Have you ever wondered how much airlines spend on the meals they serve inflight? Obviously this information isn’t typically made public, and there’s also some variance. However, there’s an interesting discussion going on online, and it might explain why inflight meals sometimes aren’t great, even in premium cabins.
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First & business class catering budgets are lower than you’d think
There’s a discussion in the Lufthansa forum on FlyerTalk, about catering budgets at Lufthansa Group. Specifically, you want to guess what the catering budget allegedly is for first class on both Lufthansa and SWISS, for the entirety of a one-way long haul journey?
Well, it’s apparently €18. That’s right, under $20. Yes, that’s for both meals served in first class on a long haul flight. One wonders how that’s even possible. 
I’d be skeptical, but another knowledgable FlyerTalk member shares some numbers that were provided during a tour of an airline catering facility a bit over a decade ago, where it was mentioned that the typical Lufthansa meal budget for a long haul flight was €2 in economy, €4 in premium economy, €10 in business class, and €20 in first class.
Obviously I can’t personally vouch for this, and there has been inflation since then, but the general sentiment matches what I’ve heard in the past — airline meals are much cheaper to produce than you might expect or hope. Like, you’d be hard pressed to find a microwavable meal for the price of an economy meal, and that doesn’t even account for those meals including sides, etc.
One of the catering facilities near Frankfurt Airport even sells meals to consumers — business class meals retail for €7, while economy meals retail for €2. That includes the 19% VAT.
I’m curious how much variability there is in catering budgets
Obviously the airline industry is incredibly competitive, and controlling costs is important. That being said, it’s clear that not all airlines invest in catering equally. I’d be fascinated to know what the variability is in per passenger catering costs.
For example, I have to imagine that in Emirates first class and Singapore Airlines first class, the catering budget is way (way, way) higher. And of course this all says nothing of the cost of alcohol, where the investment also differs greatly between airlines.
I’m also curious how caviar factors into this. I have to assume that the Lufthansa first class catering budget excludes caviar, since one large tin of that is loaded per flight, and it’s not otherwise a variable service item. I’d assume the catering budget is for the actual food prepared by the catering facility.
So while there are a lot more questions than answers, I think the lesson here is pretty accurate. If you’re wondering why some airlines struggle with actually offering decent catering, it’s because they’re not willing to invest the money. And even when you’re in business class and are served a meal that’s not great, it’s because you’re really eating food that was prepared for a similar cost to a microwave dinner… or maybe for less!
Bottom line
Most airlines spend a lot less money on catering than you might expect, and that includes in first and business class. While there’s obviously some significant variability, it appears that some airlines have a budget of around $20 per passenger for an entire flight in international first class.
I can’t personally vouch for these numbers, but the general sentiment matches what I’ve heard in the past — airline catering, especially in premium cabins, costs a lot less than you might expect.
What’s your take on airline catering budgets, and are you surprised by these alleged numbers?
Oh, you should check how down Finnair has gone with their meals on economy and premium economy class. Small cartoon box rice, bread and some desert.
Qatar and Turkish Air has decent meal, thanks for them. Forget Finnair!
A significant amount charged by catering companies isn't the food provided, but the assembly and delivery of the meal trays.
For example on an economy meal tray each cutlery pack, milk sachet, salt and pepper sachet, side plate, cup etc the caterer will charge the airline for this service. Which is why you see several airlines move to 'bulk loading' where they instead task the cabin crew with putting components together to make a meal tray.
It is about right, but it is just the food part. Not including the champagne, wine, etc.
When you go for a 15 dollar all you can eat buffet, there is no way you can get even close to eat food enough for that not to be profitable for the restaurant. Think about that.....
$2 seems very high for the slop Delta served me in economy the one time I flew with them to the US and back. This tracks though, its the economies of scale and why it never made any sense when catering was cut as cost saving measure - it really is minute in grand scheme of things. I remember this being discusssed when Alex Cruz at BA cut the complimentary service on BA shorthaul, the cost of which was even less given it was a basic sandwich, a snack and bar service.
