How American Airlines Makes 15,000 Meals A Day
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Food service on domestic airlines has drastically changed in recent years.
Nearly 3 million passengers fly every day in the U.S. Post pandemic, airlines have seen an increase in passengers buying up to premium seats - putting pressure on airlines to offer better food options and more of them.
American Airlines just built this 214,000 square foot facility at Dallas-Fort Worth International airport. It prepares up to 15,000 meals a day, with the help of robots, for more than 800 flights daily. The new kitchen features more automation to keep up with demand and to minimize catering delays as the number of people traveling breaks new records and globally demand is expected to double by 2040.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:54 - Evolution of airplane food
04:05 - American Airlines kitchen
07:07 - The future
Produced, shot and edited by: Erin Black
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Editorial Support: Leslie Josephs
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How American Airlines Makes 15,000 Meals A Day
I’m a flight attendant for American Airlines and I can tell you with 100% CERTAINTY… the food does NOT look like this when you fly with us lmao.
what domestic flight have food instead of peanuts and a cup of soda?
Maybe around 15 years ago it use to be great food not anymore 😂
Hope they sack you
I agree 100%. I am a retired flight attendant. It’s a joke today.
I love how their marketing and PR staff paid so much attention to detail! They’ve even made sure that not a single US Airways-branded beverage cart could be seen!
I mean, it is important to see airlines seamlessly transitioning from past (through acquisitons, mergers and the lot) to present. I often fly Brussels Airlines, since I live in Belgium, and some of their aircraft (mostly A320 and A330) still have catering trolleys from the Sabena, the ancestor of Brussels Airlines, which went bankrupt in 2001.
Majority of airlines outside the US have a meal service no matter the class or length of flight which was a pleasant surprise. They are actually pretty good.
Its true, I'm the consumer
same in europe depends on low cost or national carriers. Internatioal flights over 5-6 hours you get food served.@@sebdcord
@@sebdcord this one is correct. European Airlines are cutting down benefits but increased the price
That's a big fat lie. Here in Southeast Asia, most airlines don't serve anything, not even water. In europe, they only served some drinks.
Really depends but in Europe for example, you will get absolutely nothing on most flights. Maybe a water and a cookie, but no free soft drinks and snacks or something, if you get anything at all.
A lot of people don't realize that the lower air pressure in the cabin actually affects our sense of taste. Food just isn't going to taste as good in an airplane cabin, period.
Yup....that's why airplane food is often loaded with salt and other seasonings.
@@ajs11201just give me some Cholula 😅
I used to believe that until I started flying Premium Economy. They can make it taste better.
Weird cause the food I bring on tastes good! The still frozen chicken they give you must taste like crap because of the cabin pressure. 🤔
@@adriandrelles1701 Cabin pressure makes any food taste differently.
I actually always think that airline food tastes rather decent - given the circumstances I probably perceive it differently as well but yeah.
LSG Sky Chefs actually the ones doing the catering, not AA. They just own the building so the catering company can cater the food exclusively for AA at a very close proximity.
it's almost like they said that in the video
@@augustuspetrov7844 They did but a lot missed it. Many just don't really pay attention.
As long as you’re repeating things said in the video, tell us something else.
Exactly!! 😂😂 edit: AA made it seem like they were preparing the meals!
Notice they didn't show a single person cooking or preparing a main cabin meal lol
Notice how there's no kitchen and the meals are all cooked and prepped off the plane.
Microwave
it's all prapaganda anyways, its funny they say demand when really there is non the demand is for leg room and less fees yet moronic CEO's with that greed make it worse
lol pay more if you want fresh meal
@@pkdrew1 They don't use microwave ovens on planes. If you listened to the video you'd know any ovens on a plane are convection ovens.
When I was a sales rep for a safety equipment company in Northern California I was invited to tour the LSG Skychefs facility at SFO (I believe around 2015-2016) and meet with their management in preparation for submitting a bid for their business. During the meeting with the operations manager I caught the tail end of a conversation with him and the purchasing agent from Virgin America Airlines (now part of Alaska Airlines), and I clearly the conversation they had when he told the LSG manager that if they removed just 3 grapes from their $9 fruit and cheese tray, that the airline would increase the profit from the sales of that one item aboard to something like $160K annually. The margins on those meals are super high, but a lot of those "Airline" kitchens have now pivoted to serve as commissaries for convenience stores where food can be prepped and shipped to local stores to sell items like sandwiches and salads cold to customers or to be heated up in appliances in the store to sell hot food items like pizza, chicken, wings, and eggrolls.
