Coffee – right at the gate!
Mayer’s Snack Mobil serves coffee & snacks to passengers.
Michael Weigel, a business administration graduate, is the managing director of CMMC Carl Mayer’s Mobile Catering GmbH.3
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The innovative to-go concept has fi lled a supply gap at the Airport. Friendly service is company policy.
| At Frankfurt Airport, travellers are able to enjoy tasty snacks and their favourite latte macchiato where the gastronomic wilderness usually begins at other airports, i.e. the boarding gates on the terminal’s airside – and all thanks to Mayer’s Snack Mobil! Up to eight mobile stalls are out and about from four in the morning to ten at night, in the walkways and gates of the terminal’s waiting areas, offering a clearly structured take-away offer. Also in on the act are coffee machines from Franke, working away from morning to evening. “With a total of eight mobile snack and coffee units we’re always right there where the passengers are, waiting for their fl ights to depart. Our to-go concept has helped fi ll a supply gap which had previously existed at Frankfurt Airport,” explains Michael Weigel, Managing Director of Carl Mayer’s Mobile Catering GmbH (CMMC). The company founded in Frankfurt am Main in August 2005 began its triumphant success at Frankfurt Airport with a single mobile retail stall. The offer of fresh pretzels, tasty sandwiches, pastries and a small selection of chilled beverages was welcomed with open arms. But even then one thing passengers missed most was coffee. An additional unit with a mobile coffee machine was quickly developed. “At Internorga we had initial discussions with Franke bremer and opted for one of the company’s compact, high-output models,” remembers Michael Weigel. He now swears by a Franke coffee machine, as it is simple to operate, compact in format, and produces every international coffee speciality that air passengers want, and does so tirelessly from 4 am to 10 pm.
At the Terminal 1 departure gates at Frankfurt Airport, Mayer’s Snack Mobil serves tasty snacks and pastries as well as coffee specialities directly to passengers. |
Fresh coffee on your way to the next gate.
| Always at the point of sale
At four in the morning on the dot, when the coffee shops on the airport premises are still all closed, the Snack Mobil makes its way to its first destination filled to the brim with fresh pretzels, sweet snacks and beverages: Terminal 1, Gate A, immediately after the security area. It takes only a minute to open out the wing-like flaps of the retail stand and connect the coffee machine to the mains, and already the first passengers appear and start placing their orders for freshly brewed coffee. A great way to start the day! . Mayer’s Snack Mobil
Launched: August 2005
Managing director: Michael Weigel
Employees: 30 full-time, 30 parttime
Mobile snack units: 8, of which 6 with coffee units
Product offer: snacks, cold drinks, coffee specialities
Turnover per unit per day: € 450 – € 2.500
Hours of operation: 4 am to 10 pm Mayer’s Snack Mobil is expanding
It’s two years since the launch of the mobile units and the fl eet has already expanded to eight retail stands, six of them with docked coffee units. Mobility, fl exibility, top service and high quality, and a clearly structured product range are the assets of the branded concept. It’s no wonder sales are looking good. With a total of 30 full-time staff working 365 days a year, Carl Mayer’s Mobile Catering GmbH recorded net sales of € 1.6 m in 2006. Michael Weigel confi dently predicts that “even now it looks as if we’ll be able to increase our turnover by the end of the year to around € 2.5 m”. Coffee to go
The coffee machine from Franke prepares a wide spectrum of coffee specialities, quickly and simply. The fully automatic coffee machine easily handles over 100 units an hour. Just right when catering for high guest frequencies in the shortest possible time. With a total of 400 takeaway cups a day, coffee tops the hit list, followed by cappuccino (240), latte macchiato (120) and espresso (80). One mobile unit is capable of earning sales of up Innovations Page 13 to € 2,500 a day if sited in a prime location with a high passenger frequency. The ratio of food to beverage is around 60 to 40 per cent.
The Airport caters to an international clientele, and an espresso shortly before departure is just the thing, and helps to shorten the waiting time.
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From coffee to pretzels, Mayer’s Snack Mobil has everything stowed on board.
| Pretzels are “typically German”
Freshness and quality are crucial for snacks, too. All the products are made fresh daily at nearby Mayer’s, a long established bakery in the heart of Frankfurt, and delivered several times a day. The most popular item with international air passengers are “typically German” pretzels. With tasty fi llings such as Serrano ham on roquette and tomato or, as an alternative, with roast beef, tomato/mozzarella, chicken curry and cream cheese, these generous snacks just fl y off the shelves. Stocks have to be replenished several times a day. Fresh deliveries are supplied to a fi xed location in Terminal A and sourced whenever required. Once Terminals 1 and 2 at Frankfurt Airport are linked up after the renovation work is completed, the snacks will be prepared just in time at the Airport itself. Four new bars are to be opened up, all operated by CMMC, to operate alongside the mobile units. A business idea with expansion potential
The innovative to-go concept is gaining ground. Since August the mobile snack units can also be found at Berlin’s Tegel Airport. Other national and international airports have also indicated an interest. The ambitious managing director is convinced that “very soon you’ll be able to enjoy Mayer’s tasty pretzels and our delicious coffee specialities at many other airports around the world”. |
