thought too has gone into the box design. The standard design is made so that they fit conveniently into airline drawers. The company is also looking to provide bespoke designs for customers and has had some very innovative, if slightly impractical submissions. There is little doubt that Julia and her team have tapped into a growing market. As mentioned, this does not stop in airline terminals. Already there are sales through motorway service areas, railway stations and other travel termini. The product is adaptable to a host of opportunities. In the airport, with no sign yet of US carriers returning to anything like the full service of yore, and the options of Buy-Onboard either ludicrously expensive and/or lousy, the GoPicnic guys have focused it just right. In fact just talking to the GoPicnic guys had my mind wandering to all sorts of kookie culinary creations that would be fun. So, Julia, if you’re going down to the woods today . . . let’s talk! www.gopicnic.com


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