<p><em>Understanding the basic needs of a traveller can go a long way in encouraging him to return for yet another culinary experience with you<br><br><strong>By Ranbir Batra</strong></em><br><br>The truth is, although we must eat to live, which one of us doesn’t live to eat? Ah…food. Just the word itself has an unparalleled ability to evoke reactions — emotional, physical and even spiritual — by nothing more than its mere mention.<br><br>World over, family discussions, business meeting, social outings and even national and international debates are planned and designed around the communal consumption of food. Whether you are sitting at home inhaling the aroma of spices simmering around you, or in your office anticipating the unveiling of your lunch tiffin, or at a restaurant searching through a menu to find the dish that will hit your sweet spot, or in an airplane hoping the food service will sweeten your journey, we routinely hit the pause button on our busy lives to — yes, you guessed it — eat good food!<br><br>As a student in a culinary school, developing a keen understanding of the relationship with food was as important a component of my course work as learning about the science and art of food itself.<br><br>First, there are cultural norms and preferences to consider, then, of course, there is the seasonal availability of the ingredients. But above all, there is the inexplicable and completely unpredictable X-factor to be mastered — your customer’s mood!<br><br>Years later, figuring out what will make my customer truly happy remains the most important question I address when I step into my kitchens day after day. And as a professional in the food service industry, I recognise that no matter how many varieties of food I offer on my menus, and no matter how much I may have learned about the preparation of good food, ultimately each one of my customer will form their own, individual opinions about their meal they are served.<br><br>Even before my customer has taken the first bite of his or her food, their eyes and nose have initiated the experience, and as a restaurateur, my primary goal is to ensure that the hundreds and thousands of these food critics that come my way leave with a positive review.<br><br>The world has become more globalised and innovative in the last 20 years. Through continued innovation, more and more people across the globe are able to freely communicate with others with a mere touch of their phone pads and arrange travel itineraries within a couple of minutes. Through globalisation, more people are able to travel to all corners of the world in search of life-changing experiences, business opportunities, religious enlightenment, and better education. <br><br>The trade association for the world’s airlines — International Air Transport Association (IATA) — released its first 20-year passenger growth forecast, projecting that passenger numbers are expected to reach 7.3 billion by 2034. That represents a 4.1 per cent average annual growth in demand for air connectivity that will result in more than a doubling of the 3.3 billion passengers expected to travel this year. <br><br>In light of this information, many of the airlines need to ask themselves: How do we gain an upper hand over competition? How do we improve the quality of airline travel so we can increase our revenue? How do we offer all of our new and future customers an enjoyable travel experience so that they remain long-term customers? <br><br>The answer may lie in appealing the palate, the tongue, and the stomach! Members of the airline industry may be able to distinguish themselves from their competition by improving their culinary offerings. <br><br>Should an airline serve their passengers a full meal, but charge them no more than the cost of an airline ticket? Or should an airline offer a wider range of meal options, and expect passengers to pay for the meal of their choice? Should airlines serve fancier, more exotic meals to appeal to their wanderlust-driven travelers? Or simpler meals that are nutritious, easy-to-serve, and less accident-prone 30,000 feet up in the air?<br><br>As the airline industry continues to work its way through these questions, one thing is clear that as competition among airlines for market share continues to heat up, the question of which airlines serves the best food is becoming an increasingly important consideration in the race for customer loyalty and retention.<br><br>Further, airline food is no longer viewed as simply a means of sustenance, aimed at tiding the passenger over until they’ve reached their destination and a real meal. On the contrary, given that there isn’t really much to distract a passenger through his journey, the question of when their meal will be served, and what they can expect to find under the foil covering their food trays is, in fact, one of the few things most passengers look forward to after take-off. And what they find under that layer or foil can, and does, define a passenger’s experience with any given airline.<br><br>However, as passengers, we are often not aware of the myriad challenges faced by the airline industry. Airline food is cooked in professional industrial sized kitchens, cooled to below zero degrees within a fixed window of time in order to kill all bacteria before the meals are transported to the airline, stored on a plane and then reheated, once again within a fixed window of time to ensure that the food is kept out of the temperature danger zone, before it is finally served to the passenger. Airlines also follow extremely strict hygiene policies when it comes to serving food on a flight, and have to ensure that all food service areas remain extremely clean at all times.<br><br>When you see the flight attendant bringing that food trolley towards you, already thoughts are flowing through your head and you wait for that question: “Sir/Madam, would you like to have our vegetarian option or non-vegetarian option?”<br><br>Most often on domestic airlines, we have a pre-judged notion that we are going to get cold hard paneer, green peas, rice and potato or some dry, hard chicken curry, along with some yoghurt, cold salad, fruit and a dessert. When that is the case that smile immediately turns into a frown.<br><br>Even before getting to how delicious their meal is, it is the simple things passengers are looking for: just a soft and warm bread roll can transform a traveller’s meal experience.<br><br>Unlike restaurants, while airline meals cannot be prepared to cater to each individual’s unique taste, paying attention to the details can go a long way in meeting the expectations of a passenger. Every airline must strive to achieve basic criteria when it comes to serving meals: meals that are healthy, hot, and as importantly, pleasing to the eye once that layer of foil is peeled off the tray. In my opinion, if an airline can successfully meet these criteria, half the food battle is won.<br><br>Is achieving all of the above a challenge? Absolutely. But do we passengers see things differently, and expect nothing but the best because “we have paid for it”? Absolutely. Survey after survey has shown that passengers are choosing their airline, and even paying for higher-priced tickets, if the airline has a reputation for serving delicious food.<br><br>When it comes to the question of who pays for these meals, some argue that if the airline industry is expected to improve the selection of meals served on a flight, then the passengers should be expected to pay for their share of the meal.<br><br>In my opinion, expecting passengers to pay for their meals on a short sector flight may, in fact, be a reasonable strategy. But on a longer sector flight, where meals are the one thing that keep the passenger going with hours left to landing, it is in the airlines’ best interest to up the ante and make their passengers’ journey as satisfying and memorable as possible.<br><br>Furthermore, given the increasing costs of travel and some ungodly charges that airlines are beginning to impose on customers (for example, carry-on bag charges, excess baggage charges, and higher ticket costs), charging customers additional amounts for a hearty meal could only jeopardise maintaining the customer base. <br><br>Through my experiences, I have learned that it may never be possible to satisfy everyone. And in the case of the airline industry, the task at hand is even more challenging, but understanding the basic needs of a traveller, and staying true to the question of “What will make my customer truly happy” can go a long way in retaining your customers’ loyalty and encouraging them to return for yet another culinary experience with you. <br><br><em>The writer is a fourth generation restaurateur and owns Mumbai’s New Yorker and Pune’s Frisco. He studied at Kendall College, Chicago and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Culinary Arts.</em><br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-11-2015)</p>
