Eurowings to Test Trendy In-Flight Food Products From Startups
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APEX Insight: Travelers flying with Eurowings as of August will have the option of trying innovative food products from startups selected by a jury comprised of representatives from Eurowings, NX-FOOD and Retail inMotion.
Eurowings has partnered with Retail inMotion and METRO’s NX-FOOD (Next Generation Food) to test startups’ culinary products in flight, with the goal of offering passengers new, trendy dining options. NX-FOOD, a company that helps startups bring food solutions and concepts to market, is currently accepting applications through its website.
“We are excited to make our start-up products available at the 30,000 feet altitude,” said Clément Tischer, program manager at NX-FOOD. “Eager to promote innovative food to the wider audience, we offer our NX-FOOD start-ups an access to more than 2,000,000 passengers on around 20,000 of Eurowings flights within over 50 countries every month.”
A jury comprised of representatives from Eurowings, NX-FOOD and Retail inMotion will select up to four startups per batch of applications. Beginning in August, the chosen startups’ products will be rotated in Eurowings’ Wings Bistro menu for a three-month validation period, after which new products will be rotated in. The jury will then make a decision, based on sales data and customer feedback, whether or not the products will remain on Eurowings’ menu permanently.
“Supporting these pioneering start-ups is clearly in line with our Eurowings brand values,” said Katrin Rieger, vice-president, Customer Experience & Product, Eurowings. “We are thrilled to be taking this step with Retail inMotion and NX-FOOD and expect that the participating products will be a great addition to our Wings Bistro.”
“Healthy snacking is a particularly strong trend … so it would not be surprising if one or more of the initial products come from this category.” – José Lirio Silva, Retail inMotion
Each module of Retail inMotion’s digital retail platform that is used by Eurowings will be used to support the back-end and payment facilitation of the new products, according to José Lirio Silva, head of Onboard Retail Europe for Retail inMotion. This includes modules like vPay and vPOS (for onboard payment management) and vPACK (for trolley packing).
While the jury isn’t looking for food products that that fit a specific category, “healthy snacking is a particularly strong trend in the market at the moment, so it would not be surprising if one or more of the initial products come from this category,” Lirio told APEX Media. “However, that is not a requirement and we are looking forward to seeing the innovative products that are submitted!”