If you think that the food in Singapore Airlines first class is impressive, wait until you see what private jet customers are feasting on.
Sure, Singapore Airlines employs big-name chefs who create exquisite dining and drink options. However, if you’re flying by private jet, just the in-flight catering meal service alone can cost as much as a return first-class flight on some of the world’s greatest airlines.
Welcome to the world of private flying, where anything goes and demands from celebrities and wealthy customers alike can be quirky, to say the least. It’s a world that many of us will never get to see, and just a lucky few get to experience it.
In 2018 only about 52,000 people passed through Zurich Airport on private jets, compared to 31 million who flew on commercial flights. Passengers experiencing VIP treatment at the airport are ushered through airport formalities, treated to private airline lounges, and chauffeured by limousines to their aircraft.
Bijoux Catering, run by Rachid Benboudy, is located close to the perimeter of Zurich Airport in Switzerland and provides in-flight catering to these very private fliers. An old cheese factory that once housed the now-defunct Crossair Catering was taken over by Benboudy in 2017 to expand his luxury catering business that he started in 2013. As a trained chef, Benboudy worked in Michelin two- and three-star restaurants in the US and France. While working as a private chef for a client in Switzerland, Benboudy would cater the food for his boss’s private jet.
His VIP airline menu reads like an exceptional three-Michelin-star dining experience with items such as wagyu rib-eye with crunchy confit shallots and jus, which costs US$220. But sometimes it’s more about comfort food – of sorts. “We had a customer request McDonald’s for their in-flight lunch menu,” says Benboudy. But that’s wasn’t all, as to be served alongside the McDonald’s, the passengers ordered a kilo of the best caviar available.
more on scmp.com
