Company in-flight catering. The path of food to heaven. UTair airline's in-flight catering department. What does the crew eat?

Alex Cheban, travel blogger: A delicious lunch above the clouds - what could be better? 35% of passengers choose fish, 45% choose meat, and only 18% believe that it is not necessary to eat on a plane, you just need to fly on it. Well... they will most likely miss this report. I invite everyone else to the UTair airline's in-flight catering factory in Surgut.

Secret No. 1. UTair has its own baked goods for in-flight catering kits.

The small room has the positive smell of fresh French cinnamon rolls.

Each bun should weigh 60g.

On the ground floor there are procurement workshops: meat, fish and vegetables, a defrosting chamber and a freezer. In the cold workshop, cucumbers and olives are packaged and salads are cut.

Let's move on to the hot shop...

Sautéing for roasting beef.

Secret #2: Even the in-flight catering has a chef! He prepares the in-flight food ration for the airline as a whole and coordinates production. Knows the energy value of dishes, flavor combinations and food composition rules.

Chef Egor Korolev oversees the process.

And if the factory suddenly runs out of animal meat, then children and crews are used (smiles).

Secret No. 3. The cost of one serving of in-flight meals (economy class) is on average 150 rubles.

Preparing trays containing cutlery, salad, dessert, and UTair branded chocolate.

Secret No. 4. The shelf life of in-flight meals is three hours. That is, if the flight is delayed, then it is necessary to completely redo and reload the food into the boxes. Meals on the return segment of a turnaround flight are a new set that is loaded before departure at the intermediate airport.

Packaging of finished products for loading on board.

Secret No. 5: Inflight meals are distributed strictly according to the number of passengers on the flight, plus one spare set per 50 passengers (according to industry standard). So, most likely, there will be no supplements, even if the cabin is half empty. An additional portion is issued in case of unexpected transportation/distribution defects on board.

Secret No. 6. Absolutely all products, main dishes and salads are prepared for a specific flight; the full cycle of preparation and serving of one flight takes three hours. The in-flight catering department operates around the clock and the start time of cooking is coordinated with the airport and is clearly linked to the actual expected departure time.

These carts with food are supplied from the second floor to a specially equipped vehicle, which supplies food on board.

Secret No. 7. The menu is unified for each airline and is always prepared identically according to certain recipes at all in-flight catering factories, even if some point does not have its own factory.

For example, you were fed stale fish on a flight from Irkutsk to Moscow, you send a complaint to UTair and the airline conducts an investigation with the service provider in Irkutsk, conducts an audit of the enterprise, all the way to changing the supplier! After visiting the factory itself, we were able to taste the in-flight food. Everything was divided by service class.

Secret No. 8. The crew has a separate menu! I always thought that the crew eats the same as business class, but it turns out not. A special diet has been developed for the crew, which takes into account the energy requirement of 3500 kcal/day. Legumes, plums and prunes are excluded. The crew consists of pilots and flight attendants; there are no differences in diet.

Economy Superior.

Business Class.

Secret No. 9. There is cream soup in business class! And for breakfast, porridge, even in a liquid consistency. They are served on board the aircraft in a “geyser”, and directly to the passenger in a recessed cup.

A "deep cup" is simply a deep dish. In general, it is very interesting to listen to professionals and catch such words.

Secret No. 10. Exotics are available on board, but only by special order. For example, a venison menu can be prepared specifically for a charter flight or business aviation. In such cases, the menu undergoes additional approval and preparation may take more than three hours.

In my opinion, UTair food is really tasty and plentiful, especially on short flights, and on the Kyiv-Moscow flight it is the best menu among all line operators.

My meal on the morning flight Surgut-Kyiv on the way home. Everything is absolutely identical visually and just as tasty as in the presentation. Well, maybe the pasta is a little different, but that doesn’t matter.

The Russian in-flight catering market today includes both specialized workshops at airports, catering companies and some metropolitan restaurants. Despite the mature market, there are still problems related to safety standards, as well as the quality and taste of the food supplied.

Airplanes first

Large Russian operators specializing in in-flight catering are concentrated in two capitals - St. Petersburg and Moscow. The latter, according to the Association of Manufacturers of Services for Passengers in Transport, accounts for more than 80% of the market. In general, the domestic market is divided (in descending order of shares) by enterprises at the airports Domodedovo (Moscow), Sheremetyevo (Moscow), Vnukovo (Moscow), Pulkovo (St. Petersburg), Koltsovo (Ekaterinburg) ), “Tolmachevo” (Novosibirsk), “Kurumoch” (Samara). In the remaining 50 international airports of our country, from 500 to 3 thousand rations are produced daily, depending on the season.

