Delta rolls out upscale air fare at Sky360 lounge: menus from Todd English, Michelle Bernstein cater to potential passengers

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 22, 2007 by Elissa Elan

NEW YORK -- In an effort to build business for a new food-for-purchase program, Delta Air Lines has unveiled Sky360, a temporary lounge here offering in-flight meals and cocktails to potential patrons before they leave the ground.

The lounge, which will be open through the middle of November, features the cuisine of celebrity chefs Todd English of Olives and Figs fame and Michelle Bernstein of Michy's in Miami. English's creations are available for purchase in coach class while Bernstein's food is offered in business and first-class seating. Also featured are cocktails created by nightclub impresario Rande Gerber. Food items sold in coach class range in price from $2 to $12.

The 3,800-square-foot lounge, which is located in mid-town Manhattan, is outfitted with actual airline seats and customers are served by flight attendants. Delta officials have said they expect Sky360 to attract about 1,000 visitors daily, with an unspecified target number of those patrons converted into in-flight customers.

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Atlanta-based Delta emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after a 19-month restructuring. The Sky360 promotion, which showcases what the airline is calling New Delta," was developed to complement a traditional advertising campaign that already is in place.

"This seemed like an interesting way to get people to experience our brand without feeling like they were in an airport," said Jaime Jewell, Delta's general manager of sponsorships and promotional marketing. "It doesn't carry the stress level of being in an airport and you can touch, feel and taste the products. Also, by doing this in New York, we're hoping to leverage great foot traffic, get our experience in front of people and have them try it."

Jewell said Delta had planned to open Sky360 since the beginning of the year in order to entice the traveling public, giving them a bird's-eye view of what they could now expect aboard flights. She added that the upgraded in-flight food program was not created to counter the competition currently found in airport terminals, but rather as an enhancement of the passengers' overall experience.

"In fact, we've gone out of our way to solicit interesting food partners at our terminals," she said. "Frankly, food is all part of the experience. When you get on a plane and you're flying either international or across the country, food is [important]. In marketing, they say everything communicates the brand, so how could we have a stylish setting and uniforms and crappy food?

"The food was something we absolutely couldn't leave out. Everything has to be all synced-up and right for the brand, and it has to be delicious because we don't want to hear cocktail chatter about how bad the in-flight food is. There's no reason why in-flight food can't be delicious."

Delta's new celebrity-chef-created menus are just the latest in a trend airlines have been exploring for some time now: offering more upscale meals in flight, but predominantly for first-class flyers or aboard international routes. Such heavy hitters as London's Gordon Ramsay and New York's Alfred Portale have designed menus for Singapore Airlines. Dallas-based Stephan Pyles has worked with American Airlines to upgrade that airline's offerings. Wolfgang Puck, in a deal with LSG Sky Chefs, also has created food-for-purchase items for U.S. Airways.

Some of the items on English's new inflight menu for Delta include Greek salad with grilled shrimp, black-olive spaghetti salad, a steak cobb salad sandwich, and smoked salmon and egg salad on a croissant.

"They're interesting common foods presented in uncommon ways," English said.

Most of the items, he noted, are cold in order to deal with temperature issues and service limitations.

"We had to keep to certain temperature regulations, but other than that it's been the same exact process as [when I'm] creating items for a restaurant menu," he said.

English added that he plans to change the menu three times a year, but will keep it "as simple as possible." He also said he is experimenting with more organic, ecofriendly and nutritious ingredients.

English is keeping his menu items simple for a number of reasons, including space limitations aboard air craft and so that catering companies, such as LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, can reproduce the items in their off-premise kitchens, cook and chill them there, and then reheat them on board planes, if necessary.

Bernstein's business elite class menu includes such items as chicken braised in red wine with tomatoes, olives, capers and mashed Yukon gold potatoes with sugar snap peas and chopped mint.

eelan@nrn.com