The dishes prepared by Executive Chef Azzard Saleh and his team could grace tables in a high-end restaurant. They are served for lunch at SATS Inflight Catering Centre 2. Taking a tour of the facility gave me insights of the ways of working in SATS and how the company is striving to feed and connect communities.
As I discover, SATS has a dedicated team of chefs who participate as Chef Mentors in prestigious culinary competitions held around the world, including the biennial World Pastry Cup or Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie.
The company pushes its chefs to take up competition, for example to the Culinary World Cup and Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) – Asia’s leading international food and hospitality trade event. By participating in these competitions, SATS chefs demonstrate their knowledge of food technology serving onboard meals but also their passion, creativity and talent in the kitchen, which is equivalent to that of their peers on the ground.
The chefs also work to cross-pollinate ideas and trends. That includes collaborating with partners such as Monty’s Bakehouse, a wholly-owned SATS subsidiary, which is UK-based.
Additionally, the chefs work with world-class airlines to provide solutions to their needs; designing or adapting dishes to airline crockery and tableware, providing a solution to the specific needs of each airline – that may mean selecting pastries to fit shapes.
Feeding the hub of the future
Singapore has plans to redevelop Changi Airport and enhance its capacity. The opening of Changi’s new Terminal 5 is scheduled for 2035. It will be the size of terminals one, two and three combined, expanding the number of annual passengers capable of flying from Singapore from 60 to 120 million.
Approximately 80% of the inflight catering for flights from Changi is provided by SATS. As well as having an area for preparing dishes for private jets, SATS Inflight Catering Centre 2 features ethnic sub-kitchens preparing dishes typical of Singapore’s cuisines.
Consequently, plans for the airport represent both an opportunity and a challenge as Inflight Catering Centre 2 currently has the capacity to produce up to 45,000 meals a day while Inflight Catering Centre 1 has the capacity for up to 60,000 meals a day.
SATS predicts an expansion phase until 2026 followed by a sustainable growth phase from 2027-30.
Sustainability is already built into SATS’ development plan. That includes refreshing their hybrid fleet of commercial and electric delivery vehicles and electric high loaders. Singapore’s carbon tax rises to $25 a tonne in 2024, incentivising improvements relating to carbon efficiency.
By 2030, SATS aims to improve the value-add per employee by 50%. Enhancing automation will play a role in achieving that by increasing efficiency and minimising wastage.
Increasing automation
One development within the Inflight Catering Centre 2’s recently opened extension is the installation of a programmable rotary fryer. It reduces the production of batches of fried rice to between 15 and 20 minutes while replicating an authentic wok hei flavour of wok-made food.
The centre also has a programmable rice machine capable of making up to 600 kg of rice an hour in a variety of styles. It uses gas burners, because of the flavour benefits, and has a machine that fluffs the rice and then deposits it in a blast chiller.
Additionally, storing food that is free from preservatives in sealed, thermoformed packaging is helping increase efficiency while reducing wastage. Vacuum levels can be moderated so as not to squash the contents, which can then be chilled or frozen and used later. It’s part of a strategy to make the kitchen less dependent on deliveries.
I was able to observe how a cake was sliced using a laser-like jet of water by a machine capable of cutting precision shapes to exact proportions. It means there are no inconsistencies in portion or form.
After savouring the tempting aromas of oven-fresh items from the boutique bakery, I also witnessed satay skewers being fanned over glowing charcoal to create authentic street food-like flavour.
‘Hawker culture in Singapore: community dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban context’ is present throughout Singapore and was inscribed onto UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. Airlines flying from Singapore can carry examples of local cuisine and serve it to their passengers.
That encompasses Indian, Malaysian and Chinese dishes made at SATS Inflight Catering Centre 2.
