The LSG Group and Cuisine Solutions form a three-step strategic alliance to redefine the catering model of the future
At the WTCE (World Travel Catering Expo) in Hamburg, the LSG Group announced today a strategic partnership with Cuisine Solutions Inc. (CUSI), the global leader and largest premium-food company in pioneering and perfecting the sous-vide cooking technique. The alliance foresees that Cuisine Solutions and CREA, the company’s education, consulting and innovation arm, will support the LSG Group in jointly developing new concepts for airline catering. Both parties also intend to explore opportunities to use the LSG Sky Chefs catering network for other food-commerce models, therefore redefining the standard catering model and making
it future-proof.
“The partnership with Cuisine Solutions will equip our existing LSG Sky Chefs locations with the manufacturing and service capabilities necessary to handle multiple food-commerce concepts, like convenience retail products for take-away options, buy-on-board concepts and home-delivery menus, while ensuring the highest standards of quality and safety,” said Erdmann Rauer, CEO of the LSG Group. “This perfectly matches our growth strategy, especially in the food-commerce arena and airline catering and will allow us to create innovative concepts for our core customers.”
The alliance will be launched in three simultaneous stages: First, Cuisine Solutions will supply the LSG Sky Chefs facilities with a selection of core menu items globally. Both companies will work together to present airline customers with the “best of both worlds” in developing new onboard-catering concepts. Second, the LSG Group will work closely together with CREA to continuously educate its global culinary team on the latest developments and innovative approaches. Third, the two companies will work together to explore options to redesign the LSG Sky Chefs kitchens worldwide, transforming their operations into the catering facilities of the future.
Cuisine Solutions President and CEO Felipe Hasselmann commented on the strategic partnership: “We are delighted to develop such a strong worldwide alliance with the LSG Group. Erdmann Rauer’s vision of the future of catering along with the LSG Group’s strong penetration on airlines and non-airline channels fits perfectly into our vision of supplying the highest quality, safer and innovative products consistently around the world. CREA, our sous-vide consulting arm, has had very successful results creating the future back of the kitchen for restaurants, hotels, stadium restaurants and ghost kitchens, and now we will do the same with catering in partnership with LSG.”
Erdmann Rauer added: “This alliance is a natural progression for our company as we move to adopt a renewed focus on innovation and partnerships, both in terms of airline catering and food commerce. Expanding our collaboration with long-time partner Cuisine Solutions matches our strategic targets going forward, while enriching the knowledge base across our network. Our goal is to work closer with our customers in
developing culinary concepts that meet their needs and help us constantly advance the processes and techniques that will continue to solidify our leading position in the industry.”