At the end of August 2024, gategourmet Japan welcomed 22UNSW students from Australia as part of their coursework for CDEV 3300 Global Practice of Work to explore the use of AI/Automation for shift scheduling and sustainable catering operational practices with the long-term goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.
In addition to the various discussions between the local gategourmet team and the students, gategourmet Japan held unit tours in both the NRT (Narita) and HND (Haneda) units and visited the NRT ramp operations for customers of gategourmet Japan. They also got the chance to visit the Australian Embassy in Tokyo where they were treated to a presentation on the history of the relations between Australia and Japan.
“We cater about 40 flights each day and serve around 17,000 meals,” says Helen Chan, General Manager at gategourmet and international UNSW alumni. “It’s a complicated and diverse process with an additional layer of food safety and service levels – timing is everything.”
Following the end of Covid lockdowns, gategourmet has witnessed a considerable rise in operations, reaching levels twice that of 2019. Nonetheless, the company faces challenges in expanding its operations while also improving quality. With 800 out of 1,100 employees in Japan working in operational roles, automating the assignment of shifts has become an imperative.
“Our business is niche. We’re very focused and skilled in airline catering, and it’s hard to know what others are doing. We were excited to work with students who bring new ideas – and for the chance to give back as an organization.”
During their time in Japan, the 22 UNSW students developed a range of innovative and practical suggestions. They presented fresh ideas on how to use AI to reduce the time managers spend on creating employee shift schedules and enhancing sustainable catering operational practices.
“When it comes to creating new ideas and innovating in our workspace, it’s always great to get new perspectives from different people, especially those who don’t work in the operations day-to-day. This allows them to have a completely different outlook on the situation and come up with new ideas, just like what the students did.”, said Helen Chan.
Helen continued, “We would like to thank the UNSW team and our APAC regional colleagues for their encouragement and support to make this collaboration between GGJ and UNSW possible. We hope to continue such a long-standing connection and collaboration between Japan and Australia, as we saw in the embassy presentation. We look forward to future possibilities!”
About gategourmet
gategourmet was founded in Switzerland in 1992 to cater Swissair. Today, it’s a global company with the most comprehensive catering network in the aviation industry. Through top-quality culinary concepts from menu design to execution, gategourmet delivers consistent and standardized catering provisioning services, while ensuring on-time-performance to airline customers and a memorable onboard experience for their passengers. Present in 33 countries with over 135 units, gategourmet has fully equipped kitchens as well as logistic centers across the globe to provide holistic catering service operations. For further information, https://www.gategroup.com/our-brands/gategourmet/.
About UNSW Sydney
The University was established in 1949 with a unique focus on the scientific, technological and professional disciplines and as one of the top 100 universities in the world, with more than 59,000 students from over 90 countries and a 7,000-strong research community, UNSW Sydney is a powerhouse of cutting-edge research, teaching and innovation.