Among the operators, the leader of the Russian market is the Domodedovo Air Service factory established in the 80s (45-60 thousand rations per day), followed by the AeroMar company (15-47), then the in-flight catering workshop "Restaurant at the Vnukovo International Airport" "(15-25), "Pulkovo" (8-14) and "Aerofood" (3-5).

Most modern domestic food suppliers organized their business according to Western models or with the participation of foreign firms. For example, the Vnukovo workshop was created with the participation of the German company Eurest.

The founders of the AeroMar company were the Russian Aeroflot and the British corporation Marriott Inflight Services Ltd - currently the Western shareholder is LSG Sky Chefs (Germany). It should be noted that LSG Sky Chefs is the largest player in the international market of in-flight catering services, which, according to experts, owns more than 30% of the market. The company is very active in the Russian market (it is part of the shareholders of the in-flight catering shops at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, Krasnoyarsk's Yemelyanovo, and Adler's Sochi).

The company is also set to enter the CIS. A special niche is occupied by enterprises providing premium in-flight catering. This segment is insignificant in volume and is 90% concentrated in the Moscow air hub. First of all, the companies “Provider-Service” and Fly Fusion operate here (the brand is being developed by “Uley-Catering”), as well as the restaurants “Cafe Pushkin”, Café des Artist, “Shinok”, “Bochka”, “Capri”, “ Gallery", "Nedalny Vostok", "Seiji", etc. “The appearance of Fly Fusion air catering in 2007 was natural, because at that stage there was simply no operator that would provide premium class food on board around the clock and promptly in accordance with all the latest technologies, sanitary standards and safety rules,” said Anna Poverennova, brand manager of Fly Fusion. The St. Petersburg restaurant holding Ginza Project also plans to launch in-flight catering for private and business aviation flights.

Who is the head in this house?

For many years, the procedure for service, requirements for food and utensils in Russia were determined by instruction 11/7 of 1979. Director of Strategic Communications at Koltsovo Airport, Yulia Fedotova, believes that since then the requirements for the safety and taste of in-flight food have not changed fundamentally. The changes affected mainly the range of products; it also became possible to use modern culinary processing methods and offer dishes from various cuisines.

However, today the activities of a catering company must comply not so much with the federal document entitled “General Rules for the Air Transportation of Passengers, Baggage, Cargo and Requirements for Services for Passengers, Shippers, and Consignees,” but rather with the requirements of the customer airline. “All issues related to the organization of in-flight catering for passengers are entirely within the competence of the carrier. Each airline sets its own requirements for the quality of in-flight food rations,” says the General Director of the Association of Transport Service Manufacturers. This can be explained by the fact that air passenger transportation from mass and generally available has turned into an element of luxury: today no more than 3% of the population of the Russian Federation use air transport services.

However, experts believe that over the past five years the quality of in-flight meals offered by most Russian airlines has declined. “Of course, airlines are optimizing budgets for in-flight catering in order to reduce costs,” confirms Yulia Fedotova. - For example, over the past two years, the base airline of Koltsovo Airport has reduced food costs by 50%. And the main difficulty of operating a company specializing in air catering is maintaining high quality and safety of in-flight catering with reduced airline budgets.” It should be noted that domestic operators were forced to significantly improve their product by the arrival of such international customers as British Airways and Emirates.

“Daily control is carried out on the basis of the “Production Control Program” developed and approved by Rospotrebnadzor (RPN). Routine monitoring of sanitary conditions and food safety is carried out by RPN, and product testing for compliance with GOST requirements is carried out by a sanitary-technological food laboratory,” Yulia Fedotova talks about the standard procedure. “The last violation, identified two years ago, was non-compliance with the quality standards of tap water used for processing raw materials.”

According to the head of the Ground Services Department of VIM-Avia, Rayane Mursekaeva, quality control of the service is carried out comprehensively, and not only the RPN. At the airport, constant control is carried out by employees of the in-flight catering department - from the moment the ration is completed in the in-flight catering department and ending with loading into the elevator that delivers the products on board.

