Buy before you fly

How many of you have idly browsed an airline's website, found a flight to Venice or Frankfurt for a tenner and jetted off for a weekend break to somewhere you never dreamed of going in your life? OK, you landed at a tiny airport in the sticks, an hour or more from your chosen destination - but the success of low-cost air travel has profoundly changed the way we travel.

"We take our cues from the best of the high street. Pret A Manger, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer - the kinds of food experiences people are getting used to seeing in their day-to-day life. Why, when on board an aircraft, do they have to abandon that?" Paul Possamai

Although many of us have been taken in by some carriers' economy with the truth (check the small print), we undoubtedly love the convenience of booking online and, of course, the low, low prices.

The short-haul, no-frills model has done away with complimentary meals, and there are few tears to be shed there, you might feel. But for in-flight caterers, this development has necessitated a radical refocusing of their business. On-board trolleys and meals for sale are now increasingly important revenue streams, and the need for retail and marketing savvy has never been greater.

Paul Possamai, director of Alpha Airports' in-flight retail business, has had a long career in consumer market research, which includes 18 years with French cosmetics giant L'Oréal. He saw the rise of online flight bookings as an opportunity to target a large and growing market. As many as 95% of Ryanair and EasyJet seats are booked online so, while you've got your customer's attention, why not encourage him to preorder an in-flight meal, too?

Alpha D'Lish, a new online meal service, made its UK debut on budget carrier MyTravelLite flights departing from Birmingham airport on 14 June. But the concept, including a trial on Virgin Express flights out of Brussels, has been two-and-a-half years in the making.

The food link
How does it work? After booking your flight on the airline's website, a request to "order your meal now" links you directly to the Alpha D'Lish website. You select the meal and the items you want and a receipt including your flight details is e-mailed to you. If you don't want to book your meal immediately, Alpha will remind you by e-mail nearer the date of departure, but you must book the meal at least 36 hours before the flight.

Alpha loads all necessary provisions on to the aircraft at the start of the day. The meals come in boxes made from white corrugated card, labelled with the customer's name. On flights with no seat allocation the crew simply call out passenger names and hand out the meals before they start the trolley service.

A bonus for airline staff is that they don't have to handle money.

Budget aircraft have to turn around as quickly as possible to squeeze more flights into the day. That's why they don't sell peanuts, because they want to minimise the time spent cleaning. Possamai says that the finished D'Lish meal is easy to clear away - the box goes straight in a bin bag.

He stresses that Alpha D'Lish is an additional service running in parallel with the on-board trolley, in many cases also run by Alpha. He anticipates a minor amount of cannibalisation between the two offers, but points out: "We can release space, because if you have 40 D'Lish meals booked, you know you don't need 40 sandwiches, and D'Lish reduces wastage. With the trolley service, the enormous commercial penalty is wastage, because you can never get it right."

All the Alpha D'Lish meals are cold after research showed that consumers associated cold food with freshness and quality. Hot airline food made them think of reheating and Cellophane lids that peel off.

A cold offer is also suitable for budget aircraft that have stripped out reheating facilities and fridges. Alpha has developed a cool bag that uses dry ice to keep sandwiches fresh throughout the day.

Possamai wanted to distance Alpha D'Lish from the traditional perception of airline food. "We take our cues from the best of the high street," he says. "Pret A Manger, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer - the kinds of food experiences people are getting used to seeing in their day-to-day life. Why, when on board an aircraft, do they have to abandon that?"

The D'Lish website states that because ingredients are seasonal, some dishes may not be available.

Trials of D'Lish started in Brussels with Virgin Express a year ago. Alpha has a joint venture with Virgin Express for back-of-house logistics at Brussels airport, so it made sense to trial D'Lish there. One drawback was that internet use is not as widespread as in the UK. Fewer than half of Brussels passengers book online, so only 2.5% of passengers on Virgin Express flights ordered an Alpha D'Lish meal. In the UK, Possamai expects to see 5% to 10% of passengers using the service.

Target audiences
Two main target audiences have been identified. The first are business people who are cash-rich and time-poor. Their secretaries can book, and price is not an issue because the company is paying. The second group is the "indulgent weekender", who is willing to pay £10 or so for a meal as part of a holiday treat - especially because the flight was so cheap in the first place.

Alpha Airports is not the only company to try an online meal service. Danish carrier Maersk Air has been doing it since July last year. A spokesman said that take-up had not been great but added: "It's increasing from a modest start."

But Possamai believes the concept has huge potential. Alpha D'Lish is in its infancy, and for now it's a tiny operation for a company that serves 50 million meals a year to more than 100 airlines operating from 59 airports on four continents.

At this year's In-flight Caterers Association conference in Cannes, Alpha D'Lish was presented to more than 40 airlines, rail companies, flight caterers and suppliers, and interest in franchising was shown by Sats Air Catering, Flying Food Group and Finnair.

"There's no doubt that, in one form or another, a preorder internet-based service is here to stay. The product at the end of that concept will evolve," Possamai says.

A hot meal assembled by a chef on the aircraft is one possibility, and the concept could be extended to long-haul flights. Passengers are already buying meals on board some long-haul US domestic flights, although they're not pre-booked.

Alpha's partnership with airlines varies. It pays Virgin Express a percentage of sales, and has a profit-sharing deal with EasyJet for its on-board retail service. In his quest to find more partners for Alpha D'Lish, Possamai says: "Both parties should see this as an incremental commercial opportunity, but more importantly, an additional service opportunity."

The Alpha D'Lish menu
- Fresh Start Breakfast - muesli with berries, granary roll with smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives; fruit salad; apricot Danish pastry; orange juice, £9.50
- Breakfast of Champions - ciabatta roll with scrambled egg, bacon, Cumberland sausage and tomatoes; fruit salad; apricot Danish; orange juice, £9.50
- Hail Caesar Salad - breast of seared, roasted corn-fed chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, roast peppers, black olives, sea salt cro–tons, Parmesan wafers with dressing; mineral water, £9.50
- Greek Salad - herb-marinated feta cheese, tomatoes, griddled peppers, kalamata olives, red onions and mushrooms cooked Greek style, served on lettuce leaves with lemon olive oil and herb dressing; mineral water, £8.50
- High Tea - two ciabatta open sandwiches: feta, red onion and cherry tomatoes or smoked salmon, cucumber and chives, served with a herb dressing; fruit scone, strawberry jam and clotted cream; chocolate cake, £8.50
- Ploughman's Spread - ciabatta of gammon ham and tomatoes; farmhouse cheeses - Cornish Yarg and Mull of Kintyre Cheddar; sweet pickles, celery, grapes and cherry tomatoes, £10.50
- Veggie Food Heaven - ciabatta of baby rocket, herby goats' cheese, roasted peppers and tomatoes; penne pasta, herb and pesto-roasted Mediterranean vegetable salad with balsamic dressing, £8.50
- Oriental Feast - smoked salmon and tiger prawn nigiri sushi with pickled ginger and soy sauce; a fillet of chargrilled salmon with cucumber, caperberry and wasabi; sesame noodle salad with tiger prawns and mixed peppers; mineral water, £13.50
- The Big Eat - ciabatta with roast beef, red onion confit and tomatoes; penne pasta Mediterranean vegetable and herb salad; Belgian chocolate cake with cream; mineral water, £12.50
- Fun Box - a children's menu. Choose five items from a selection of 22, including games and activity books, £7.50