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As many of you know from seeing some of my presentations at conferences - especially when I speak about food, food handling and safety management systems - I like to use food as examples of the information I am presenting, so my stop in Paris was to work with Uppersky Gourmet at Le Bourget to prepare such examples.
I like to joke a bit, so I told her I would love to have foie gras, caviar and champagne. When I noted a bit of agreement with my request in her facial expressions, I recanted my desire for these foods in a panic. In the Atlanta market we rarely get a request for caviar (unless it is ‘redneck caviar’ with black eyed peas as the round black jewels- not fish eggs) and I have never had a request for foie gras in my 45 years in business. Bérengère appeared minutes later with my lunch meal complete with foie gras presented with toasted ginger bread and wonderful fig jam. I must admit I was in a fantasy world, it was like heaven on earth. As I found out later, Pierre’s grandparents raised geese for foie gras when he was a child, and grew up having it frequently. I immediately named Pierre my foie gras expert. I felt my lack of experience and expertise would otherwise have prohibited me from creating the perfect foie gras memory - to always remember the perfect flavor and texture could forever be based on this delicious slice I enjoyed for lunch. I love food halls, specialty markets and gourmet vendors- imagine that? I love to take pictures of what I see so I can share it with my kitchen staff for them to better understand what a client may be asking for if they come from someplace other than the US. In order to see what was available for our clients heading to Europe, Pierre took me shopping. I had a blast! I can’t wait for the next client to order a tea service or even coffee service as I found in Paris, beautiful molded sugars in every shape imaginable that can hang on the rim of the cup! Pierre had to talk me out of bringing home the foie gras and caviar due to refrigeration, but I did load up on chocolates . . . maybe to go along with that coffee or tea? To continue our journey, we load the food (Pierre’s kitchen prepared while I was shopping) and all of the baggage on a train and depart for Cannes. EBAA outdid themselves and have set a new bar for all conferences to strive for. I fell in love with the booths, of course fewer than you will see at BACE or EBACE (however, double what EBAA had expected to attend!), their style was clean and contemporary. Each booth had a custom backdrop included in the price of the booth prepared especially for that company, with a lighted sign extending into the aisle as an easy location finder. Each booth was also equipped with power, a table and four chairs and a locking cabinet as well. The booth price also included allotted times for use of a private conference meeting room with an administrator to coordinate times the rooms were available. Great idea for those of us who wish to have an all-inclusive price.
EBAA also launched another new program at their first Air Ops conference that deals with collecting data about safety occurrences. It is a voluntary program for operators to report issues from runway excursions to minor accidents - basically any safety related issue to build a data base of incidences so that they can be studied to improve the overall safety within general aviation and provide new data that can be helpful in developing Safety Management Systems and recommended best practices . . . all confidential.
I selected a multilayered/multicolored bite. I picked one to sample (more like devour as I am always willing to do this for my readers) and my mouth exploded with fireworks. Sorry, no other way to say that. Not only were they the most beautiful things I had ever seen, they tasted as good as they looked. I loved them so much, I actually took a picture and still have it on my phone. As it turns out, I found out that the catering was provided by Private Catering. Again, Private Catering popped up with something incredible.
Traveling as I do, I can appreciate what each and every caterer has to sacrifice and commit to you- our client- in order to serve you as if you are all family. The importance of attending conferences and networking, and getting involved in the industry only makes us a stronger vendor, but also one who can better understand your catering needs as you travel the world. If we catering sources connect, we have the ability to get in touch with your home-based caterers to provide your requests exactly as you prefer simply by connecting with each other. We, your catering sources around the world, all serve you, the clients. My clients in Atlanta are Sylvain’s in Nice, Max’s in Cannes, and Pierre’s in Paris. I wish to thank everyone who hosted me and shared their kitchens with me.
Let me introduce myself . . . My name is Paula Kraft and I am founder and President of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.
Currently I am an active member of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Advisory Board and the NBAA International Flight Attendant Committee, Women in Corporate Aviation, Women in Aviation International, National Association of Catering Executives, International Flight Catering Association, the International Food Service Association and the International Caterer’s Association. I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA, EBAA and BA-Meetup conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery. I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.
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