Gate Gourmet opens second kitchen at JFK International Airport

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 20, 2003

MEMPHIS, TENN. -- Gate Gourmet, the in-flight-catering company recently bought by Texas Pacific Group, opened a new kitchen at JFK International Airport in New York.

The 92,000-square-foot facility will be used to prepare and deliver up to 10,000 meals per day for 40 Delta Airlines flights, of which 26 are domestic and 14 are international. James LaFrance will manage the new kitchen and its 255 employees.

The kitchen, the second that Gate Gourmet now operates at JFK, has the ability to prepare 30,000 meals a day.

Texas Pacific Group recently completed the purchase of Gate Gourmet from Swissair Group, the now-defunct 71-year-old airline company based in Zurich, Switzerland. Swissair ceased flying on March 31, 2002. Texas Pacific Group, along with Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, also recently purchased Burger King Corp.