Thailand – Bangkok Based Rabbi Helps Local Airline Caterer To Be Kosher In The Sky

Thailand – Among Thai cooks dressed in white gowns and protective caps in the Bangkok Air Catering (BAC) flight kitchen at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Chaim Wilelem stands out.

Unlike them, the bespectacled 23- year-old with an untrimmed beard from Jerusalem is not there to prepare airline food. Nor is he a gourmet or a BAC employee.

But six days a week from 2 am to noon, the Israeli can be found at the spotlessly clean BAC facility keeping an eye on how ingredients are sourced, prepared, processed and packaged.

He ensures that birds and animals are slaughtered in a specific fashion by trained and certified individuals; fish must have fins and scales; certain foods, including wine, must have been partly or wholly prepared by Jews.

His other main role is as a gatekeeper _ sealing the 3,500-square-metre facility during the rest of the day and reopening it by breaking a red plastic tab to let cooks in when the working day begins.

The kindly faced Wilelem is a rabbi, a Jewish scholar or teacher, seconded by Thai Kashrut Services, a Jewish religious body in Bangkok that certifies that certain food complies with the strict Jewish dietary laws.

Since May last year _ when BAC was commissioned by El Al, Israel’s national airline, to supply in-flight meals _ Wilelem has been one of the rabbis who have taken turns to ensure that specific foods prepared at the Thai firm’s state-of-the-art catering facility are kosher

The contract with El Al has also been a springboard for BAC, one of three in-flight caterers at Suvarnabhumi Airport, to become a specialised caterer, providing meals for airline passengers and consumers with special religious needs.

To appeal to carriers from the Muslim world, BAC has already embraced Halal food _ food permitted by and prepared according to Islamic laws.

Last year, it became the first caterer at Bangkok’s new airport to secure official Halal certification from the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand (CICT).

Kosher is part of a new business strategy for BAC, which is finding niche opportunities to distance itself from intense competition from rivals Thai Airways International (THAI) and LSG Sky Chefs, part of Germany’s Lufthansa Airlines.

BAC now delivers 12,500 meals a day to 21 international airlines, including its parent company Bangkok Airways.

But the company, a newcomer to the business, is eager to reach its production capacity of 25,000 meals a day _ and justify a 1.1-billion-baht asset investment _ by poaching its competitors’ clients.

BAC’s current share in the catering business at Suvarnabhumi is about 10%, with LSG taking almost 20% and THAI the lion’s share of about 70% (much of which is delivered to THAI aircraft).

BAC’s managing director Linus Knobel is enthusiastic about the potential of its kosher business, with growing numbers of often affluent Jewish travellers, but acknowledged that the initial demand is relatively limited.

The company’s main kosher outlet is El Al, which takes about 800 meals a day for its daily Boeing 777 flight between Bangkok and Tel Aviv, while BAC is capable of producing 5,000 meals a day.

However, the company is aiming to expand the market base for its kosher offering to airlines, hotels, functions, parties and even supermarkets, both at home and across the region.

The business plan also includes a frozen kosher food box, similar to a Japanese bento lunch box, with each item tightly wrapped in plastic and sealed with a kosher certificate.

Swiss-born Mr Knobel estimates that the demand for kosher food by airlines operating through Asia is around 10,000 meals a day, a market BAC hopes to capture. That would translate into a business worth 150 million baht a year.

BAC is also soliciting interest from all airlines in Asia and the Middle East. As well as Jewish travellers, it is estimated that a fifth of Muslims _ despite religious and political differences _ chose to consume kosher food due to broadly comparable preparation systems and rituals.

Kosher food is about 10-30% dearer to produce than ordinary food, due to the complexity of sourcing, producing and packaging in accord with halakha (Jewish law).

A BAC kosher food box costs about 700 baht, and half of its ingredients are likely to be imported.

But Mr Knobel said BAC was committed to kosher despite its complexity.

”Once you are committed to this business, you must be serious about following all the difficult and complicated steps,” he said. ”If you think it is a hassle, you don’t do it at all.”