Nourish, a UAE-based inflight meal booking platform has raised $400,000 of outside capital to create a new IT and logistics network for commercial aviation. Strategic investors from the US, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt participated in the financing and coined the company as “UberEats for Airlines”.
The startup will use the funding to expand its supply chain network across multiple airports in emerging markets and enhance its platform by hiring new talent.
Founder Tom Eliopoulos, said that “now passengers will be able to get what they want on the plane…whether that’s sushi, McDonald’s, or even a protein shake…and it will be served to you by the flight attendants at your seat”.
Airlines are the last frontier for delivery and Nourish believes that passengers everywhere should be able to get exactly what they want on the planes ‘on-demand’. Airlines have typically focused on serving up better food choices to VIP and business class passengers but Nourish is taking special care to build its platform to meet the needs of economy passengers.
“The flight catering and onboard service industry has significant bottlenecks and the rising costs around operations, particularly special meals, are putting pressure on airlines to better serve their customers. The overall trend will likely continue toward creating value streams and even more bespoke customer offerings over the coming decade,” said Neil Ylanan, an equity shareholder, who spent 15 years at LSG Sky Chefs leading their food safety and quality teams in the Americas.
He added, “the recent collapses of ageing technology in areas of commercial aviation highlight the need for companies like Nourish to help business segments evolve by creating new systems that allow greater flexibilities.”
The global market for in-flight catering is projected to reach $21 billion in enterprise value by 2026 and almost 75% of that market is still serviced by less than 10 major suppliers, most of whom are in no rush to innovate or adjust their prices or improve food quality. Many experts agree that the lack of front-end process innovation in the in-flight catering industry has also been a major contributor to the nearly 7 million tons of food and plastic waste caused annually by flight cabin services.
