Gastro

Gastro Culinary Innovation celebrates soaring sales following WTCE

Airline food is having a renaissance. Gone are the days of dry chicken or watery scrambled eggs and in their place a delicious selection of tasty restaurant-quality meals that are pleasing to the palette, easy on the eye and gastronomically on trend. Who could have imagined even five years ago that passengers would be able to ‘take afternoon tea’ or enjoy deli-quality dishes at 37,000 feet? These days it is the norm, even on low cost carriers, and one company at the forefront of this movement is convenience snacking brand Gastro Culinary Innovation.

Specialising in innovative products based around current restaurant and food trends, Gastro Culinary Innovation creates delicious hot savoury snacks – including empanadas, burritos and strombolis, mini deli dishes and street food – as well as afternoon tea cakes and sweet cuppie® cakes. In 2015, the company decided to direct its business strategy towards the onboard services industry and took a stand at industry leading exhibition World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo (WTCE). This proved to be an extremely valuable decision, as company director Jacqui Davidson, explains:

“In 2015, we decided to make the onboard services sector a priority for the company. We recognised that there was a gap in the market for airline food that was essentially delicious but also on-trend, well-presented, and could withstand the stresses of onboard handling – everything that we stand for! So in order to make our brand visible to as many key operators in this area as possible, we took a stand at the Hamburg event and showcased a selection of products in our Gastro Classic, Deli Dishes, Street Eatz and Gastro Cuppie® cake and full afternoon tea ranges.

“To say we were delighted with the outcome would be an understatement. Not only did we welcome a steady stream of new and extremely influential airline and rail professionals to our stand throughout the event, but we also managed to forge deeper relationships with the contacts that we already had. As a result, our business has seen positive growth, particularly since the event itself, and we have many exciting new business opportunities in the pipeline for 2016. We are really looking forward to exhibiting in Hamburg again and hope to build on and replicate the success of 2015.”

Gastro Culinary Innovation’s story is not unusual. Many companies have reported huge and lucrative deals thanks to their participation in the air and rail industry’s flagship onboard services event.

Airline food has long been a well-documented bugbear for passengers travelling across the globe. Despite many being unwilling to pay more for improved catering offerings, customer expectations have continued to increase. So airline and rail operators have been forced to find alternative ways to meet demand, which is where events like WTCE come in.

WTCE provides a platform for food and drink brands to showcase their offerings to a target audience of serious buyers looking to add a unique or innovative point of difference to their menus. Visitors to the event highlight a genuine interest in new food and drink companies who are able to service the onboard sector so we encourage relevant organisations to consider the event as a serious means of developing their business.

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