For what it's worth, I don't believe Emirates or Singapore catering would be vastly different in terms of budgets. Sure, a can of caviar will perhaps be more expensive, but there are economies of scale and these items are easily offset by many cheaper items on offer. Trust me, not everyone is crazy about fish eggs, and they needn't actually be expensive to procure, it's just a reality of the retail market. Famously caviar was...
For what it's worth, I don't believe Emirates or Singapore catering would be vastly different in terms of budgets. Sure, a can of caviar will perhaps be more expensive, but there are economies of scale and these items are easily offset by many cheaper items on offer. Trust me, not everyone is crazy about fish eggs, and they needn't actually be expensive to procure, it's just a reality of the retail market. Famously caviar was always very affordable in the USSR, which otherwise struggled even with basic food production.
If you watch any airline catering documentary, you see how insanely streamlined the whole operation is. It's like any major fast food chain due to the sheer scale and level of standardization.
This blog and all of its counterpoints hype business class to be some luxury experience. It's not. It never had been. It's a fraud. They charge $200/hour more than economy for the "luxury" of a nicer seat and about $30 more value in food. That's it. If you buy into the hype that is it really worth an extra $3,000 for a 10 hour flight, then you are a sucker.
Surely has to be more. I work for AA and the LSG sky chefs tell us that AA pays $20 an economy meal for long haul and that’s the biggest garbage on the tray to ever exist. So other airlines whom are supposedly paying less are getting better quality meal.
In my current job as a corporate chef, we are asked to keep our average food cost per person per day to $30 for 3 meals plus food for a cocktail hour. That does not include labor or alcohol. It’s entirely possible to serve very nice food at that price. I’ll also note that we generally aren’t taking advantage of the huge economies of scale that a flight kitchen would be able to, as we...
In my current job as a corporate chef, we are asked to keep our average food cost per person per day to $30 for 3 meals plus food for a cocktail hour. That does not include labor or alcohol. It’s entirely possible to serve very nice food at that price. I’ll also note that we generally aren’t taking advantage of the huge economies of scale that a flight kitchen would be able to, as we are serving usually 30-40 people per meal.
It would be very interesting to know (as others have said) to know if that $20 is a fully-burdened cost including labor, transportation, and administration costs or if that is the airline’s intended food cost per person per flight.
Why is this a surprise? It's *factory food* ... it's just (sometimes) plated nicely.
China southern last year awarded economy class catering tender, standard quality for 70cents per hot dish, premium for 1usd. Its still up on their website if you can read Chinese.
There are multiple reports on FT that the LH Group catering in business and first is particularly underwhelming on height cost outstations. SFO is one of them. Probably $20 doesn’t go as far there.
So tell me why we can’t get a decent meal in domestic first? Flight costs vary just by time of day by $100+/- Add $15 to the per person meal budget and the “premium” accolades will flow!
They buy in bulk and use average quality ingredients because at 30,000 ft you aren’t gonna tell the difference anyway. If you go shopping in a decent grocery store (not Whole Foods), you can make a very nice meal for $20. Even in a high cost US city like SF or NYC. The premise of paying for first class tickets because the food is good is bonkers. You can take a handful of your friends...
They buy in bulk and use average quality ingredients because at 30,000 ft you aren’t gonna tell the difference anyway. If you go shopping in a decent grocery store (not Whole Foods), you can make a very nice meal for $20. Even in a high cost US city like SF or NYC. The premise of paying for first class tickets because the food is good is bonkers. You can take a handful of your friends out to a Michelin star restaurant for the price of a single long haul first class ticket. Even when redeeming miles, first class passengers are subsidizing the economy seats and giving the airlines very healthy profits. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s all consensual .
You are confusing cost with retail price. In a restaurant $20 worth of food would have a menu price of $60-100. Food cost in most restaurants run between 20%-33%. What you are getting is something comparable to a mid priced restaurant.
Yes, I was aware of this.
And while Pan Am in its glory days may have had catering from the Parisian Maxim’s restaurant, we should not forget that the number of economy, business and even first class meal choices today is limited. Airlines order a large volume of identical meals (Just think of the ‘Chicken or beef?’ question.) and the catering company trucks everything out to the airplane, but is not burdened with any restaurant...
Yes, I was aware of this.
