The Cost of Cheap Catering: Why Excellence Matters

julie71386
Oct 23
6 min read

Updated: Nov 3

Picture this: A Fortune 500 CEO opens their inflight meal to find a sandwich that wouldn't pass muster at a highway rest stop. Six hours later, they're telling everyone at headquarters about the "amateur operation" flight department.

The caterer who destroyed your reputation? They saved you $200.

Still think cheap catering is smart business?

The Race to the Bottom: You Get What You Tolerate

Some flight departments operate on a simple principle: Every dollar saved on catering is a victory. If you genuinely believe that passenger experience is negotiable, that your crew's pride doesn't matter, and that "food is just fuel," then absolutely—hire the cheapest option available.

Just understand what you're really purchasing.

Welcome to Bottom-Feeder Catering

Your "Bargain" Includes:

Mystery meat that technically won't poison anyone
Arrival times treated as suggestions
Packaging held together by hope and tape
The "ice might last" refrigeration system
Phone support via answering machine
Consistency of a roulette wheel
Problem resolution that starts and ends with shrugging

This isn't service—it's barely survival. And you're subsidizing it.

Inside the Desperation Economy

Let's dissect how a $500 order becomes a disaster:

What they charge you: $500

Where it actually goes:

Food (whatever's on sale): $150
Labor (untrained, unmotivated): $100
Delivery (eventually, maybe): $50
Insurance (prayer-based coverage): $25
Keeping their doors open: $125
What's left to care about quality: $50

That $50 "profit"? That's their entire margin for giving a damn.

So they don't.

No investment in training. No backup plans. No quality control. No customer service. No food safety beyond dodging health department closure. Nothing that would cost a penny more than absolutely necessary.

You've hired a company whose business model is built on disappointment. Worse, this is exactly how brokers operate—auctioning your flight to whoever's most desperate, skimming their commission off the top while you deal with the consequences. The broker wins. The bottom-feeder survives another day. You explain to your board why the catering looked like prison food.

Perfect for Certain Clients

To be fair, lowest bidder catering is absolutely perfect for:

The Dying Inflight Catering Operation

Your flight department is already on the chopping block. Why invest in quality when you're months from shutdown? Ride that lowest bidder right into the ground.

The Prisoner Transport

Flying executives who are literally headed to federal prison? They probably have bigger concerns than lunch quality.

The Spite Flight

Taking your worst client on their last flight before you fire them? Perfect opportunity for lowest-bidder catering. Send a message.

The Company That Doesn't Matter

If your company genuinely doesn't care about excellence, employee satisfaction, or reputation, then absolutely—save that money!

Now let's see how these numbers and philosophies play out in real time with your actual flight operation.

A Day in the Life with Your Lowest Bidder

3:00 AM: Your early departure needs catering. Nobody's there.

7:00 AM: Someone arrives, checks voicemail, panics.

7:45 AM: They throw together whatever's in the fridge.

8:30 AM: Driver leaves with your order (and three others).

9:15 AM: You call asking where catering is. No answer.

9:45 AM: Food arrives. Half the order is wrong. No time to fix it.

10:00 AM: You depart with embarrassing catering.

2:00 PM: They call back asking if you still need that order.

But hey—you saved $200!

The Passenger Experience You're Providing

Your executives board expecting professional service. Instead, they get:

Sandwiches that look like gas station food
"Fruit plates" that are browning bananas and mealy apples
"Premium coffee" that's literally Folgers in a thermos
"Chef's selection" that's yesterday's leftovers
"Special dietary meals" that are regular meals with items removed
Presentation that screams "we don't care"

Your passengers aren't stupid. They know exactly how much you value them based on what you serve them. The message is clear: "You're not worth investing in."

What Your Competition Is Serving

While your passengers eat sad sandwiches, your competitor's passengers enjoy:

Thoughtfully curated menus that reflect destination and season
Perfectly temperature-controlled items that stay fresh for hours
Beautiful presentation that honors the aircraft's luxury
Dietary accommodations that actually accommodate
Service that enhances the flight experience
Food that becomes a positive talking point

Their passengers feel valued. Yours feel like an afterthought.

Guess who wins the next contract?

The Hidden Costs of Cheap

The lowest bidder's real price isn't on the invoice:

Lost Business

That client who never flies with you again after the embarrassing meal was worth $300,000 annually. But you saved $200 on that flight!

