malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 10 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 7303 times:
It seems that since the merger, the Catering merger is starting. Cause according to my friend at LSG, that since the DL/NW merger, LSG lost some and gained some merged business when DL or NW were catered by different companies. Same goes with UA. Supposedly UA has a bid coming up soon for merged catering and my friend said that a high chance that LSG may win over some big business from UA. LSG is expanding property at SFO and does CO and maybe they can get UA from whoever. Gategourmet?
I wonder which menu will be preferred and used? CO or UA?
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kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3703 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 7126 times:
Quoting malaysia (Thread starter): It seems that since the merger, the Catering merger is starting. Cause according to my friend at LSG, that since the DL/NW merger, LSG lost some and gained some merged business when DL or NW were catered by different companies. Same goes with UA. Supposedly UA has a bid coming up soon for merged catering and my friend said that a high chance that LSG may win over some big business from UA. LSG is expanding property at SFO and does CO and maybe they can get UA from whoever. Gategourmet?
I wonder which menu will be preferred and used? CO or UA?
The question is so incoherent and disjointed that it's hard to understand what you are asking.
Are you asking about *changes* in catering contracts at CO-UA?
Are you asking about new menu items to be offered in international or domestic flights?
The thread title mentions (the new?) United Airlines, and then you immediately start talking about DL/NW which has nothing to do with the thread title.
malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 7002 times:
What I mean is.
When DL and NW merged, at one airport, you had LSG doing NW and another caterer doing DL..... eventually they had to choose only one caterer. so one would lose the business and one would gain the business.
This will happen with UA. Since CO/UA merged. now you have LSG doing CO and another caterer doing UA at an airport. One has to lose business.
And what I mean about Menu is. CO specs and UA specs. what will be the final choice when everything must be done under a single caterer. Will it go to CO specs or UA meal specs?
With NW/DL, they went to a new merged spec and dropped mostly NW meal items and preferred the existing DL.
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PHLJJS From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 412 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 6960 times:
When DL and NW merged, at one airport, you had LSG doing NW and another caterer doing DL..... eventually they had to choose only one caterer. so one would lose the business and one would gain the business.
This will happen with UA. Since CO/UA merged. now you have LSG doing CO and another caterer doing UA at an airport. One has to lose business.
And what I mean about Menu is. CO specs and UA specs. what will be the final choice when everything must be done under a single caterer. Will it go to CO specs or UA meal specs?
With NW/DL, they went to a new merged spec and dropped mostly NW meal items and preferred the existing DL.
Continental owns their own catering company, Chelsea Food Services. In cities where Chelsea has facilities, UA will eventually switch to Chelsea from whoever they were using. In cities where there are no Chelsea facilities, they will either switch to whoever CO used or most likely, put the contract up for bid.
Last December, Jef Smisek was quoted in an interview as stating that Chelsea would begin catering UA flight at IAH "soon."
United1 From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 5379 posts, RR: 8 Reply 4, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 6857 times:
Quoting malaysia (Reply 2): This will happen with UA. Since CO/UA merged. now you have LSG doing CO and another caterer doing UA at an airport. One has to lose business.
I'm sure at airports where UA and CO use different vendors as those contracts come up for renewal they will put the contract up for bid and choose the provider that serves their needs the best be that PMUA or PMCO. UA also now owns Chelsea catering, which came over from PMCO, so it's possible that some previously outsourced catering may come back in house. I think Chelsea has kitchens in IAH, EWR and DEN....maybe one or two more.
Quoting malaysia (Reply 2): And what I mean about Menu is. CO specs and UA specs. what will be the final choice when everything must be done under a single caterer. Will it go to CO specs or UA meal specs?
Unknown at this point....it's rumored that they are going to be modernising the Business First soft product and rolling it out as the new standard for United Business (which is what business first will be renamed to) along with substantially upgrading the soft product found in the International First cabins. There has been no specifics of domestic first or economy products except that they will be rolling out a common product later this year.
1337Delta764 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 5820 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 6701 times:
Quoting malaysia (Reply 2): When DL and NW merged, at one airport, you had LSG doing NW and another caterer doing DL..... eventually they had to choose only one caterer. so one would lose the business and one would gain the business.
