Behind the Scenes at the Farnborough International Airshow

Every two years, Farnborough becomes the centre of the aerospace world as thousands of people arrive for the Farnborough International Airshow.

It’s a huge event, bringing together aircraft manufacturers, airlines, defence companies, governments and technology businesses from around the world. There are aircraft displays, product launches, meetings and plenty of important conversations happening across the site throughout the week.

But while the aircraft are getting plenty of attention outside, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes too.

This year, Kalm Kitchen was delighted to be back at the Airshow, providing catering and hospitality across 14 exhibitor chalets.

Catering at the Airshow is certainly not your average corporate event.

The days are busy, schedules are packed and the catering needs to work around meetings, presentations and guests coming and going throughout the day.

Our team provided daily food deliveries, setup and service support, as well as managing the logistics needed to keep everything running smoothly throughout the week.

Menus ranged from breakfast buffets to hot and cold grazing lunches, as well as more formal fine dining lunches.

And, as always, we wanted the food to be more than just something to eat between meetings.

One of the things we love about working at events like Farnborough is taking a traditional corporate menu and giving it a Kalm Kitchen twist.

We focus just as much on how the food looks as how it tastes, creating displays that are colourful, generous and inviting. Whether it’s a breakfast spread first thing in the morning or lunch being served between meetings, we want guests to actually be excited about what’s on offer.

Another big advantage for us at the Airshow is that we’re based in Puttenham, Surrey, just a short distance from Farnborough Airport. Being local means we’re familiar with the area and, importantly, we’re close enough to respond quickly when things change. At an event as busy as Farnborough, things do change, and having our kitchen and team nearby allows us to support our clients throughout the week and deal with the inevitable last-minute requests that come with a large-scale event.

We’re also proud to be a B Corp company, and being a local business is an important part of that. We think carefully about how we operate, from where our ingredients come from to the way we manage deliveries and logistics. Working close to home allows us to support events like Farnborough efficiently while also keeping a close eye on the wider impact of what we do. For us, delivering great food and service goes hand in hand with running a responsible business and always looking for ways to do things better.

After a busy week, we’re proud of what the team achieved across the 14 chalets.

There are a lot of moving parts involved in an event like Farnborough, and much of the work happens behind the scenes. It’s a real team effort, and we’re always delighted to be part of it. We’re already looking forward to the next Airshow and seeing what we can do all over again.