Do&Co feeding over 250,000 people in air

Hülya Güler - ISTANBUL / Hürriyet

Do&Co’s menus mostly include Turkish cuisine, especially dishes made with ggplant. Many passengers are enjoying the opportunity to consume more eggplant, according to founder and chairman Atilla Doğudan.

Do&Co, a well-known catering supplier for international events like Formula 1, the Champions League, and the European football championships, is becoming a bigger player in the airplane food sector thanks to new deals with 60 carriers.

“Supplying catering services for more than 60 airline companies from all over the world means Do&Co is feeding over 250,000 people every day in the air,” said Do&Co founder and Chairman Atilla Doğudan.

Do&Co’s menus for passengers mostly include Turkish cuisine, especially dishes made with eggplant.

“Especially a unique dish from Ottoman kitchen called ‘sultan’s favorite’ has become one of [passengers’ most] favorite dishes on our menu. We are three-dimensional ambassadors of Turkish cuisine,” said Doğudan, while noting that many passengers were enjoying the opportunity to consume more eggplant.

Biggest non-American account

Do&Co has grabbed attention by gaining the catering rights for British Airways’ New York-London route, which is operated 10 times a day, giving the firm one of the most prominent non-American contracts in the aviation sector.

“It is the most prestigious account among the British Airways accounts, which is why it is very important for us,” Doğudan said, adding that the route alone gave Do&Co the opportunity to cater for 3,000 passengers.
“We also believe that this account will open new gateways for us and new business. Since we started, customer satisfaction has increased significantly even in a couple of weeks. Aviation companies are consulting with us while producing the cuisine for airplanes,” said the company’s chairman.

Doubling its size every five years

Do&Co is listed on both the Vienna and Istanbul stock exchanges. Doğudan, meanwhile, said the firm’s revenue for 2013 is expected to be more than 550 million euros. “We are planning to double our size every five years.”

Do&Co has a 50 percent share in Turkish Airlines’ catering company, which is referred to as Turkish Do&Co.

“We supported Turkish Airlines brand value by catering and Turkish Airlines has decreased its cost of catering by around 33 percent after the signing of our partnership,” Doğudan said.

Do&Co also expanded recently to purchase two airline catering services, Polish national carrier LOT’s catering service and Kiev Catering from Ukraine.

Noting Turkish Airlines’ long-publicized interest in LOT, Doğudan said: “It was a good decision for Turkish Airlines not to buy LOT. However it was suitable for us to buy the catering company because we are planning to grow in developing, high-potential countries.”

Doğudan said his company was ultimately the Louis Vuitton of the food sector. “Just like Louis Vuitton is selling a bag for more than 2,000 to 3,000 euros, we’d like to sell a bar of chocolate for five to 10 euros,” said Doğudan.

Doğudan also said the company was currently constructing a hotel in Istanbul’s up-market Ortaköy neighborhood that would have 10-meter-high ceilings in the ballroom.