DL uses Gate Gourmet at ATL, CVG, and MEM, but uses LSG Sky Chefs at MSP, DTW, SLC, and JFK.
BTW, Chelsea kitchens are located in IAH, EWR, CLE, and DEN. BTW, the DEN facility only exists since it was supposed to be for CO's DEN hub, which CO shuttered prior to DEN's opening. With the possible downfall of F9 (Chelsea's largest customer at DEN), perhaps they could possibly handle the combined UA/CO ops.
[Edited 2011-08-03 11:14:06]
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ADent From United States of America, joined Dec 2006, 1187 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 6583 times:
By catering are we talking who packs the drink carts? Or is this mainly for international flights?
Which UA flights actually get food? I have only seen BOB (occasionally) - are those done by the catering company?
jackhi From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 38 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 6451 times:
Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 5): TW, Chelsea kitchens are located in IAH, EWR, CLE, and DEN. BTW,
I believe they still have a kitchen in HNL as well.
1337Delta764 From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 5820 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 6342 times:
Quoting jackhi (Reply 7): I believe they still have a kitchen in HNL as well.
I was wondering about that too. I have heard that this facility was sold to Gate Gourmet, although no source confirms this.
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kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3703 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 6321 times:
Quoting United1 (Reply 4): Unknown at this point....it's rumored that they are going to be modernising the Business First soft product and rolling it out as the new standard for United Business (which is what business first will be renamed to) along with substantially upgrading the soft product found in the International First cabins. There has been no specifics of domestic first or economy products except that they will be rolling out a common product later this year.
One thing I'd mention on CO is the domestic F class soup course. They are now serving a hearty vegetable chowder (which they call Minestrone and which may be more appropriate for a luncheon sandwich menu) with dinner for which it is way too heavy. Something lighter -- a consumee, clear broth, or some type of cream soup -- might be more appropriate with dinner.
United1 From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 5379 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 6157 times:
Quoting ADent (Reply 6): By catering are we talking who packs the drink carts? Or is this mainly for international flights?
Which UA flights actually get food? I have only seen BOB (occasionally) - are those done by the catering company?
There is quite a bit of food served on board UA flights and all of it is provided by (or at least acquired by) and transported to the aircraft by the catering company....P.S. and international flights have a different service standard.
For mainline domestic Y class flights:
Flights less than 760 miles: drinks
Flights between 760 and 1440 miles: drinks and BoB (a la cart and snack boxes)
Flights over 1440 miles: drinks and BoB (a la cart, snack boxes and fresh food offerings on flights departing between 0500-2000)
Domestic mainline J class flights between 0500-2100*:
Flights less than 760 miles: drinks
Flights over 760 miles: drinks and a complimentary breakfast, lunch and dinner service (on breakfast flights over 1650 miles a snack is served prior to arrival as well)
Domestic mainline F class flights between 0500-2100*:
Flights less than 220 miles: drinks
Flights between 220-760 miles: drinks and a snack service
Flights over 760 miles: drinks and a complimentary breakfast, lunch and dinner service (on breakfast flights over 1650 miles a snack is served prior to arrival as well)
* Overnight flights is a snack plate (fruit and cheese plate usually)
Domestic express F class flights:
Flights less than 760 miles: drinks
Flights over 760 miles: drinks and a complimentary snack box
malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 6143 times:
Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 9): I was wondering about that too. I have heard that this facility was sold to Gate Gourmet, although no source confirms this.
I drove by lagoon drive and saw the Gategourmet Facility which use to be LSG, and down the road was Chelsea and it looked seperately run with signage and trucks and this was last year
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malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 6134 times:
Quoting ADent (Reply 6): Which UA flights actually get food? I have only seen BOB (occasionally) - are those done by the catering company?
I heard somewhere that most UA BOB comes from some company called MLCO and the kitchens just receive/ store it/ and just place it in the carts
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PacificClipper From United States of America, joined Aug 2009, 311 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 5844 times:
Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 10): * Overnight flights is a snack plate (fruit and cheese plate usually)
This has been augmented with the option of the standard CO cold pasta with chicken plate (at least on my recent P.S. red-eye in J).
