Gate Gourmet's 132,000-square-foot kitchen in Washington, DC prepares thousands of meals every day for international flights.
Chefs make the food from scratch, including chopping up to 1,000 pounds of chicken and 400 pounds of carrots.
Workers are responsible for cooking, cooling, and storing meals before they're reheated on the plane, ensuring food is kept fresh.
After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines worldwide were forced to change how food was prepped and served on flights.
Economy food on a JetBlue flight.
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While business and first class meals like beef and salmon were suspended on many domestic routes, long-haul international flights kept the food. But, touchpoints were reduced and the dishes were served in one course instead of multiple.
Flying on an Emirates A380 from New York to Dubai.
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Fortunately, as the spread of COVID weakens, full-service meals are coming back to premium cabins, and catering companies are working hard to meet demand.
Flying JetBlue Airways from London to New York in Mint business class.
Thomas Pallini/Insider
Switzerland-based Gate Gourmet is the world's leading provider of airline food that caters hundreds of millions of meals per year at over 200 airports across 60 countries. It has 30 locations in the US.
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All of the airports have large kitchens where employees prepare and hand cook each individual dish based on recipes created by master chefs.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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Gate Gourmet's North American headquarters is in Washington, DC, where a 132,000-square-foot kitchen and hundreds of employees are responsible for handling almost all of the food for the dozens of international flights that leave Dulles International Airport every day.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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The DC location, which is a 24/7 operation and has workers representing over 35 nationalities, prepares food for carriers like United Airlines…
A United Airlines airplane is seen at the Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
ayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
…British Airways…
A British Airways Airbus A380.
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…Air France…
Air France.
Horacio Villalobos Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
…and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Virgin Atlantic.
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Jim Stathakes, the general manager of Gate Gourmet's Dulles operation, took media on a tour of the facilities. Take a look inside the kitchen and see how airplane food is made from scratch.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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The tour started at the sanitation station right before entering the main food prep area. Regardless of COVID-19, Gate Gourmet has always had a very strict hygiene policy to ensure all meals are kept clean and healthy.
Sanitation station.
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Because of this, I had to use a specialty washer to clean my hands and shoes, as well as wear a white coat, a mask, and a red hair net to walk the floor.
The water, which had a special cleaner in it, washed off my hands and arms. I simultaneously stood on a pad that cleaned the bottom of my shoes.
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Once inside, we learned about the process of turning raw ingredients into meals and how the company stores and transports those dishes for each flight.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
As opposed to popular belief, most airline food is not days-old prepackaged, frozen food. In actuality, Gate Gourmet prepares each dish within 24 hours of it landing on a passenger's tray table, meaning it is perfectly fresh.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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According to Basil Rafreedie, one of the DC kitchen's executive chefs, employees must follow specific recipes.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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Moreover, each menu item is designed to use moisture and other elements, like savory umami, to ensure the food tastes as good in the sky as on the ground.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
According to a British Airways menu design manager, Sinead Ferguson, passengers lose 33% of their ability to taste at high altitudes.
Economy food on British Airways.
Food prep includes chopping over 500 pounds of potatoes, 400 pounds of carrots, and up to 1,000 pounds of chicken per day, among other ingredients.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
Inventory also includes things like giant cans of soup and beans…
Workers could go through 12 cans of tomato sauce per day.
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…dozens of produce items, like tomatos, turnips, beets, and cabbage…
There are employees specifically tasked with washing produce.
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…meat, like beef, salmon, and pork…
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
…tubs of spices and sauces…
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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...pastries...
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
…alcohol…
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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…and soda cans, which differ in size depending on the airline.
Can sizes change, with European carriers typically having smaller sodas.
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Professional cooks prepare the entrees and core parts of the meal, while other workers are responsible for cutting simpler things like fruit and cheese and preparing them as side dishes or snacks.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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When it comes to hot food, there are strict processes to follow, including chilling the cooked meals before they are reheated via ovens on the plane. Microwaves are not installed onboard for safety reasons.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
"The iPad will show the cooks all the recipes they have to prepare that day, how to make it, and when each flight leaves," Rafreedie said. "When they're done cooking, they have to take the temperature of the food and it has to be at a minimum temperature."
