Mystery: Does This Restaurant Cater Airline Meals, Or…?

Reader Daniel asked me a question that I find to be super interesting, but I don’t have the answer. As I always say, the OMAAT community collectively knows just about everything about the travel space, so I’m opening this up to y’all, because I’m curious to know the answer as well!

Why does an NYC restaurant have JAL catering carts?

Let me just copy and paste the question that I was asked:

I walk from my office on Lexington Ave in New York along E52 street to the subway every evening and pass by a sushi place called Restaurant Nippon. I notice that they often have JAL carts being loaded into and out of the restaurant onto a truck. I couldn’t find mention of an official partnership (like JetBlue and Dig). I was always under the impression that even premium cabin catering came through Gate Gourmet or similar companies, in a secure kitchen. Is it common for premium cabin catering to come out of actual restaurant kitchens? Maybe it’s just a sushi thing since raw fish doesn’t exactly keep well? I would presume the carts go directly to JFK for the evening departures for Tokyo.

So yeah, not only is Daniel’s question interesting, but his analysis matches my general take. I was under the impression that even when meals are created in partnership with a restaurant or hospitality group, food is still actually prepared in a catering facility, and not in a restaurant.

Even if the airline were to use products from a restaurant for a meal, I would’ve still assumed that it would just be transported to the catering facility in less obvious way, rather than on galley carts. After all, security checks still have to be performed, and meals go from the catering facility directly to the plane.

For what it’s worth, Japan Airlines doesn’t market any sort of a partnership with Restaurant Nippon. Instead, premium meals are created in partnership with Chef Fumiko Kono, who doesn’t seem to have a direct connection to Restaurant Nippon. Furthermore, with these collaborations, we usually just see the chefs contribute to the concepts for the meals, rather than having any hands-on involvement beyond that.

Airline catering is absolutely fascinating

Airline catering is often the butt of jokes, though in all honesty, I can’t help but find it to just be so interesting. While some airplane food is microwave slop, many airlines manage to serve decent meals, even in economy.

When you consider the logistics involved here — the meals having to be prepared well in advance in bulk, then transported to planes, and then reheated — you can’t help but actually be kind of impressed at the finished product.

Airline catering kitchens have to be the most interesting food preparation facilities you’ll find anywhere. I recently saw the below video about how Qatar Airways prepares a massive number meals from scratch every day in its Doha kitchen. If you haven’t yet seen it, it might give you a new appreciation for the scale of these operations.

Bottom line

A reader says he frequently sees Japan Airlines catering carts leaving a popular Japanese restaurant in New York City. Even when airlines have catering partnerships with third parties, I was under the impression that meals are still consistently prepared in catering facilities, and not in actual restaurants.

Does anyone have any insights here? Is this common, and if so, how widespread is it? Or is there something else going on here?