That $160k number isn't unreasonable. Assuming $2/lb for grapes that would be around 640,000 trays just on the 80,000 pounds of grapes you'd not be serving. As the price of grapes goes up the number of trays drops quickly.
Air Asia has some great economy food boxes. Ya you pay $2 when you pay for your ticket but it beats most north american food.
$2 is not bad.
It's now up to 6$
Funny, after finishing my undergrad I worked for less than a year at sky chefs, in accounting.
When something is not up to standards for a major ariline, they offer it to budget lines like Spirit - if they get no takers, they throw it out 😂
"It really doesn't matter what you serve, the number one outlier that is important to our customers is running an on-time operation"
Seems kinda off-topic for a food video...
Kind of true, I did 6 flights back to back and the only thing I really cared about was getting to my destination on time. the food was more a bonus than a breaking point for me. I was asleep most of the flight (or tried to sleep...my neck still hurts).
Thanks for this fantastic video, I really appreciate it
Interesting and informative, thank you
I lflew to Asia with Singapore Airlines and the food was great even for economy class. it had fresh salmon and shrimp. I enjoyed the food.
gross
No North American or European airlines can compete with the service and onboard experience of Asian carriers like Singapore, Qatar, emirates, ANA, Asiana.
Which Asia?
@@senagst6510 Singapore 😅
@@daniel11111 well said, for money value fly SQ, ANA, Jal and Cathay - the last ones is more money
Of course US based airlines are 10 years behind the curve. Most airlines over seas already serve quality dishes even in Coach.
Thank you for sharing.
I don't even remember the last time I had a meal on a flight.
International flights have them all the time they are uncommon for domestic flights unless the flight is longer then 4 hours in which case more common. Also as touched on your seating selection matters. As well as the airline that you choose to fly with. I always fly delta which always includes some kind of meal option or snacks
@@dennisp8520 True if you unfortunately have to travel in economy.
Must be flying low cost airlines. I fly internationally 4-7 times a year. Even in economy I get some kind of meal.
@@joser1853 Long haul international is different
You don’t ever leave the country, right? 😅
Thank you for sharing airline life in our industry.
This is a very amazing video and it is all thanks to everything that has happened
Gotta love documentaries like these they bring an insight of the issues and problems airlines today. It's not just American Airlines but all airlines
Apparently outside the US everyone on a plane gets a free meal because everyone but the us is a socialist wonderland
It does help shed light on things and stop all the idiot commenters saying stupid things like "Man I miss the 50s when people got full meals on all flights" forgetting that back in those days, flying on a plane would've cost as much as a small car in today's money and you can still pay that today for first class...to get the same kind of hot meal service you did 50 years ago. (bonus points usually those commenters are people who were born recently acting like the world was rosier back then, forgetting that back then, no one had an iPhone to film their personal life, so the few times someone could publish a film were reserved for the wealthiest of documentaries, 95% of which was propaganda to make the US look better than it really was).
Still with people getting more aware today and seeing more reality, documentaries have to be more honest or careful with how they present information to not be called out.
The first time I flew first class I was surprised how they served 3 course meals, and we even got silverware not plastic
It's similar in business class.. had a great experience flying Air France from SFO to CDG..
Korean airline, Turkish airline , Emeritus airline, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore airlines all served with real silverware in economy showing a real menu
@@jamesreynolds5776bro i got that in economy
They really make it worth it. Some people fly all the time but for those of us who fly like once a year or every few years, it's definitely worth splurging just for the comfort. I did all economy for a series of international flights and I swear I needed a neckbrace. I'm still physically recovering from the sleep issues, but I got super lucky on the last flight where I somehow got the whole row to myself and could actually lie down to sleep. thank goodness cause I was up 23 hours straight by then and wouldn't land until 7:00 a.m.
………QANTAS built a six-storey Catering Facility at its’ Jet Base, in SYD, in the early ‘80’s. To see six HUGE cauldrons’ full of beef, & chicken stock was fascinating. Bread loaves’ floor to ceiling in a very large freezer. Dessert’s being assembled on a production line. One floor for inwards dirty cutlery, dishes’, & glasses’. One floor for outwards of same, onto galley pallets’ for the departing jets’. All fabulous to learn about………
I asked an AA flight attendant what she recommended on a flight from Philly to Zurich. She said "Eating at the airport"
We flew Delta to Europe last summer and Pizza was on the Menu…..it looked like a Pizza Hot Pocket…..but wasn’t that great…..We don’t fly much and my wife told me to NOT eat Popeyes at the airport because the airline was going to feeding us aa meal…..so disappointed in that Pizza….I was craving Popeyes for the rest of the flight….