It must be said that the on-load tap-changer does not have permissive or prohibitive functions. Today, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, responsibility for food safety lies with the air passenger carrier, which is obliged to develop requirements for the quality of services of suppliers and monitor their implementation. As Alexander Avdeev notes, the vast majority of Russian air passenger carriers have withdrawn themselves from fulfilling these responsibilities.

How much does it weigh in grams?

In-flight meals are prepared on a just-in-time basis. Operational work begins with three-day planning, adjustments are made within a day. Taking into account the number of passengers, food is first ordered, then, 10 hours before departure, rations begin to be assembled, 8 hours before hot meals are prepared, 6 hours before cold snacks, 5 hours before departure, portions are filled, 3 hours before food is placed in the refrigerator compartment , 2 hours before departure - food is delivered on board.

In the summer, the airport operates more intensively, the number of flights increases, it becomes necessary to take a large supply of water and drinks on board, so logistics become more complicated.

One of the basic principles underlying in-flight catering is: “Standard, standard and once again standard!” This applies not only to the contents of the diet, but also to the design of the dishes. The passenger sees not only his “plate”, but also the neighbor’s, so the portions should be the same. This is also important because in this business the price cannot be calculated every day. The need for calibrated raw materials makes it difficult for a catering company to select suppliers. For example, in Russia there are no calibrated apples, but you can get the same ones from abroad. Buns and desserts should also be the same diameter and height. Having not found an enterprise in Russia that met this requirement, Domodedovo Air Service began to develop its own confectionery line.

In the West, there is a whole industry of suppliers specializing in supplying products to catering companies. In Russia, calibrated products are still provided by an extremely limited number of suppliers, so preference is often given to foreign partners.

Snack on the fly

The choice of food depends on many factors - the direction of the flight, the specifics of passenger flows, the aircraft used, or simply the person who is doing it. A standard set must contain at least three options: poultry, meat and fish. And most companies adhere to this rule.

After the airline determines the basic food parameters (budget, assortment, volume, food cycle), the catering operator begins to develop the menu - a process that takes from two weeks to several months. An individual assortment is developed for each company, including not only standard diets, but also special ones (medical, vegetarian, religious, children's). If an airline has its own chef, the in-flight catering department receives specific recipes. At the final stage of menu formation, special specifications are prepared with photographs of dishes, recipes and the cost of meal kits.

Catering companies regularly hold menu presentations (usually on the eve of summer and winter navigation). In accordance with this, all major airlines review their in-flight meal plans twice a year. For example, Aeroflot updated its menu at the end of March 2010. The business class set includes items such as swordfish and cold-smoked tuna, raw and cooked-smoked turkey, Bressola beef and mini sandwiches on premium bread. Passengers will also be able to taste medallions of beef marinated in Watchchester sauce, veal steak with Calvados sauce, beef Bourguignon with new potatoes, banana mousse and vanilla ice cream with Mango sauce. In addition, a wine list appeared in business class, and flight attendants began to master the art of sommelier. “One of the criteria when choosing wines was versatility: they are designed for a wide consumer and can be combined with a varied menu. The taste, color and aroma had to be pleasant and understandable to our passengers. Observations show that our customers give preference to red Chilean and white French wines,” says Victoria Molotkova, deputy head of Aeroflot’s product development department.

The food provided to first and business class passengers is not only distinguished by a richer assortment of dishes. In first class, the service is restaurant-style: first a snack is served, then a main course and then dessert. In other classes, lunch is served immediately in a special container. The table setting also differs: in first class cabins, porcelain, crystal, and cupronickel silver cutlery are used, while in economy and business class, as a rule, plastic tableware is used. “The level, complexity of the dishes and the skill of preparation are important regardless of the class, but if a passenger buys a business class ticket, then he expects, of course, a higher level,” comments Rayana Mursekaeva, head of the Ground Services Department at VIM-Avia.

A few words should be said about the diet for important people. VIP meals, as a rule, are prepared not on an assembly line, but under the guidance of a chef. On special occasions, food for a high-ranking person is prepared by his personal chef, and the company’s employees help him. This practice is sometimes used when serving delegations from countries whose cuisine is exotic. “The specificity of business aviation is that people using its services have the opportunity to order any food from anywhere in the world. For a business aviation passenger, food on board is not just a banal satisfaction of hunger; even at an altitude of 10 thousand meters, he wants to eat exactly what he loves, and in the best quality and truly gastronomic execution. And even despite the fact that in a business jet there is no kitchen area or only takes up two square meters,” says Anna Poverennova.

