Case Study

Case Study: Charter Operator Catering Standardization

A Midwest Part 135 charter operator with an 18-aircraft fleet was experiencing inconsistent catering quality across 12 primary departure airports and frequent flight attendant complaints.

The Challenge

• 18 aircraft operating from 12 airports with 6 different catering vendors
• Inconsistent presentation, labeling, and documentation across airports
• No standardized allergen protocol — dietary errors on 3% of orders
• Flight attendants spending 20+ minutes per flight on catering verification
• No chain of custody documentation for HACCP audit purposes

The DFK Solution

• Single catering account across all 12 departure airports within the DFK hub network
• 28-pillar Crew-Ready Standard applied uniformly across every airport
• Standardized Triple-Point Labels, First-Look Galley Map, and Course Color-Coding on every delivery
• Digital Paper Trail QR code for HACCP audit compliance
• Silent Dispatch SMS to flight attendants replacing manual coordinator calls

Outcomes

• Dietary error rate reduced from 3% to 0% over 90-day implementation period
• Flight attendant pre-flight catering review time reduced from 22 minutes to under 5 minutes
• Single monthly invoice replacing 6 vendor billing relationships

Contact: +1-866-328-7905 | orders@dfinflight.com