How Airplane Food is Made? Inside Gate Gourmet Kitchen

8am in the morning, the daily Singapore Airlines A380 just arrived in Zurich. I was filming the busy unloading and loading catering into the plane. They have only 1 hour to finish loading and cleaning of the SuperJumbo jet.

Then I was given a backstage tour inside Gate Gourmet flight kitchen in Zurich to see how airplane meals are made. All the meals are made in precision to recipe, with the same portion and quality.

I flew out of Zurich the next day, on Singapore Airlines A380. I have a choice of both Western and Asian cuisine designed by the chef at Gate Gourmet. I chose my favorite dish after seeing all the meal options on-board.

This video gives an insight from menu design to cooking, execution, delivery and finally tasting on-board!

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In this exclusive fly on the wall documentary and behind the scenes special, I investigate what goes in to making sure that every on-board meal served by Singapore Airlines on their super jumbo-jet Airbus A380s is fresh, tasty, filling and consistent. I film and work alongside the Swiss airline catering company Gate Gourmet as they use sophisticated methods within their factory in Zurich to produce restaurant quality cuisine for the hundreds of passengers aboard these flights and also as they prepare the environment of the A380 for such brilliant dishes!

I start by experiencing what it’s like to work on board the Gate Gourmet catering trucks. These special trucks are equipped with a nifty little on-board elevator to bring the prepared food up to the level of the aeroplane’s passenger entrance for simple, level loading of the food. Gate Gourmet have just one hour to load everything on board but everything is ordered within the truck for a logical and seamless disembarking of the dishes.

After witnessing this masterclass in aeroplane preparation, I head to the Gate Gourmet factory in the Swiss capital to see where all of this food comes from and how Gate Gourmet ensure that hygiene is maintained from start to finish. At the start of the food preparation factory tour, I see the cataloguing, washing and storing of all of the raw ingredients which are received from vegetables to meats to spices and the intensive and meticulous washing of the dishes, cutlery and metal trolleys and trays used in food service aboard the flight. None of the washing of the dishes is done by hand – instead, all of the dishes are washed in a huge dishwasher at high temperatures and with antibacterial chemicals, which sees a whopping 14,000 glasses cleaned at the factory per day.

The Gate Gourmet facility produces in the region of 65,000 aeroplane meals a day. To maintain consistency across that many dishes, the factory makes use of its own invented coordinated recipe assembly procedure, with all of the ingredients pre-weighed, cut and segregated for the chefs to be able to work their magic and cook and prepare things such as chicken breasts and delicious rhubarb crumbles in their in-house patisserie and bakery – it is a great source of pride for Gate Gourmet to have their dessert production completely in-house.

In the final assembly of the meals, regular sampling ensures that the weights of the meals comply with strict consistent weight rules set by Singapore airlines – each meal must weigh the same as all of the others of its type to the gram.

Back at Zurich Airport, I take a flight out of Switzerland with Singapore Airlines aboard one of their A380s which has been stocked, loaded by Gate Gourmet. I am lucky enough to get a bulkhead seat with unlimited leg room and, during the meal service on board, I am delighted to try both the Western and Asian main meal offerings of Gate Gourmet on this particular flight and you can see footage of me having fun in the development kitchen of Gate Gourmet with chefs Dennis Puchert and CK trying to make both.

Let me know whether you think you would have preferred the Asian or the Western dish in the comments!

[SamChui]

This video gives an insight from menu design to cooking, execution, delivery and finally tasting on-board! I hope you like it and get to appreciate these behind the scene work.

[jaryd]

I feel like Sam wanted to work in the aviation industry but was so intrigued by all of it he couldn't choose a specific area. Now he gets to show us all of it <3

[audrey.c]

Baker: *says a good amount of words in German and looks like he's giving a detailed explanation*
Tour Guide:"This is the base for the cake"

[esitu]

The enthusiasm of Chef Menge (and the other chefs) is a great example of someone that loves his job. I think this is one of Sam’s best videos.

[stewardang]

Refreshing to see videos that aren’t a flight review... too many of those on youtube now, but so very few telling the story of all the hard work behind the scenes to bring all that glitz & glam to fruition...

[NLaertes]

Respect to all cabin cleaning staff, thanks Sam for showing us these behind the scenes look

[vbuddhdev]

Behind the scenes are always more learning then experience...keep on making such behind the preparations videos before flight and for all the top 20 airlines in the world.

[chipblock]

When I worked for Continental Airlines (retired in 2006) I was in the Zurich Gate Gourmet kitchen many times. This was their flagship kitchen. My job was to inspect catering kitchens throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and the middle east for food quality and service. Some of the visits I made to this kitchen was giving out quality awards. Gate Gourmet was and are the top of the inflight catering. They have catering kitchens all over the world. What is not shown in this video is the size of the kitchen.

By the way I was not paid to say this. It sure brings back fond memories.

[peterbeukering]

I truly love this kind of videos. The behind the scenes and interaction with ground staff is lovely to see. Looking forward to sing more of this.

[pandersonnike]

I'm glad we've seen Sam Chui's channel evolved from flight reviews, which I still enjoy, to show more how the industry works in general. People don't truly think the amount of work or staff is needed for upkeep alone when it comes to cleaning and restocking it with food. Let alone how the food is made.

[uprounded]

It's always a pleasure to take off from Zurich, not only because of the airport but the amazing food preparation - regardless of the airline. Zurich in my opinion has by far the best airline catering.

[isabellawaller]

So great to give the some of the many people working hard behind the scenes of commercial flights credit! They do a great job keeping all of the travellers safe and fed!

[MattsAviationChannel]

I wanted to become a Swissair cook at Zurich when I grew up. It is Gate Gourmet now which provides culinary highlights. Sam, your report did not only put a huge smile on my face, but also shows that delicious food and aviation are a most wonderful combination. Huge like from me!! Cheers Matt

[frankiep]

Sam, you have the most amazing job in the world! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

[Danielsimons]

Love the 'behind the sence' video! Singapore Airline has a good service because of the hard-working staffs!

[venkyv]

Brilliant video Sam ... Thanks for behind the scenes stuff .. never do people realize how much work and effort goes behind the scenes to make the customer journey a moment to cherish .. brilliant stuff 👏👏👏

[shonen]

9:58 the hero we get but don’t deserve <3 thank you for your craftsmanship, hard work and social dedication!

[chandrasekarank.l]

It is nice to watch the behind the scenes of how dedicated people prepare food for airlines is amazing. To me it is eye opener. Thanks for the revelations.

[bakeryyakisobabread]

It’s a fantastic video! Now I understand why the flights are expensive. And I think it’s reasonable because lots of people working at background. As a airplane taker, really appreciate to those people!

[chisepochirwa]

Sam, you made heroes of people that do background work that we take for granted. You're such a good man.