And while Pan Am in its glory days may have had catering from the Parisian Maxim’s restaurant, we should not forget that the number of economy, business and even first class meal choices today is limited. Airlines order a large volume of identical meals (Just think of the ‘Chicken or beef?’ question.) and the catering company trucks everything out to the airplane, but is not burdened with any restaurant style service. Serving meals is up to the airlines. Many airline catering companies are not even located at the airport.
So, when looking at airline catering prices we should rather compare with company cafeterias than pricey restaurants.
Viewed from that angle, the meal prices appear much less surprising.
B.
So I think on this the cost here is the cost of ingredients and not the cost of preparation (and those associated costs) or cost of drinks. I do not think is unreasonable for $20 for a nice meal.
On LH451 this month in First the mains are essentially - Beef Tenderloin, Scallops, Chicken Breasts, Stuffed Mushrooms, or Hot Pot.
Other than the beef tenderloin, I could easily prepare those dishes at home...
So I think on this the cost here is the cost of ingredients and not the cost of preparation (and those associated costs) or cost of drinks. I do not think is unreasonable for $20 for a nice meal.
On LH451 this month in First the mains are essentially - Beef Tenderloin, Scallops, Chicken Breasts, Stuffed Mushrooms, or Hot Pot.
Other than the beef tenderloin, I could easily prepare those dishes at home for $10 per person when cooking for 4, tenderloins are more expensive but with the LH Bulk buying of beef I can see how that can work out (beef portions on planes are also smaller than one would usually make at home), then for the starters and desert I can easily get that meal to under $20 per person. So I don't think these numbers are unrealistic.
Based on the 2 experiences I've had with Lufthansa's first class Beef Tenderloin, I can absolutely see how they are getting below $20 a person. I don't know where they sourced that meat but it was the toughest piece of beef I've ever eaten - including tongue. Literally not edible.
My fault for ordering it the second time (it had been a few years and I forgot how bad it was) but honestly I'd...
Based on the 2 experiences I've had with Lufthansa's first class Beef Tenderloin, I can absolutely see how they are getting below $20 a person. I don't know where they sourced that meat but it was the toughest piece of beef I've ever eaten - including tongue. Literally not edible.
My fault for ordering it the second time (it had been a few years and I forgot how bad it was) but honestly I'd had better food in LH Business. The caviar was the only saving grace of the meal.
I’m afraid you are wrong.
These prices refer to prepared meals that just need to be heated in convection ovens on board (on board microwave ovens are rare) before serving.
B.
That is the cost of the meal component loaded to the plane or paid to the caterer. If airlines have more flight attendants than legally required for safety purposes, their cost is to be added to the meal. And let's not forget the opportunity cost of the fuel and space used to carry the meal, the plates cutlery glasses, additional flight attendants, extra water etc.
I think the landed cost of a meal to...
That is the cost of the meal component loaded to the plane or paid to the caterer. If airlines have more flight attendants than legally required for safety purposes, their cost is to be added to the meal. And let's not forget the opportunity cost of the fuel and space used to carry the meal, the plates cutlery glasses, additional flight attendants, extra water etc.
I think the landed cost of a meal to an airline is a bit higher than that when taking into account those ancillary costs.
But look at any YouTube video about Qatar's Catering and see how little employee time is taken to "hand roll" an omelette made with eggs coming from god knows where. Never saw an airline advertising the animal welfare of the food they serve. That comes into the price as well.
NetJet is often catered by Panara Bread.
I have in a previous job, been pricing the meals, but do keep in mind that “handling” charges are added to this, and can in some cases surpass the cost of the actual meal. Especially in Northern Europe where labour costs are much higher than the rest of the world.
Other costs related to inflight catering maybe an overhead cost chargeable to the airlines, where they have to pick up some of office/admin costs of the caterer.
If you have a meal in a restaurant the markup is high to cover costs - rent salaries electricity etc. A dish costing $50 will likely cost around $10 or even less. The same with everything and not only food. Not sure why this is even a story.
People have less of a gauge on what inflight food should cost
I guess I'm a bit shocked because:
a) It's often 2 meals plus snacks for long haul and I think they're saying this is the total.
b) It even includes alcohol, appetizer and dessert.
c) The food is supposed to be a big part of the reason why we pay 2-3x for business class, and at those costs it's easy to see how sometimes it's just bad.