I went to Italy this summer. I stopped by Georgia bc it was a connecting flight. ✈️ I got Popeyes and boy is your wife right DO NOT GET POPEYES. The chicken tasted weird like stale
Grow a pair and eat what you want.
Ha! Their idea of pizza IS a hot pocket. Gross. I always eat at a restaurant before boarding. Then I also take snacks with me like chips, crackers, candy.
You should always choose to fly foreign airlines whenever you leave the country. Aero Mexico even served free beer or tequila in economy 😅
Could an air fryer not work?
It's an incredibly informative and fascinating video. It's amazing to see the level of detail and care that goes into preparing meals for such a large number of people.
it's fascinating to see the difference between Airline Meal documentaries on TH-cam. Some are more clear about the problems and issues relating to costs, people, etc; while others prioritize quality, effort, and bang for the buck. I find it interesting how different countries emphasize different things.
It just depends on the market in general, just like real estate. Here in the states, we're all the same customers so it's hard to "impress us" with high quality service, but if an American is flying in a poorer country, you'll likely be treated like royalty because you're able to afford the higher quality services. That's likely why international flights really try their best to cater to Americans or wealthy passengers to show that "See? Our service is top of the line, please fly with us again". That's where most of thier profits would come from, BUT domestic flights know us so well, they know that we'll fly domestically even if all we get are a pack of peanuts for a 4 hour flight, so they instead focus on filling up planes so they waste as little fuel for city hopping as possible. We're not going to pay $5000 for a domestic flight if it takes 2 hours to just drive to the city ourselves or take the train at the cost of a few more hours of travel time.
Hmm I just got an idea of a restaurant who has seating like an airplane and offer meals in trays exactly like on airplanes. I will call it the airplane experience. I think people who can't afford to travel but wants to feel like travelling will enjoy that.
The worst airline food on American from LAX to LHR in August! The crew response, “ I don’t know!”
I can't get over how the CEO's and CFO's in AAL don't get the fact that responses like that from their employees has such a deleterious effect upon their customers. Then again, AAL stock and P/E ratio is also pathetic......
Err... Considering the size of AA as compared to SIA, SIA does 120,000 meals a day
As someone who works at dfw airport, this is so cool to watcg
No thank you to airplane food. I buy my own food and snacks before my flight.
When your can of soda explodes on you now you will know the reason.
Congress should pass legislation that requires an airline to have a minimum seat width/recline, provide free meals, and ban baggage fees. Instead of doing trivial stuff that only scores points with their base.
I like y'all's peanuts and pretzels 😂
I once got tasty sea bass in economy flight from Hongkong to Shanghai with dragon airlines , and don’t even mention the all you can order and eat A la carte real nice presented food on JAL. Business class meal in all 3 big US airline are only get by. 😅
Never understood why they don’t let people in coach pre order meals and pay for them on long flights. We’re stuck with water and peanuts even on a 6 hour flight.
Pay more
Not worth the complication and expense for economy
Not to mention you will get disgruntled passengers. Jetblue had sandwiches you paid for, on cross country flights, they are gone by first ten rows, cheese and crackers is all that is left. The passengers complaining. If competition started meals in economy then others would follow, but that is highly unlikely to return.
Or how about warming up a food dish I bought??? Yeah! If I bring say McDonalds or Chik-fil-A on board, I would like to have them heat it up for me a bit.
@@boohere2how are they going to make money from that. Unless they charge you like a $5 warming charge (which most ppl won’t pay for) I don’t see it happening.
I drive by that building everyday and now I know what it's for lol
The restaurant industry standard is that the cost of food is between 12-18% of the cost of the dish on the menu. For catering I would imagine the cost of food is even lower.
a lot of talk here, but how come international airlines serve better food ???
Because you pay much more $$$$?
Not true, British Airways food sucks.
higher priced flights and wealthier clients coming from USA
The domestic business menu for American , the charcuterie plate. It’s an appetizer made a meal. Or even less than an appetizer
I had á lasagna on Ryanair once that was delicious!
That's for shorter flights without full domestic meal service. It's not meant to be a full meal.
Air Transport Command used supermarket type TV dinners. Not great, but good enough and much cheaper.
why is the lady speaking in such a hurry
Dude American Airlines gave me a Turkey sandwich with ice still on it going to japan lol
😂
airline food or the lack of it. I just bring my own sandwich and grab a coffee from the airport.
