With most airways nonetheless working far beneath capability attributable to Covid-19, inflight caterers have begun to promote their meals to eating places, faculties, and motels.
Hanoi-based Noi Bai Catering Companies Joint Inventory Firm (NCS), Vietnam’s main air catering firm, served merely 4.6 million inflight meals in 2020, 42.5 p.c down from 2019.
Its revenues fell practically 60 p.c to VND275.2 billion ($12 million), and so, after years of rising income, the corporate racked up losses of greater than VND38 billion.
Most airline caterers faced a similar plight final 12 months.
To outlive, NCS has began to develop new gross sales channels concentrating on clients different than simply airways. It’s recruiting distributors and brokers to promote breads, desserts and comfort meals to retail shops and eating places.
It has begun to distribute milk tea to some retail shops in Hanoi. It’s also promoting fried pies, fried rice, sticky rice with hen, spaghetti, and different dishes on its web site referred to as “Bep tren might” (Kitchen on the cloud).
NCS mentioned its non-aviation revenues have soared since final September with moon desserts contributing VND3.2 billion.
Within the fourth quarter of final 12 months, it gained a bid to provide meals to a sequence of main faculties, which fetched it revenues of VND4.7 billion in the course of the three months.
Its non-aviation revenues rose by greater than 66 p.c to VND15 billion to account for five p.c of whole revenues. The corporate needs to extend it this 12 months to some 20 p.c.
It plans to promote extra meals on the bottom, and develop each direct and oblique distribution channels within the subsequent 5 years.
A number one inflight catering service supplier in HCMC, Vietnam Airways Caterers, is launching new merchandise geared toward non-aviation clients with the slogan ‘Each Cloud and Floor.’
One other inflight catering service supplier, VINACS Cam Ranh within the central province of Khanh Hoa, just lately determined to provide meals to motels used for quarantine.
It additionally plans to provide faculties, hospitals, firms, and journey companies in future.
However regardless of their efforts, inflight catering service suppliers face a giant problem as a result of their distribution channels are restricted and there’s little room for development within the retail market, insiders mentioned.