Random question: can flight attendants eat the caviar if there were not enough passengers for a whole tin to be used during the flight?
Open bottles of wine are discarded after flights, why should caviar be different?
Because it doesn't affect their ability to work!
The cost to buy a prepared meal is only part of the equation. The delivery costs kitchen to plane side are probably equal to the meal or more - Labor, transport, insurance, fuel and the security costs!
I know it's hard to fathom for some how a biz class meal could be prepared for $20 or less but when you're buying in bulk and have great relationships with your suppliers, it's really not that hard.
Look, food quality comes down to effort. It's why Jetblue does it best and the rest can't even hold a candle for US based airlines. Partnerships and consulting matters. Slop in a bowl vs a well thought out catering experience needs effort.
The $20 number was per flight, so you're thinking about 2 meals and a snack service for a long haul flight for $20
That's a really important point. Part of the issue is certainly budget variance between airlines, but I would argue when you look at comparisons between food quality at United vs. Delta, for example - I think it's a reflection in part on the leadership of their catering teams. They are making decisions in partners, in meal options, etc. that drive innovation or lack thereof in the food quality and what they think is possible with...
That's a really important point. Part of the issue is certainly budget variance between airlines, but I would argue when you look at comparisons between food quality at United vs. Delta, for example - I think it's a reflection in part on the leadership of their catering teams. They are making decisions in partners, in meal options, etc. that drive innovation or lack thereof in the food quality and what they think is possible with their budgets. Some executives are not good at doing more with less and use financial constraints as an excuse for their poor offerings.
Interesting yet perplexing. If inflight meals are that cheap to produce and the value perception is vastly higher then providing free meals more often rather than less often is a no-brainer to make the airline look more premium. This is the lowest of low hanging fruit to show an airline's commitment to service and quality.
In the US no airline cares to be see "premium" when it comes to domestic first or coach, save for a few select transon routes.
Exactly. If there's a cheap way to make your company look like a premium offering that you can charge more money for, you do that. Charge $20-$100 more for something that costs a few bucks? Simplicity itself. It's a scathing indictment on the stupidity and shortsightedness of airline CEO's that they're not taking such an elementary step. Forest really was right: Stupid is as Stupid does.
If you're looking for really good dining an airplane even in premium is not the place to find it.
Food itself is really not that expensive. The food they serve you in business class or in restaurants can often be made at home for $10 to $20 or less.
The mark up comes from the whole "service" aspect, them taking care of all the cooking, cleaning, and dining logistics.
With a large scale catering operation, they probably probably get bulk discounts on a lot of stuff and have a ton of economies of scale for mass producing airline meals.
and the real question is what any of those numbers are actually for.
Is that just the food cost, does it include food and preparation costs, and does it include getting the food onto the plane - which is a significant expense.
When food is mass-produced, it isn't necessarily expensive. Professionals now how to get the most out of any material and that is just as true w/ food.
and if a good chef...
and the real question is what any of those numbers are actually for.
Is that just the food cost, does it include food and preparation costs, and does it include getting the food onto the plane - which is a significant expense.
When food is mass-produced, it isn't necessarily expensive. Professionals now how to get the most out of any material and that is just as true w/ food.
and if a good chef can put together a bunch of pretty common ingredients in ways that don't involve huge amounts of prep time, it is possible that food can be produced fairly inexpensively.
I was going to say the same thing. I think $20 is the cost of the food itself. In restaurants, the food itself is usually 25% of the selling price. The other 50% of the selling price is the space, service, etc... Well managed restaurants should have 25% profit (give or take). So the cost to the airline (including cooking, serving, cleaning, space for prep, etc....) is much higher. And of course, this does not...
I was going to say the same thing. I think $20 is the cost of the food itself. In restaurants, the food itself is usually 25% of the selling price. The other 50% of the selling price is the space, service, etc... Well managed restaurants should have 25% profit (give or take). So the cost to the airline (including cooking, serving, cleaning, space for prep, etc....) is much higher. And of course, this does not include drinks which are probably the highest expense in International First Class.