As a rule, the cost of meals is 4-6% of the ticket price - from 6 to 37 $ depending on the content of the diet, class of service and flight duration. “The cost of one “meal set” for an airline is determined by the cost of food products declared by the in-flight catering departments. For example, the cost of one tea bag at regional airports can be 2-3 times higher than the cost at Domodedovo airport,” notes Rayana Mursekaeva.

Diet budgets

The trend in the global in-flight catering services market is the gradual disappearance of small independent operators. In addition, the desire of some airlines to save as much as possible is forcing all players to reconsider their attitude towards food on board. Thus, low-cost airlines, while freeing passengers from additional services, also refused to provide meals (if desired, you can buy juice or a bag of chips). Naturally, this is reflected in the ticket price - it is very low.

“The market for in-flight catering services is stagnating. Leading foreign airlines for economy class passengers have excluded meals from the cost of air passenger transportation services, offering them for an additional fee. In Russia, so far only two budget airlines - Avianova and Sky Express - do not include in-flight meals in the flight fare; other airlines, with rare exceptions, are reducing in-flight meal rations,” says Alexander Avdeev, General Director of the Association of Service Providers Association for passengers on transport.

However, the quality of food on board still remains one of the key criteria for passengers to evaluate the airline's service. It is clear that not every Russian airport meets international standards for air catering, but the capital’s operators set the tone for the regions, gradually bringing their work to the proper level.

Expert opinions

Alexander Avdeev, General Director of the Association of Producers of Services for Passengers in Transport

Today, 28 Western airlines operate through international airports in the Russian Federation - and only in four terminals do they provide in-flight meals on a regular basis: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Pulkovo and Krasnoyarsk. The reason is that other suppliers do not undergo independent audits by foreign airlines regarding the safety of in-flight catering services. Since 1995, foreign airlines have required, in addition to good manufacturing practices, the implementation of the HACCP methodology, which is aimed at preventing the occurrence of conditions during production that lead to loss of safety of in-flight catering.

Our suppliers today mainly focus only on ensuring the requirements of proper industrial hygiene and producing products in accordance with sanitary standards and regulations. There is a clear problem of non-compliance with accepted international standards, as well as extremely low production and corporate culture. Thus, today, ensuring the safety of products and services at the level of generally accepted international requirements is one of the most difficult aspects of the work of a catering operator.

Anna Poverennova, brand manager of Fly Fusion

Food safety cannot be ensured in enterprises organized on a “pre-cooking” principle, which primarily includes stationary restaurants. In them, most of the premises are allocated for trade in order to cover high rental rates and extract maximum income per square meter of rented space. Workshops for preparing in-flight meals, even in the most famous of them, are located in atypical premises, since providing in-flight meals is an additional, not the main service for any stationary restaurant. Because of this, the storage conditions for returnable containers, equipment, detergents and disinfectants, as well as the requirements for the conditions for collecting industrial waste and garbage are often not met, and there is no opportunity for staff to maintain personal hygiene. Pursuing the goal of cost optimization, restaurants offer business aviation passengers to choose absolutely any dish from their menu.

As a result, the sale of dishes prohibited in the diet of air passengers and crew members, for example, dishes with sauces and dressings, seafood, medicinal mineral water and dressed salads. Production control programs for in-flight catering companies must be followed first! Fly Fusion has specially developed and implemented an internal control system to ensure the safety and quality of food for business aviation.

I like to talk about airplanes and people who work in aviation on my blog, because flight safety and the transportation of passengers and cargo depend on them. The planes are refueled, checked for technical condition before departure, luggage is loaded, passengers are boarded, then the doors are closed and the boarding bridge is withdrawn, the plane taxis to the runway and takes off....And the passengers who are comfortably settled in their seats and watching the beauty of the seventh ocean through the windows are ready feed the flight attendants...

The other day I visited the in-flight catering service at Roshchino International Airport, where they showed a small part of what they feed economy and business class passengers on planes departing from Tyumen airport. Airlines such as UTair, Aeroflot, AzurAir, Nordwind Airlines, Russia, etc. use in-flight catering services in Roshchino.
On average, rations for economy - 1,100 are loaded onto planes per day, for business - 25, and crews - 80.
Productivity can be up to 5000 rations per day.

