‘Indigenous inflight caterers require skills, facilities to attract foreign airlines’ patronage’

The Nigeria inflight catering market is seen to be under the control of few players as a result of several restraining factors. However, Adeola Omikunle, managing director, Things Remembered and Chairman of the Board, LSG Sky Chefs, Nigeria, is making a difference in the market with her inflight catering services. In an interview with Ifeoma Okeke, she speaks of her passion for the job, the challenges and opportunities – Excerpt

What airlines do you provide catering services to?

Currently, I provide catering services to Medview, Overland and most of the charter flights. I don’t do international flights yet because I do not have adequate facilities to cater for them. By the time we open our facility in Lagos, within a couple of months, we should start catering for international airlines also. The facility is going to be the best in Africa.

What is the selection process to qualify as an inflight caterer in Nigeria?

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) is supposed to give out the inflight catering licence. It takes almost a year to secure the licence, after you must have gone through various processes. Various inspections are carried out. You also need a minimum share capital, amongst other things.

Who are the major players in the inflight catering market?

Companies that are doing the business currently include ASL, Sky Care and Things Remembered, amongst others. Things Remembered just partnered with Lufthansa-KLM’s catering arm called LSG. This is part of the Lufthansa group and they have the largest catering facility in the world. We are building a catering facility along the axis of the international airport, which cost about $12million. We have gotten our free zone status and maybe June or July, we should be able to commence. There are companies who do this job but it is highly technical as it is not just what everyone can do. Inflight catering takes a whole process. The airlines have to guarantee quality of the product. The airlines chooses who they want to cater for.

What are meals served for both inbound and outbound flights?

For international flights, we serve both Nigerian and global meals. Currently, we serve àmàlà (yam flour), eba (garri), pounded yam, ofada rice, gbegiri soup (western Nigerian soup), amongst others. Because Medview is low priced, people patronise the airline. Currently we provide services for Medview in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu. Once the route changes from Abuja to Kaduna, it means our meals will go to Kaduna. For domestic flights we serve Jollof rice and snacks such as meat pie, sausage roll and drinks.

Has the low passenger traffic in anyway affected your sales?

The recession has affected passenger traffic and as you can see, the entire terminal is empty, which has also affected us. Going forward, it is going to be worse with the diversion of flights to Kaduna. Once Abuja is closed, half of the people that go to Abuja, may not want to go to Kaduna because of the crisis over there. Also the Abuja-Kaduna road is unsafe. We are likely going to see a reduction in traffic between Lagos and Kaduna.

How keen is the competition on inflight catering in Nigeria?

As far as I am concerned, I am not competing with anyone and I know that by the time we open our facility, it will speak for itself. We make the packs. In the box pack we have meat pie or sausage or chicken pie, biscuit, mints and a cutlery pack.

Do you have a reporting system, where passengers report back to you on their satisfaction level?

The crew on board give us feedback. Usually, the only way you know that passengers like your food is the amount of remnants you see when the aircraft lands. With us, when the aircraft lands, you don’t see anything. This goes to show you that they love the meals. Muneer Bankole, Managing Director, Medview airline got it right by introducing local meals for Nigerian travellers.

As an indigenous organisation in the inflight catering business that seems to be saturated with global players, what drives you in this business?

My passion for this job drives me. Why I have decided to have this partnership with LSG is to strengthen the confidence of foreign airlines in our services and to have an international outlook. If I decide to do it on my own, I may not be able to get patronage from international airlines.

How came foreign airlines find it difficult to patronise local catering service in Nigeria?

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) cannot force an airline to patronage a catering service. For example, before Emirates take you as their caterer, they inspect the environment, equipment and staff, amongst others. This is because they want to have first class confidence in the meal that is served, because people must not have issues eating the food served on board. If anything happens, the airline will be sued. Because most indigenous players lack skills and adequate facilities, the foreign airline do not have confidence in us. In our new facility, the management will be done by LSG and the day to day running of the service will be done by LSG.

In view of the declining value of Naira, has your cost risen?

We started at N167 to a dollar and now dollar is over N450 and even to get a loan in Nigeria is very difficult. When you get a loan, it is at 28percent, whereas outside the country, business people get loan at two or three percent. This is discouraging for small businesses. We have been trying to review prices with our customers but they have refused, which is very unfortunate. The tomatoes we bought at N15 three years ago have increased to N40 now and everything has skyrocketed but they have refused and there is nothing we can do.

How do you preserve your meals?

Inflight catering takes a process. We also do back catering, which means what they are able to serve on their way back is preserved because of the procedure. The only thing we don’t preserve when we are coming back is the fruit salad and vegetable salad.

Do you get NCAA to regulate what you serve?

NCAA is supposed to do on-the-spot assessment, even the ministry of health should visit the catering facilities at the airport. Some airlines do not use inflight catering companies; someone just caters for their food, which is not supposed to be. This is the job of the NCAA and I hope they can do more to protect those who have made major investments in this business.