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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The cooling process, which includes putting the meals in front of a blast chiller, is very specific, but essential for keeping the food safe, fresh, and healthy.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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"They have two hours to get the food below 70 degrees, and once it hits 70, they have another four to get it below 41 degrees," he said. "If the food doesn't make it, it goes to the trash."
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
Rafreedie told Insider that the employees are good at managing the temperature, and that "not much" food is thrown out. However, he explained that there are ways to speed the process along if some food is slow to cool, like putting it in ice.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
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Meanwhile, Gate Gourmet is also responsible for ensuring the meals stay fresh in case of a flight delay.
Produce storage room.
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"We have people outside that monitor the temperature, so if the food goes over 50 degrees for a certain amount of time, we have to change the entree out," he explained. "However, newer planes have chillers, so the cold food stays cold. It's the hot food we have to worry about."
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
There are many times when the company has to replace food because of delays or cancellations, but Rafreedie said they keep the meals in the kitchen if they know of the delay in advance. Moreover, the chefs will cook extra food as a buffer just in case.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
Gate Gourmet has a separate room for preparing specialty food, like religious and medical meals. Rafreedie told Insider they are kept separate to ensure there is no cross-contamination from regular dishes.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Once meals are fully cooked, they are put in containers and prepped for passengers. Gate Gourmet provides all the plates and equipment needed for the meals, including washing them between flights.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
When the workers build the meals, meaning getting every dish, plate, and snack ready for transfer, they know the exact equipment needed and will ensure the right quantity is given to the inflight crew.
Stock of glassware.
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Once every dish is ready to go, they are stored in a "stage and holding cooler." The large room is where the international food sits before it is sent to the plane via truck.
Stage and holding room.
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The branded trucks can rise high enough to load food into widebody planes, like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that frequents Dulles airport.
The truck is stabilized with four feet that fix themselves to the ground.
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The specific food I saw in the cooler was going on a transatlantic flight Tuesday evening and would be served in business or first class cabins. The food had a green stripe on the container to indicate to workers that the food was made the night before.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
The color-coded system has a different color for each day of the week. For example, green means a dish was made on Monday, while brown means it was made on Tuesday.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
Rafreedie told Insider that most of the meals will be served to passengers in the containers they come in, like those traveling in economy or premium economy.
Economy food on a British Airways flight.
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However, flight attendants serving business or first class will transfer the meals to glassware, enhancing the luxury experience. According to Rafreedie, there are step-by-step instructions provided to the flight attendants on how to plate the food.
Virgin Atlantic first class food. The airline serves a three-course meal.
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Some airlines, including Turkish and Austrian, actually have onboard chefs that are responsible for presenting the food in decorative ways and adding additional flavorful touches, like spices and sauces.
Austrian Airlines onboard chef garnishes a dish
Austrian Airlines
Joshua Janow, Gate Gourmet's president of North America, explained the company is getting back to pre-pandemic operations as travel returns. Specifically, the company expects to reach 90% of the volume it produced in 2019, and exceed that by 2023.
Meal building space.
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"We're seeing a lot of return this spring, so it's a really big ramp up," Janow said. "A lot of transatlantic flights coming back, volumes increasing overall."
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
As of March, the company has about 7,500 employees across the US and is making its way back to 2019 levels when it employed some 10,000 people.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
"We've been working with a couple of Afghani settlement organizations and [DC] is one of a few of our units that have been able to link in with these organizations and actually provide several individuals who have come to this country with work," he explained.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
After the tour, I got to indulge in some of the meals that have been served on airlines. Molly Brandt, who is Gate Gourmet's innovative chef for North America, explained how she plays a role in developing the food.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
"Gate Group made an active decision to invest moving the needle in airline catering, so my role does not interact with the operation, it is strictly for development purposes," she said.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
More simply, Brandt is responsible for creating innovative and different menus and presenting them to customers. From there, the meals can be tailored based on budget, brand, and specific wants for each airline.
Inside Gate Gourmet's Washington Dulles kitchen.
Taylor Rains/Insider
I tried several dishes made by the chefs, like pimento cheese dip…
Trying Gate Gourmet dishes.
Every meal was delicious. It was clear from the entire tour and experience that Gate Gourmet is focused on designing menus that give passengers an enjoyable onboard dining experience.
Trying Gate Gourmet dishes.
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