The title photo shows lunchboxes for economy class passengers, which include a Bun, Cake, Tea, Cheese, butter, jam, as well as disposable cutlery.
For hot casserole.
1. Baked pink salmon fillet/rice with vegetables/steamed green beans
(Nutritional value: Proteins-15.5, fats-18.2, carbohydrates-14.7, kcal-286)

2. Breaded chicken cutlet/boiled potatoes/steamed carrots
(Nutritional value: Proteins-14.9, fats-13.6, carbohydrates-17.3, kcal-251)

3. This is a branded lunchbox for UTair.

4. Lunchbox for the crew with cold snacks. It also comes with a choice of casserole.

5. The choice of food for business class passengers is of course more varied; if you are hungry now, I recommend having a snack first)) and continuing watching. Cold appetizers.

6. Hot.

And according to the dishes with decoding of what is what.
7. Pork roll with cheese, pepper / fried boiled potatoes / fried onions
(Nutritional value: Proteins-13.9, fats-34.1, carbohydrates-13.9, kcal-419)

8. I don’t know what’s in the almond petals, the rest is clear))

9. Chicken roll/french fries/steamed green beans
(Nutritional value: Proteins-23.3, fats-13.1, carbohydrates-13.6, kcal-265)

10. Pike perch roll with zucchini/fried eggplant/grilled cherry tomatoes
(Nutritional value: Proteins-13.7, fats-14.1, carbohydrates-5.2, kcal-203)

11. Cold cuts (roast beef, baked chicken fillet, beef tongue, olives, bell pepper, lettuce)
(Nutritional value: Proteins-15.2, fats-10.2, carbohydrates-1.6, kcal-159)

12. Sliced ​​vegetables (St. cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, radishes, lettuce, greens)
(Nutritional value: Proteins-1.1, fats-0.2, carbohydrates-3.5, kcal-20)

13. Sliced ​​fish (salmon, shrimp, mussels, squid, lemon, capers, lettuce, greens)
(Nutritional value: Proteins-16.5, fats-11.4, carbohydrates-1.0, kcal-173)

14. Salmon in almond petals/rice mix/grilled cherry tomatoes
(Nutritional value: Proteins-19.1, fats-31.9, carbohydrates-23.0, kcal-451)

15. Pike perch roll with zucchini/grilled vegetables
(Nutritional value: Proteins-13.6, fats-16.1, carbohydrates-6.3, kcal-225)

16. Pork roll with cheese, pepper/fried boiled potatoes/fried onions/grilled peppers
(Nutritional value: Proteins-13.8, fats-35.9, carbohydrates-13.4, kcal-434)

17. Looks very tasty!

18.

19. Legostaeva Larisa Anatolyevna in the labor process. Soon these lunchboxes will be closed and placed in a special container for delivery on board the plane, and then eaten by passengers flying somewhere thousands of kilometers from Tyumen.

20. It’s hot in the cold workshop.

21. Thank you for the tour of the in-flight catering workshop to the chief Efimova Galina Mikhailovna and her deputy Legostaeva Larisa Anatolyevna, as well as to the girls who did not give their names and were embarrassed to take a photo.

22. I was in the in-flight catering shop when I was a child! Everything was different here. Now this is a very modern workshop, equipped with the most modern necessary equipment.

23. Gorchy workshop.

24. The corridors, as well as the workshops, are sterile clean.

25.This machine is used to knead dough for buns!

26. And here the buns are baked. By the morning departure everything will be ready, sealed, packaged and loaded onto the planes. And what aromas!)))

Our excursion came to an end, at this time food was being shipped for the next flight, work went on as usual. Passengers were already waiting to board the flight, and a delicious lunch awaited them from the haute cuisine of the in-flight catering department of Roshchino Airport! Have a nice flight, we say to our friends when we see them off on their flight, Bon appetit! say the in-flight catering workers as they send their products on the plane!

Thank you to Maria Roschino Airport press service for inviting us to the tour.

Thank you for your attention!

The German company LSG Sky Chefs is one of the world's largest enterprises, providing in-flight catering to aircraft in a variety of countries. LSG Sky Chefs is part of the Lufthansa group, which is the largest airline in Europe and ranks fifth in the world in terms of the number of passengers carried.

LSG Sky Chefs owns the largest catering network, which includes 200 catering companies in 48 countries. LSG Sky Chefs works with more than 300 airlines and produces approximately 460 million in-flight meals per year. This is what the in-flight food production process looks like at one of the LSG Sky Chefs factories located in the German city of Frankfurt am Main.