How are you bringing your own sandwich you would have to chuck that before you even got inside the airport
@@dennisp8520 That's not true if it's not liquid.
@@dennisp8520They don't seem to throw away food as long as it's sealed properly. I was able to bring dried beef jerky through check out, even internationally, as well as packs of peanuts I bought myself. Just make sure it's stored properly and you'll generally be good to go. But say good bye to the water bottle. Plus many airlines have shops you can buy food in at the boarding stations. Course either way you're still "paying" for the meal separately so mileage may vary.
Airline food is usally just URGGHHH 🤣
It is really good for me and you too.😊😊😊😊
A long time ago the airlines' meals were good and I also remember when you flew for 2 hours or more you automatically got food and it was good chicken steak.
It's been years since I've had a meal on a flight, but I remember it not being bad at all nothing extraordinary but pretty good.
Take more foreign vacations and fly foreign airlines 😅
@@___beyondhorizon4664 I’ve flown on British Airways and their food is frankly worse than not eating on a 15 hour flight. Not every airline serves good food.
@@thetrainhopper8992The thing that worries me is when they serve food you can't eat due to allergies or conditions. I can't eat mayo and the sandwich one place served had mayo on ham and cheese. I get really sick if I put mayo in my mouth so I just had to hold off. Fortunately it was just a snack because I slept through dinner and didn't get a food tray and the flight wasn't that long.
I love airline food
Surprising airlines don't offer a paid upgrade for a premium meal.
Airline foods used to be lovely in the 80s & 90s now its more basic & less meals during long flights but flight prices still high as ever
Finally, we know what is up with that stuff
It’s surprising to see that AA makes food; maybe it must be for another airline because I have never seen food sold or served on their flights.
It's for first class customers.
Hilarious- I just flew with them last night- pretzels!
Glad that I ate in the Charlotte airport before my flight to Munich on American. The chicken barely looked like chicken and had no taste. When the government allows most airlines to merge, don't expect competition to force better options from domestic airlines.
I’ve had good meal but that was international flight to Europe
It won't be Michelin Star quality or whatever, but I think now a days in my recent experience airline food is tasty enough and does the job, but then again I'm not a super picky eater. People love to complain about anything.
The really amusing ones are those paying economy fares and expecting good food.
Very very surprised that American makes / prepares the meal themselves. I thought it was all done through caterers - at least it seems that way in Canada
They don't. They just own the building. The catering is done by LSG Sky Chefs.
They own the building however the actual cooking is contracted out to LSG Skychefs
@@makeawishkid8039 We know.
I've flown economy and business class... Honestly the upgrade is not worth it (unless you're not paying). On long haul flights I would just sleep for the most part. Short flights a few hours is just that... a few hours.
More people can't fit in economy seats and want more food to enjoy during the flight. Fascinating.
Can you guys please make a video about the auto worker union strike
I couldn't care less about food on an airplane... I just bring my healthy meal anyway.
One name . Flying Food Group.
3:40 Excuse me, where could anyone fly a true First Class internationally for $5K? JFK to Narita is $30K!
Yeah topping 10k isn’t actually topping, it looks like it’s more like the minimum to fly first class overseas.
Edit: jfk to london seems to be the closest to 5-6k overseas flight right now.
If you have time to eat before your flight. Do so. Imagine having a non-stop 16 hour flight and you forgot the food add-on for your ticket.
I eat at the delta sky lounges buffet for free but even if I didn’t I would still just eat on the plane
On American, we’ll feed you more than once on a 16-hour flight, even in economy class. This is true on most major airlines. Still a good idea to bring snacks with you.
They don't offer buy on board on such a long flight. Any of the LLCs don't fly such long routes.
Wow yuummy food!❤
Why there's no one information here of the explosion in Tashkent, Uzbekistan?
Probably cause this isn't twitter, where every post has to explode into a political war zone.... Still hope the people you mention are okay. I try not to say much about things I don't know about so I avoid sounding ignorant.
The best airlines 🎉
I have flown on an airplane 3 times in my life:
- one time when I came to the US from China at the age of 4 going on 5
- one time when I visited China with my mom at the age of 13 going on 14
- just recently at the age of 33, again to China, to visit family members, especially my paternal grandmother
On the first flight, I don't remember much at all. Maybe just a random kid eating dry ramen? Not sure.
On the second flight, lol. I don't remember the food.
