The educational sessions on the Taste of Travel Theatre at the World Travel Catering & Onboard Services (WTCE®), 4 – 6th April in Hamburg, Germany, cover all aspects of the industry and are free to all registered visitors.
From Michelin-starred chefs to airline representatives, the programme is designed to equip industry professionals with the advice and knowledge needed to push their businesses forward.
Opening on the first day of the show (Tuesday 4 April), the Taste of Travel sessions will explore a range of topics from using social media to promote your food and beverage offering and the increased integration of technology to how to get your product onboard.
Development chef consultant, TV presenter and founder of Posh Pasty, James Strawbridge will take to the stage on the first day of the show to demonstrate the impact and value of serving high quality meals and products onboard. His interactive session with tastings and samplings will discuss which products work best for the Buy on Board market.
Next, Michelin-starred celebrity chef Mark Sargeant will step in to discuss his partnership with American Airlines. In a lively session, Mark will demonstrate dishes he has created to be served onboard the airline, while treating his audience to highlights from his career – including his time working under Gordon Ramsay.
Later in the day, TV personality and celebrity chef Levi Roots will talk about the journey behind his successful Reggae Reggae range of Caribbean-inspired cooking sauces, ready meals, soft drinks and desserts, which now retailglobally and are used in numerous high profile restaurant chains.
Technology will be high on the agenda in this year’s Taste of Travel Theatre with a range of sessions exploring the increased integration of technology and how it is helping to shape the customer experience onboard.
Profiling the rise of pre-ordering and the availability of on-demand meals, Raymond Kollau, founder of airlinetrends.com, will talk about changing consumer behaviours and passenger expectations from air and rail operators with a focus on the Smartphone on-demand economy. Raymond will be joined by Jaap Roukens, Chief Executive Officer of iFleat – a downloadable app-based service that simply requires passengers to fill in their name and booking number before allowing them to pre-order restaurant food ahead of their flight.
Opening Taste of Travel on the second day, Eero Vottonen, winner of the Worldchefs Global Chef Challenge 2016, will present his range of signature dishes – created to celebrate Finnair’s centennial anniversary – with live cooking. He will be joined by Maarit Keränen, Head of In-Flight Service at Finnair, who will explain the value of working with a celebrity chef like Vottonen.
From Scandinavia to Vietnam, Chef Ms Trinh Diem Vy – one of Vietnam’s most recognised restauranteurs and chefs – will also speak on the second day of the event joined by Chef Keerthi Hapugasdeniya (Happy) to explain how partnering with restaurants can improve airline and rail customer satisfaction.
Stathis Kefallonitis and David McLain of branding.aero will explore how technology and neuroscience methods can help understand the passenger and improve the cabin experience, based on work carried out with GateGroup. The session will include a Taste of Travel first by challenging the audience tofocus their senses with interactive blind tastings.
Lance Hayward of The Hayward Partnership will moderate a panel of onboard hospitality suppliers to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing brands looking to get their products onboard. Joining him will be Robin Padgett, CEO at DNATA Catering; Chika Russell, founder and CEO of Chikas Foods; and Michael Palij, CEO and Master of Wines at Wine Traders.
Speaking about his session, Hayward commented: “I hope attendees to my session leave with a better understanding of the industry and the challenges facing new brands. It’s a fantastic business and with the right advice from the right people, it can be a great venture for companies looking to move onboard. WTCE is a great way of learning about what’s happening in the industry today. I’ve attended many times over the years and it never ceases to be interesting.â€
Lance will also take part in a sessionthat will see five exhibitors introduce their new products to an expert panel at the end of the first day. Each exhibitor will be given two minutes to present their new product or service resulting in one lucky winner chosen as the panel’s favourite pitch.
Thursday will see another full day of sessions at the Theatre, kicking off withAlan Hayes, Inflight Retail and Managed Services Director for Alpha LSG, who will discuss the buyer/supplier relationship and the key to making product sales soar within the travel retail sector.
Later, Jonathon Jones, an expert grower and Managing Director of Trading at British estate Tregothnan Tea, will give an informative presentation on the merits of tea, which is growing in popularity. Tregothnan has strong links with rail with travellers able to enjoy a cup of the brand’s tea from Cornwall to the Netherlands via GWR and Eurostar.Cakes will be supplied by Horizon Patisserie and Desserts, which produces a range of patisserie and cakes. Later, wine expert and supplier Andrew Brown of Ratcliffe and Brown and Patrick den Drijver of traditional Dutch cheese-maker Beemster will explore the perfect wine and cheese pairings for onboard.
A returning feature at WTCE, the free-to-attend Taste of Travel sessions offer visitors the chance to attend thought provoking, insightful presentations on key onboard trends from industry experts as well as demonstrations from some of the world’s leading chefs working within the onboard industry.
To find out more and view the full programme, please visit:
http://www.worldtravelcateringexpo.com/TasteofTravel
To register in advance and save €50, go to http://bit.ly/2fWacX7
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For further press information please contact
Beki McVicker or Lesley Foottit at Storm Communications on +44 (0) 207 240 2444 or
email wtce@stormcom.co.uk.
About Passenger Experience Week
Three leading events – the Passenger Experience Conference, Aircraft Interiors Expo and World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo – one week, one destination. Delivering content, driving innovation and developing connections to transform your business. Showcasing the latest in cabin interiors, inflight entertainment and connectivity, passenger comfort, catering and travel retail to create the ultimate passenger experience. Taking place 3-6 April 2017 in Hamburg, the events attract more than 18,000 visitors including 2,000 buyers and decision makers from major scheduled, regional and charter airlines and rail operators and offers the opportunity to meet face to face with suppliers and manufacturers covering the full spectrum of the industry. https://www.passengerexperienceweek.com
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in 30 countries. In 2015 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 40 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.https://www.reedexpo.com