One more point. I believe CO has ovens in the economy galley, hence the BoB burger option and the lack of it on UA metal. I'd wager that the ovens will be removed in the cabin adjustments made to the CO fleet (adding E+) and the Choice Menu on CO will be mirror United's where a turkey sandwich is offered in place of the burger.
malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 5097 times:
With all this, I definitely miss free meals in economy on CO, especially hot meals. I had a nice free hot BBQ pork sub in economy on a CO 757 from EWR-LAS in 2004. Last time was just cold breakfast free bag right before they stopped the free meals.
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laca773 From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 3752 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 4483 times:
I'm hopeful we'll see the new UA upgrade to the offerings CO has. They offer much nicer catering in F/J compared to the slop UA has been serving for quite sometime. Check this out on a UA transcon flight BOS-SFO! Link: http://www.airplanefood.net/images/a...s/united-airlines/ua62.jpg.php#191
Quoting PacificClipper (Reply 14): This has been augmented with the option of the standard CO cold pasta with chicken plate (at least on my recent P.S. red-eye in J).
CO's snack trays in F offer way more food than the token cheese and couple pieces of fruit UA has on offer.
Economy catering is not great on either, but CO has made attempts to offer plentiful meals than UA.
I'm hoping at some point they will offer BOB full meals at least on their transcon and Hawaii flights. CO customers who fly EWR-HNL-EWR and IAH-HNL-IAH, must of been very unhappy when they lost their meals to BOB for a 7-9.5 hour flight.
malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 3974 times:
Quoting laca773 (Reply 16): I'm hoping at some point they will offer BOB full meals at least on their transcon and Hawaii flights. CO customers who fly EWR-HNL-EWR and IAH-HNL-IAH, must of been very unhappy when they lost their meals to BOB for a 7-9.5 hour flight.
Those HNL flights with just BOB really seem bad, I think HA did actually offer free food and then in addtion, you could purchase some BOB on top of it. I like that practice better, but only BOB is terrible.
NH does a similiar thing with letting you buy business class ala carte quality food items between meal services in economy.
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CoachClass From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 361 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3715 times:
I think this is a good question as it really is asking whether there's going to be a distinct, new product on board, or is it going to be more like the old UA or CO? I think that the answer will be seen in the international product and which providers can deliver that standard.
One thing that is quite different with CO is its short list of special meals on international flights. I order diabetic meals but CO doesn't offer them while UA does. I wish Star Members had some sort of minimum standards on catering. As it is now, there are such extremes from US to LH.
ADent From United States of America, joined Dec 2006, 1187 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3652 times:
Quoting United1 (Reply 11): There is quite a bit of food served on board UA flights
Thanx for the list.
Living in DEN I don't get too many flights over 1440 miles. Most of my flights are actually UAX (like most 'United' flights at DEN) and these rules don't apply.
DEN-MCO (1546 sm) I don't remember the fresh food offerings, but I don't pay much attention to the BOB stuff. A relative flew DEN-PDX (991 sm) last month and they had no BOB on the return flight, though they did on the outbound.
kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3703 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 3478 times:
Quoting ADent (Reply 19): Living in DEN I don't get too many flights over 1440 miles. Most of my flights are actually UAX (like most 'United' flights at DEN) and these rules don't apply.
DEN to BOS / BWI / EWR / DCA / IAD gets breakfast / lunch / dinner in First and fresh food offereings in Y and Y+
malaysia From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 3191 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 3010 times:
I was just remembering before that when I flew UA and was seated in the rear of the plane on a coast to coast flight, I planned on buying BOB breakfast or BOB dinners due to tight connection, but by the time the cart came to me, They had nothing left except a little can of pringles or just a little kiddie smoothie. It was a bit unfair when those flights had 100% hot meals for each seat, now with the BOB, it can run out before it gets to you and you end up hungry for 6 hours in the air.
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kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3703 posts, RR: 1 Reply 22, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2893 times:
Quoting malaysia (Reply 21): I was just remembering before that when I flew UA and was seated in the rear of the plane on a coast to coast flight, I planned on buying BOB breakfast or BOB dinners due to tight connection, but by the time the cart came to me, They had nothing left except a little can of pringles or just a little kiddie smoothie. It was a bit unfair when those flights had 100% hot meals for each seat, now with the BOB, it can run out before it gets to you and you end up hungry for 6 hours in the air.
