"Bad food inspires entrepreneurs' ventures"

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Bad food inspires entrepreneurs' ventures
By Nora Achrati
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution


Washington --- Earl Furfine wants to take the long-maligned institution of
the in-flight meal to new heights.

The entrepreneur's latest venture, Carry-on Cuisine, is an Internet-based
system that lets air travelers order from airport restaurants as they book
their flights. The cooked-to-order meal is ready for pickup as the flight is
boarding.

Call it thinking outside the tray. Furfine's operation is one of several
ventures that have sought to capitalize on food cutbacks at struggling
airlines. It's not clear which of the ideas will succeed, but they could
change the way people think about eating aloft.

Furfine, 40, knows more than he'd care to about airplane food.

A triathlete with a background in consulting and software development, he
watched a ticket messaging business he had developed fail after Sept. 11,
2001, when airlines cut costs. The Maryland resident found part-time
consulting work in Atlanta, and on flights back and forth daydreamed about
alternatives to the fare he was served.

''I was eating all this bad food and wondering why someone didn't come up
with a better idea,'' he said.

Furfine has a deal in place with Sabre, a travel marketing company
affiliated with nearly half of all North American travel agents. That means
that anyone booking a flight through a Sabre-connected travel agent will be
able to have the agent book a Carry-on Cuisine meal, too. Passengers will
also be able to link to Furfine's site through Travelocity.com, a Sabre-run
online travel planning service.

Carry-on Cuisine has just completed a trial run at Washington Reagan
National Airport, and Furfine hopes to add new airports soon.

On a flight home from Paris a few years ago, a similar idea struck West
Coast caterers Richard Katz and Alan Levin.

''We'd bought all this great food from the markets,'' Katz recalled.
Unwrapping their Parisian picnic on the plane, he said, ''we just got an
unbelievable reaction from the other passengers.''

With encouragement from friends and fellow passengers, the duo launched
Santa Monica, Calif.-based SkyMeals LLC, a catering service that delivers
custom-prepared food packaged in lightweight, refrigerated containers to
passengers preparing to fly.

Prices run from about $8 to $30 a meal.

SkyMeals, which debuted last summer, is available only in the Los
Angeles-Orange County area, although Katz says it plans to expand to other
major markets.

The fledgling companies say customer research shows most passengers would
pay for pre-ordered meals.

Evidence also suggests new ventures don't have to be gourmet to be good
enough. One study showed that expectations aren't all that high: all most
passengers wanted was ''a really good sandwich.''

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