by R36 Combine Coach
Vincent wrote: ↑Mon Aug 22, 2022 11:36 am Covid-19 has forced the restaurant industry and catering companies to re-think their service plans. There are many more "to-go" and wholesale options available from restaurants. Caterers have also evolved their offerings and operations to make food service safer and more efficient. There are plenty of opportunities for Amtrak to offer better food.Catering for a group with advance notice is different than catering an Amtrak train, so any negotiations for any generic catering group is not going to happen. Not only that, Amtrak has more equipment available than what a caterer expects, for a lot less room. Caterers are precooking everything to a point, throwing them into "hot boxes" that get chilled until before the event, then turned into mobile ovens on caster wheels to cook them the rest of the way. They provide everything dining related. I'll point you to The Splendid Table's Epicor 691 on caterers for more info on that.
Every major city has numerous catering firms that will provide catering services ranging from elegant sit-down dinners, corporate lunches and events, or small private parties. It shouldn't be hard for Amtrak to find healthy and tasty food options for train passengers. Amtrak needs to set a price point and negotiate the contracts.
The challenge for Amtrak might be coordinating the catering on a nationwide basis. The sandwiches available along the NEC won't be the same that are available along the west coast. That might be a problem if Amtrak can't delegate responsibility for menu selections to regional managers. If Amtrak demands the same products in every market or makes the contracting process too difficult, caterers will tell Amtrak to take a hike and concentrate on catering the next local corporate event.
For Amtrak and a similar style, you need to look at the airline food industry. Gate Gourmet and such. Prepackaged meals that can be microwaved. A selection of meals that are heat-and-serve. We discussed this before on this very thread. Amtrak has similar, called Flex Dining.
The thing we're comparing here now with the article is the Cafe car and it's "7-Eleven-eque" fare, and I have to remind folks here: It's a "meal" to get you over a 4+ hour trip, that can be easily microwaved and is small enough to store inside the Cafe car's confines (And yes, I know of one 7-Eleven that's about the same floor layout size as a Cafe car). It's not the Long Distance kitchen. It's not Flex Dining. It's something to eat because you were in a rush to make the train or you're stuck in it because you're going from DC to Boston... and Amtrak needs to rework the Cafe car to do any major changes.
I hope the new ICT sets have half the Cafe car reserved for the actual Cafe.