Galley Planning, Part 4 CCF & Service

Now that the puzzle is almost complete, the owner comes into the picture with their CCF or China, Crystal and Flatware. It never seems to fail that some went shopping and managed to buy more than the typical galley can hold. Most OEM’s offer support with CCF and some go as far in to provide a basic selection.

First you need to understand what makes a basic table setting. While we have touched on glassware in Part 3, the rest also needs to be understood. In world of fine dining a table setting can make up over 10 pieces of china and 12 pieces of flatware. Carrying this load is simply not practical even in airline class bizjets. Here again, some items need to perform double duty. While it is proper to use fish forks and fish knives it’s not prudent to carry these items for the few times fish may be served as example.

VIP service can be extremely elegant with a basic selection that consists of; a diner plate, a salad plate, a desert plate and a soup bowl (no handles). As space allows other pieces of china can be added. With regards to flatware there is the diner fork, salad fork, diner knife, soup spoon and desert spoon. You may also wish to consider butter spreaders and Espresso spoons.

As for storing these items, many like the look of custom fit, felt lined drawers. These work very good for flatware but for dishes they waste space that can be used for small items placed between them. Also felt looks good when new, but gets dirty quickly and is hard to clean. Laminate lined china drawers with anti-skid bottoms and posts work well. This type can be easily cleaned after each flight. Also if you don’t have space for dirty dish bins, plates can be wiped and placed back in laminate drawers dirty. Falcon utilizes bins for both the storage of china that doubles for the dirty dishes after. If you send you dishes in bins out for cleaning after the flight, stencil the aircraft’s registration number on them for identification.

But you’re not done yet! You cannot forget the basic utensil’s and service items to complete the galley. This two can be extensive; salt and pepper, sugar bowls, creamers, bread baskets and serving trays. Many operators shy away from silver and opt for stainless that doesn’t require polishing. With regular use sliver doesn’t tarnish but service items need to be stored in soft cloth bags.

In our final installment of planning your galley, we will put it all together for logical placement, preparation and serving.