(Total 21 photos)

1. Business class dinner for short-haul flights. In business class, food is served in real porcelain, unlike economy class, where plastic and cardboard disposable tableware is used.

2. January 16, 2012. LSG Sky Chefs factories have the strictest hygiene requirements for employees. A mandatory part of work clothing is a robe, hair nets, as well as special masks for those employees who wear beards.

3. Business class dinner for short-haul flights.

4. One of the production workshops where in-flight meals are produced. The workshops of the LSG Sky Chefs factory work non-stop around the clock. Each year, more than 460 million in-flight meals roll off their production lines and are served on flights on more than 300 of the world's largest airlines.

5. The requirements for the quality of in-flight food are very strict. An additional challenge for in-flight food manufacturers is created by the fact that the increased pressure maintained in a flying aircraft greatly affects a person’s perception of the taste of food. At altitude, regular food seems tasteless and too dry. In addition, most passengers at altitude experience increased thirst. To take all these factors into account, LSG Sky Chefs maintains ongoing cooperation with the Fraunhofer Research Institute (Munich), where they study the effects of altitude on the human body. To accurately recreate flight conditions, a special laboratory is used. Despite the fact that a person's taste sensitivity to salt significantly increases during a flight (food seems bland), LSG Sky Chefs does not simply increase salt and other flavoring additives. LSG Sky Chefs in-flight meals contain as much salt as required according to generally accepted standards. Improving the “high-altitude” taste is achieved through the use of a variety of spices that retain their taste well in flight conditions. For example, ginger, cinnamon and some other spices are well felt by a person even on a flying plane.

6. Business class dinner served on Japanese-bound flights.

7. The production area of ​​LSG Sky Chefs is more than 40,000 square meters.

8. Business class dinner served on Japanese-bound flights.

9. When producing in-flight meals, special attention is paid to the quality of products and overall food safety. Food safety requirements for aircraft crew members are even stricter than those for passengers. All food for the crew must undergo deep heat treatment. The set of products included in the individual ration for each crew member is necessarily different. This reduces the risk that the entire crew will get sick and be unable to work if low-quality food gets on board. Already on airplanes, the name of the crew member for whom it is intended is often placed on the package with individual rations, so that in the event of an accident it is easier to track how poor-quality food got on board.

10. Business class dinner served on Japanese-bound flights. The airline Lufthansa is one of the world's largest consumers of caviar. Every year the airline purchases almost 8 tons of this expensive delicacy.

11. Food is prepared in a factory. Prepared food is packaged in rations, which are stored in special refrigerators that use dry ice. Usually, rations are heated up immediately before the plane takes off while still on the ground.

12. Children's dinner served on long-haul flights.

13. Every day, the LSG Sky Chefs factory bakes about 80 thousand buns.

14. Business class dinner served on short-haul flights.

15. Rations are packaged in such a way that the huge cargo that carries in-flight meals to the airport can be loaded in just five minutes. The LSG Sky Chefs division in Frankfurt operates 116 trucks.

A delicious lunch above the clouds - what could be better?! Nothing! This is exactly what 35% of travelers think, who cannot imagine flying without tasty fish, they are joined by another 45% who also will not refuse delicious beef with tomato sauté... and only the remaining 18% are sure that it is not at all necessary to eat on a plane; you just need to fly. Well... they will most likely miss this report. And I invite everyone else to the UTair airline in-flight catering factory in Surgut! Did you know that everything needs to be prepared anew if the flight is delayed by 3 hours?! And that pilots do not eat food from business or economy, but there is a special diet for them?! How to feed passengers on 300 flights per day departing from 110 cities on the airline’s route network?!

And the main thing is that even the in-flight catering has its own chef - the charismatic Egor in unique branded plaid pants!

We are located in Surgut, in the ZapSib-Catering company - a branch of UTair Airlines OJSC. The workshop is designed for 8 thousand portions per day and serves flights of UTair and others that fly from Surgut.
The UTair airline has its own factories in Surgut, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, and the main office responsible for catering for the entire airline is located in Surgut.

On the ground floor there are procurement workshops: meat, fish and vegetables, a defrosting chamber and a freezer.

Secret No. 1. All the baked goods for the in-flight catering kits are here!
In a small room there is an incredibly positive smell of fresh French cinnamon rolls:

Each bun should weigh 60g. Shall we check?

