• Inflight Service

Food Flight: Beef Jerky, Popcorn and Techno Foods to Take Off

October 22, 2015  | Written by APEX Staff

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This article originally appeared in The APEX EXPO Daily Experience – Day Two.

Ariane van Manicus has elevated in-flight meal packaging with designs for KLM that imitate fine china and an aluminum food cover tinted turquoise forAriane van Manicus. But the owner of the Netherlands-based consultancy Now New Next is also inspired by the contents inside those containers, and is taking cues from global food and beverage trends that would fly well in an airplane cabin.

Beef Jerky and Popcorn

Spicing up in-flight snacking is the chewy, savory and protein-packed beef jerky. “Watch out,” van Manicus says, “beef jerky will enter the airline market soon.” While JetBlue and Alaska Airlines serve the cured meat, it’s been slow to catch on with European carriers. The same delay goes for popcorn, which United Airlines offers sprinkled with pink Himalayan salt. “It’s healthy, it’s low-fat, it’s lightweight – so why is there no popcorn onboard?” Leave it to US carriers to lead the snack trail.

Hyper-Segmentation

Asia fawns over luxury co-branded products, Europe is steeped in the fresh food movement and America is finally paying attention to design. As the passenger experience becomes more personalized, hyper-segmentation comes to play. Vegan or pescatarian? Kosher or halal? For airlines, van Manicus predicts the trend will take shape in route-dedicated meals, catering to the passenger profile of city pairs.

Techno Food

Technology and the proliferation of “smart” is affecting our food, and not just the popcorn dusted with white cheddar powder. 3-D printing is used for prosthetics, airplane parts and edibles. From pancakes to pizza, it turns out, The Jetsons were right about automated food machines.

Active Packaging
Plain packaging just won’t cut it anymore. G.H. Mumm has set the bar high with packaging that features RFID digital intelligence. Connected to a nightclub, it will spotlight you and your friends when you pop a bottle of Champagne to pump up the party. What does your packaging do?