Damaged Reputation

Your flight department becomes known as the one that "can't even get catering right." Other departments start booking elsewhere. Your relevance evaporates.

Crew Exodus

Your best pilots and flight attendants leave for operations that don't force them to serve garbage. Replacement cost: $50,000+ per crew member.

Administrative Burden

Hours spent apologizing, re-ordering, fighting about invoices, explaining to executives why the food is terrible. Your hourly rate times dozens of hours annually.

Liability Exposure

When food safety fails because they cut corners on temperature control. When allergen protocols are ignored to save money. When someone gets sick at 41,000 feet. Your savings become evidence in the lawsuit.

The Monopoly Decline: When "Only" Becomes "Awful"

There's another lowest bidder in disguise: the only inflight caterer in the city who's lost its edge.

Once upon a time, they were great. But monopoly bred complacency. Food has become adequate at best. They're now refusing orders—deliberately shrinking their business down to only what they feel like handling. Revisions? Limited or refused. Customer service that was once stellar is now suspect at best.

And they know it. They'll tell you straight up: "Take it or leave it, we're the only game in town."

Here's the insult to injury: They deliver lowest-bidder quality at luxury prices, then bury you in fees.

Start with the basics: Delivery fee. Fuel surcharge. Weekend fee. Holiday fee.

Then the operational fees: Early morning fee. Late night fee. Rush fee. Revision fee (if they even allow revisions).

Then the size penalties: Small order fee. Large order fee. Yes, you're penalized regardless of size.

Then the mysterious ones: "FBO fee." What even is that? There's no such thing in reality, but it's very real on your invoice. Shopping fee. Procurement fee. Set up fee. Special request fee.

They've invented fees for things that should be basic service. Next month's invoice will probably include a "fee processing fee."

Every phone call triggers a new charge. Every request generates an invoice line item.

They've weaponized their monopoly into a fee-generating machine that prints money while delivering mediocrity. You're paying premium prices for gas station quality, plus a surcharge for the privilege of having no other choice.

They're not trying to be better—they've monetized being worse.

Inflight Catering: When Cheap Makes Sense

You might think cheap catering makes sense for:

Short flights (but bad food is bad food at any duration)
Non-VIP passengers (so you have official tiers of human value?)
Positioning flights (your crew doesn't matter?)
Budget pressure (bankruptcy is definitely cheaper!)

The truth? There's never a good time for bad catering. Every flight either builds or destroys your reputation. There's no neutral.

The Lowest Bidder's Guarantee

Here's what the lowest bidder actually promises:

✓ We'll usually show up

✓ The food probably won't kill anyone

✓ Some of your order might be correct

✓ We'll apologize when we fail (but not fix it)

✓ You'll get exactly what you paid for

✓ Your expectations will be met (because they're so low)

If this sounds acceptable, congratulations! You've found your caterer.

The Honest Truth About Your Choice

When you choose the lowest bidder, you're not just selecting a vendor. You're making a statement about:

How you value your passengers
What you think of your crew
Your commitment to excellence
Your understanding of false economy
Your flight department's future

The lowest bidder exists because someone, somewhere, decided that saving $200 was worth serving garbage. That someone might be you.

The Alternative: Investing in Excellence

Or you could recognize that catering isn't where you save money. It's where you invest in:

Passenger satisfaction
Crew pride
Operational reputation
Safety and compliance
Competitive advantage

Flight Kitchens cost more because excellence costs more. Quality ingredients, trained staff, proper equipment, backup systems, and 24/7 availability aren't free.

But neither is failure.

Your Decision Point

Tomorrow, you'll need catering. You have two quotes:

The lowest bidder at $300
The Flight Kitchen at $500

That $200 difference is either:

A "savings" that costs you everything
An investment in operational excellence

The Choice is Yours.

Choose the lowest bidder if you truly believe mediocrity is acceptable. If you genuinely think good enough is good enough. If you're willing to gamble your operation's reputation to save lunch money.

Just don't act surprised when you get exactly what you paid for.

Or choose excellence. Choose a Flight Kitchen that refuses to accept mediocrity. Choose a partner who understands that in aviation, there's no such thing as "good enough."

Because your passengers remember two things: disasters and excellence. Nothing in between matters.

Délicieux France Flight Kitchens - For operations that refuse to accept mediocrity.

TRUST | PRECISION | EXCELLENCE

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