Very sharp eye! On the first try :)

In the cold workshop, cucumbers and olives are packaged and salads are cut:

Let's move on to the hot shop...

Sauteing for beef frying:

Secret No. 2. Even the in-flight catering has a chef! And this is not a nominal position at all. He prepares the in-flight catering ration for the airline as a whole and coordinates production both from a technological and supply point of view. He is the one who knows the energy value of dishes, flavor combinations and rules for arranging food nutrients. Obviously, the crew’s diet should not include peas, but besides this there are a lot of subtleties and nuances that are his professional secrets.

Yegor Korolev is vigilantly watching over the process.

And if the factory suddenly runs out of animal meat, then children and crews are used :)

Secret No. 3. The cost of 1 serving of in-flight meals (economy class) is on average 150 rubles.

Preparing trays containing cutlery, salad, dessert, branded chocolate with one of the airline’s aircraft:

Secret No. 4. The shelf life of in-flight meals is 3 hours. Those. If the flight is delayed, then it is necessary to completely redo and reload the in-flight catering. Meals on the return segment of a turnaround flight are a new set that is loaded before departure at the intermediate airport.

And packaging of finished products for loading on board:

Secret No. 5. In-flight meals are distributed strictly according to the number of passengers on the flight, plus 1 spare meal per 50 passengers (as per industry standard). So, most likely, there will be no supplements, even if the cabin is half empty. An additional portion is issued in case of unexpected transportation/distribution defects on board.

Formation of products.
Next, all carts go down to the first floor, where they are checked by the aviation security service, the carts are sealed and can be transported to the aircraft.
A separate trolley contains dishes for business class:

Secret No. 6. Absolutely all products, hot dishes and salads are prepared for a specific flight; the time for a full cycle of preparation and serving for one flight is 3 hours. The in-flight catering department operates around the clock and the start time of cooking is coordinated with the airport and is clearly linked to the actual expected departure time.

These food carts are supplied from the second floor to a specially equipped vehicle, which supplies food on board:

Secret No. 7. The menu is unified for each airline and is always prepared identically according to certain recipes at all in-flight catering factories, even if some point does not have its own factory.

For example, you were fed stale fish on a flight from Irkutsk to Moscow, you send a complaint to UTair and the airline conducts an investigation with the service provider in Irkutsk, conducts an audit of the enterprise, all the way to changing the supplier!

After visiting the factory itself, we were able to taste the in-flight food.
Everything was divided by service class.

Economy class - casseroles with hot options (sausages, fish, beef, vegetables) + salad tray + drinks included in economy:

Secret No. 8. The crew has a separate menu!
I always thought that the crew eats the same as business class, but it turns out not. A special diet has been developed for the crew, which takes into account the energy requirement of 3500 kcal/day. Legumes, plums and prunes are excluded. The crew consists of pilots and flight attendants; there are no differences in diet.

Crew meals:

Economy Superior:

Well, business class:

Secret No. 9. There is cream soup in business class! And for breakfast, porridge, even in a liquid consistency. They are served on board the aircraft in a “geyser”, and directly to the passenger - in a deep cup!

A "deep cup" is simply a deep dish in professional terminology. In general, it is very interesting to listen to professionals and catch such words.

Secret number 10. Exotics are available on board, but only by special order. For example, a venison menu can be prepared specifically for a charter flight or business aviation. In such cases, the menu undergoes additional approval and preparation can take significantly more than 3 hours.

In my opinion, UTair food is really tasty and plentiful, especially on short flights, and on the Kyiv-Moscow flight it is the best menu among all line operators:

Secret No. 10+1. On board and at the tasting - absolutely the same!

On social networks, while I was posting live pictures from the tasting, in addition to the logical stream of complaints about the bias of the report, there were reviews that the food was beautiful in the pictures, but on real flights it was disgusting. As it turned out, this is not so and often it is the subjective perception of taste that works, and even, perhaps, a change in the individual sensitivity of taste buds at a high level!

And a simple comparison... Kasalettes at the tasting during the press tour, pay attention to the sausages:

...and meals on the morning flight Surgut-Kyiv on the way home. Everything is absolutely identical visually and just as tasty as in the presentation.
Well, maybe the pasta is a little different, but that doesn’t matter.

Resources where thematic pictures on in-flight catering are posted.