Yeah this is very relevant. There's a lot of additional cost not included in the $20 that adds up to actually getting that meal to the customer in business class. That budget for food is basically an allocation exercise they use to figure out what is reasonable for food costs after accounting for other expenses per cabin of service and it's relatively scaled based on revenue per cabin.
It's not really a relevant exercise...
Yeah this is very relevant. There's a lot of additional cost not included in the $20 that adds up to actually getting that meal to the customer in business class. That budget for food is basically an allocation exercise they use to figure out what is reasonable for food costs after accounting for other expenses per cabin of service and it's relatively scaled based on revenue per cabin.
It's not really a relevant exercise to compare to the airfare because you're ignoring many other costs that chip away at margin.
Also, airlines are not doing financial planning by looking at a passenger ticket and breaking it down into reasonable cost buckets, then seeing they could pad a few dollars on the business class ticket to make it a better experience. They're looking at macro-operational costs of running the airline and across the board on the flying aspect the margins are thin to negative. Increasing food budgets in that context isn't seen as reasonable if you think you're already maximizing revenue and ticket pricing.
This is what I just can't understand about airlines like KLM in particular. When paying 700 to 1600 on a European business class flight they can't charge me say 708 or 1608 to increase the catering budget by 8 Euros and give me a meal I actually want to eat?
It's like there is a conspiracy by the airlines to prove that business class passengers don't want catering by giving them things like snack boxes...
This is what I just can't understand about airlines like KLM in particular. When paying 700 to 1600 on a European business class flight they can't charge me say 708 or 1608 to increase the catering budget by 8 Euros and give me a meal I actually want to eat?
It's like there is a conspiracy by the airlines to prove that business class passengers don't want catering by giving them things like snack boxes with crackers(!) inside.
I once had to ask a Lufthansa flight attendant why it seemed that the food options for buy-on-board economy looked better and larger than what they were offering me in European business class.
All I can say is that the quality of the food, even on short haul flights, influences what airline I fly. So TAP, Aegean, Air France gets more of my business than Lufthansa. At this point I would say that KLM and Lufthansa are locked in a race to the bottom of food quality in business class on short haul.
I have been wondering before whether an airline that is willing t spend twice as much on food ($8 instead of $4) could not make a difference and gain an advantage if word get’s around among passengers that their food is better.
But looking at the current race to the bottom, I think most passengers would rather book the cheapest deal than the better meal.
Airline catering is an extremely low margin business, which is why LH divested SkyChef. But airlines also like to control the variables because contract caterers may either skimp on quality or not pay staff well, which leads to strikes.
Result is that the non-publicly traded airlines tend to own their caterers, while the publicly traded ones generally don't, with some exceptions.
Also, consolidation has made monopolies an issue.
I’ve flown UA Polaris, so, uh, no?
really not suprised to see this. Flew AC business class twice in the past month (Yul-LAS and FLL-YUL) and in both cases while the food was tasty, the portions were way too small (even my wife found them small). We both had VGML and when we requested more they said they had nothing else. Interestingly the desert was just fruit in both cases yet in long-haul economy (YUL-NRT) they actually served vegan cookies.
I think...
really not suprised to see this. Flew AC business class twice in the past month (Yul-LAS and FLL-YUL) and in both cases while the food was tasty, the portions were way too small (even my wife found them small). We both had VGML and when we requested more they said they had nothing else. Interestingly the desert was just fruit in both cases yet in long-haul economy (YUL-NRT) they actually served vegan cookies.
I think Swiss is really in a league of its own for business class catering …. But also in a league of its own with its outdated seat and IFE
When I was with NW, back in the 80’s our budget for international first class was $27 per passenger. And that was one of the lowest budgets versus our competitors. Back then we had our own flight kitchens in MSP and NRT so I suppose that had something to do with it. Looking back it’s amazing what they did with that $27.00. Food was of very high quality and there was a lot of it. Those were the days!
$27 was a lot of money back then.
Flights were more expensive in real terms too!
$100 equivalent today. Flying was a treat back then.
The NW number you post absolutely jibes with some of the UA numbers (which, as you allude, were a bit higher) I was privy to back in the 80s as well.
I still have fond memories of a short business class flight on NW from China to Japan where I was served a very tasty steak on the upper deck of the 747. I always wondered how the managed to prepare it just right.