United Extends LSG Sky Chefs Contract
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APEX Insight: Catering giant LSG Sky Chefs is celebrating a big win in the run-up to WTCE EXPO in Hamburg this April. Its new agreement with United makes it the largest single provider of catering services to the Star Alliance member.
LSG Sky Chefs announced today that it has extended its catering contract with United Airlines. The three-year agreement covers 24 locations in six countries, including Belgium, China, Italy, Mexico, and the United States.
The new contract is in addition to the existing 21 locations that LSG Sky Chefs services for the airline. In all, LSG Sky Chefs will provide services in 45 cities, to more than 900 United flights per day.
LSG Group’s catering division, operating under the LSG Sky Chefs brand, is present at 211 airports in 50 countries, and delivers 591 million meals a year to flights around the world. It has also recently ventured to space, developing “bonus food” for astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA) who will be International Space Station (ISS) commander during the upcoming “Horizons” mission.
“When you fly onboard the ISS, you are around 400 km above our planet,” said Frank de Winne, head of the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. “We certainly want our astronauts to perform in an optimal manner, so we need to provide them support. One of the supports we provide is food.”
“In order to enhance the challenging life of the astronauts, we try to offer them a taste of home,” Jörg Hofmann, director, Culinary Excellence, LSG Group, added. “Food is deeply connected to our families, personal life and cultural heritage. In developing the bonus food, we needed to think completely out of the box and were able to apply all our knowledge and culinary expertise in a very unique way.”
LSG Group has also been busy on the ground, as a founding member of the new Airline Catering Association, established this February in Brussels. Earlier this month, it announced the establishment of two regional production centers in Europe, in a move to centralize production and logistics in the region.
LSG Group also reported strong performance for 2017 in its most recent financial filings, and made a commitment to further digital initiatives through its Retail inMotion brand.
“Looking ahead, we will keep on pursuing three strategic goals – Market Leadership, Transformation and Profitable Growth – in all of our regions and divisions,” said LSG Group CEO Erdmann Rauer. “Digitalization will be a crucial enabler in this endeavor. We are evaluating multiple opportunities to intensify the use of digital solutions in both our operational and administrative processes. This will make us more consistent and able to make the quality and efficiency of our products and services even better.”