On the third flight, the most recent flight, I remember it well. I went on American Airlines and flew from my city to Chicago, switched to Cathay Pacific to fly to Hong Kong and used Cathay Pacific again to fly to Wuhan. The snacks on American airlines were okay, but Dad couldn't have them because he couldn't handle gluten. So, he gave me his portions. I liked the tomato juice though.
I think airplane food depends on the culture. In Chinese culture, food can be made very fast on the wok. But western food revolves around baking in the oven and cooking in pots and pans. It's much easier to hand out crackers and cookies on American domestic flights, I guess.
I'll just buy something and bring it on board.
I rarely think about food when flying. Too nervous
Interesting
I flew delta this summer for a big trip to Italy and that food was disgusting. It makes school lunch look like a real meal. I prefer school pizza over delta food.
Sounds like you were economy. Shouldn't have expected good food.
@@johniii8147right, people in economy are low class and get the leftovers.
@@yordanpopov You get what you pay for ( or don't pay for).
I love emirates airlines food always good
We don’t need a history lesson of what it was like to fly back then every video does it. We don’t need a backstory
American Airlines has opened a 214,000 square foot catering facility at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, to help meet the demands of its more than 800 daily flights. The facility, which can produce up to 15,000 meals per day with the help of robots, features automation designed to minimise catering delays and accommodate future growth. The move comes as demand for air travel is predicted to double by 2040. While food service on domestic airlines has changed in recent years, airlines have added more seats, making serving food more complicated. Post-pandemic, airlines are seeing an increase in passengers purchasing premium seats, putting pressure on airlines to offer better food options. Globally, airline ancillary revenue from services not included in the base fare, such as food, has grown from $42.6bn in 2013 to nearly $103bn in 2022. Airlines have cut back on food in the past, but eventually brought meals back and many started charging for food in economy class. International flights offer more elaborate first-class meals, as passengers are willing to spend more on tickets.
That was all in the video.
American Airlines are possibly the worst in the world when it comes to in flight food. This is a PR piece.
6:29 This guy has no idea what AI is.
So for you AI is just chatgpt?
I used to work here
are these like those tv night dinners?
They like cutting cost but never the CEO salaries.
With increasing passengers, workload and pressure increases = more stress and even more shareholder/board pressure.
Positive feedback loop.
Simple economics, ya know?
1.5 million passengers a day and 15k meals… food fight?
They want "passengers to demand first class"? At $10k a pop, exactly which passengers are they trying to attract?
I think, they said 'business travelers' - but I still don't see why a company would say 'of course we'll pay however much it is just so you can have a little better meal', especially given you can take a lot of food from the duty free area onto the airplane. * (But many seem to do so - so, yeah..)
I carry chocolate bars on my person. On my last flight the dude in front reclined his seat and I was trapped in my seat twice for 5 hours each time. I just had to deal with the dehydration, and didn't dare eat as there was no way I could get to the bathroom.
unpopular opinion: i actually love airline food haha
When you're pulling a 14 hour trip and it's the middle of the night by the time you board the plane, ANY food is going to be a king's feast! XD I PUNISHED that barbecue mac so hard when I woke up, even though it was cold by then. XD
nice AA infomercial
@0:36 no, it’s American air carrier food that’s known for being bad.
I ENIOYED the field trip but was touched when we visited the kitchen. Who can I talk to NBC turkey?
It looks strange seeing people cooking all these different meals in a huge kitchen, where nobody on-site is even eating the food
Well no one's paying $8 for some crackers and a cup of fruit. XD
GOOD THING; I NEVER HAVE NOR PLAN ON EVER FLYING.
finally, the deal with airplane food
I can't say I've ever had a bad in-flight meal, at least internationally. I've even asked for and gotten seconds many times and the FA's are more than happy to do so as it's all getting tossed at the arrival destination which is a shame. I'll always remember fondly the glory (pre-9/11) days of flying when it was fun, now...as we all know it sucks. Leslie Josephs is a babe too!
This report was all over the place.
Please release new menus, I just ate a meal I had 4 years ago in business class twice this year so far. Why!!
Probably because it's a popular choice and well suited to being plane food.
That is like so yummy. Even if I don’t like their new logo.
i flew international business on AA from Dallas.. they food was sooo bad.... lay flat is amazing on a 14 hour flight but food was horrible..
What do you mean a $1 Clif bar getting cut doesn’t make the ticket cost FIFTY TIMES LESS on airlines like Frontier? Did Simple Hypemonger lie to me!?
Chef Mic needs a job.
Does Bischoff count as a meal? Because that’s all the people in the back are getting.