Last row? Okay.
So . . . if you're not even Y+ - then why should you get first crack at the goodies?
You can purchase the Premier Plus package, and that would solve the problem. The extra knee room will pay for itself and save your sanity the next time you get stuck with a no choice B or an E seat.
So, when I'm spreading sun-dried-tomato aioli on my sandwich or enjoying one of those *giant* Tapas snack boxes with a Heineken in Y+ -- because we got it first up front -- I'll think of you in the last row.
rising From United States of America, joined May 2010, 240 posts, RR: 1 Reply 23, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2518 times:
Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 20): DEN to BOS / BWI / EWR / DCA / IAD gets breakfast / lunch / dinner in First and fresh food offereings in Y and Y+
Not for me! I flew UA First a few days ago from IAD-DEN and only got a bag of Popchips ( the Flight Attendants then warmed their meals and ate while reading US Weekly. To top it off, coming back yesterday, I was in the back of Economy and they ran out of BOB by the time they got to my row, and then the FA's spent the rest of the trip talking about their contract. One even did a voice-over making fun of Smisek during the safety video where all of us in the back few rows could hear. The worst UA round-trip I have been on in years. Sorry... had to vent!)
The First flight was the last flight out, leaving at 10:15pm so I am sure that is why no meal, but a big disappointment nonetheless as it was a 3 hour and 55 min. flight. I found myself wishing I was in coach so I could buy a Snackbox.
[Edited 2011-08-08 21:40:15]
If it doesn't make sense, it's because it's not true.
gigneil From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 16215 posts, RR: 88 Reply 24, posted (1 year 10 months 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2466 times:
It is far from the last row when they run out of food. They barely get out of Y+ on trancons from Dulles before they run completely out of food.
I NEVER fly United at mealtime without a full meal of some kind with me. They just do not cater the planes.
As to the boxes- that product has been aligned for a while already.
NS
25 malaysia: I never spend my money on UA, I only fly on other people's money when it comes to UA, so I am not gonna fork out money for Y+ and never found it inte
26 kgaiflyer: Uuum. If you want a coach snack box while in F class, just ask your F/A. She'll secure one for you.
27 laca773: Does UA still offer the purchase of a Business class meal on longhaul and p.s. service still? I read on Flyertalk, they were offering such a service f
28 kgaiflyer: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A UA employee provided this information up
29 gigneil: Smisek probably is aware, his airline always offered superior catering. It was United's catering that sucked. NS
30 ckfred: Somewhat related. Would Chelsea consider building facilities at UA hubs, such as IAD, ORD, and SFO? Obviously, that would cost money. But those cities
31 brilondon: With UA/CO merger, are they going to continue the UA process of charging for food in Y on international flights or will they go to complimentary meals
32 quiet1: On what international flights does UA charge for food in Y?
33 gigneil: United does NOT charge for food on international flights. NS
34 malaysia: Somewhere I found that Gategourmet was leasing its kitchen in SFO from UA, so I guess maybe if they lose contract, Chelsea can move in? I do not know
35 kgaiflyer: Several writers have implied that the UA Y / Y+ system where you can pay extra to get ahead, have more legroom, or faster service (just like on FL, B
36 CODC10: The problem with the lighter broth soups is that they tend to splash around quite a bit during turbulence. This is why you'll notice mostly thicker s
37 brilondon: I stand corrected, UA does not charge for international flights' meals. I still don't like UA for reasons that I have previously have indicated on th
38 EXCOASA1982: They (CO) have always run out of the more popular hot meal options well before the last row in my vast experience. I remember hearing this complaint f
39 gigneil: United ones as well. There was a tasty potato soup in F at one point not terribly long ago. NS
40 TOMMY767: Any idea why CO is so big on serving soup at dinner? I feel like AA and DL are keen on serving salads instead. How was that routing? BOS-SFO on CO is
41 adambrau: You might be forgiven for thinking UA does charge for meals in Y on int'l flights, they actually were about to try it out on TransAtlantic flights ma
42 kgaiflyer: Makes sense. But in the past, CO has had a quite acceptable Tomato Bisque and a White Creme Soup with Mushrooms.
43 type-rated: Remember all the discussions before the merger about how the CO service was being downgraded to UA standards?
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