Galley Planning, Part 5 The Working Environment

Now that you’ve decide on what to put in your galley, it’s time to place it in the most useful and convenient location. Not every item can be on the countertop or at arm’s reach. Some items may even be behind others or stored elsewhere in the aircraft.

The typical galley has three levels, upper, middle and lower. The upper are usually consists of storage areas for glassware and smaller items. They are usually enclosed with sliding doors because there is little head room for hinged doors that swing inboard. It is popular to enclose decorative glassware with acrylic doors and back lights that give a nice visual presentation.

The mid-galley area is typically at counter height and sets slightly outboard. This offset creates the working preparation area. This area becomes more critical than one may think. The reason being is that when meals are being plated, you may need this flat surface to place several plates when getting organized prior to serving. The mid area is also a very good spot for the coffee maker, liquor and snacks. It is best to enclose these areas in rolling tambour or sliding doors. A hinged doors swing means items on the counter will get in the way when you try to access these areas.

If there is a sink on the counter be sure it has a cover when it’s not being used an automated drain valve. It is also best not to plate the sink in gold as it will wear quickly, try to keep it in a stainless steel finish as the cover will be in place when passengers board.  

The lower galley is where the larger, deeper items will be housed. Such as ovens, microwaves, ice drawers, china, utilities, trash, food and beverage storage. In larger aircraft it is chillers, refrigerators, trash compactors and drawer style dishwashers will be placed. Each of these areas will have its own requirements for doors and lings. To minimize weight it is best to use as little laminate as possible, galley cavities should be painted. It is also very useful to implement pull-out work surfaces just below the counter to give additional space when needed.       

In your galley planning, remember the basics step in planning, consult you passengers, gain in-put form you cabin crew and work with you completion center. Keep quantities to the basic minimum and carry spear and rarely used items in a closet or baggage area. Select tasteful yet durable service ware that can be replaced and stacks and stores easy. You will be surprised how much can be packed into a small area that can create culinary perfection!

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.

Galley Planning, Part 2 Storage

To simplify galley planning we break it down into five basic areas. Three of these areas revolve around storage, they include food, beverage and service items. These three areas all work in concert with one another to make preparation and service flow seamlessly.

Storing food on a business jet can be as simple as an insulated area that can bleed cold air from a gasper or placing items inside the ice drawer. It can also be as complicated as using a chilling device, refrigerator or freezer. Several companies’ manufacture these components in different sizes to work on aircraft power. When utilizing a cold air chiller, give thought to the access of the filters which require maintenance from time to time. Chillers offer greater flexibility than refrigerators, because these units can be ducted into multiple compartments. Refrigerators and freezers typically have small storage capacity and their weight must be considered. Dry ice is a last resort based on availability and handing.

In addition to cold areas, you must plan for dry food storage as well. These will include boxed and packaged foods, condiments and snacks. Drawers work best for these small items and should include adjustable dividers for flexibility. They should also be lined in plastic laminate for ease of cleaning. In the planning stage, take sample items to the completion center and have them measure specific packages for dedicated storage.

If you have discussed your galley with your caterer, be sure to get sizes of their standard trays and packaging for the center to measure. Many utilize trays that are very wide for use in typical galleys; you may need to ask them to special order smaller trays to fit. Otherwise you will find yourself re-packing food every time you fly to fit your galley. In our next installment, we will discuss beverage storage and service.

The Five Pound Bag

The old adage is that you can’t fit ten pounds in a five pound bag. An aircraft more often than not, becomes that ten pound vessel. Oh it can hold it all right, but something’s gotta give. In most cases its range and performance, in some aircraft it is a lack of storage. Crew closets hold service items, baggage areas hold galley supplies and cabinets burst at the seams.

 

 

Most operators planning a completion don’t come to the table prepared with list detailing all of the items required. This should include the weights of items like galley supplies, china etc. Although they are not part of the actual weight and balance and considered loose equipment, they affect the cabinet’s structure. Over weight items will require cabinets and drawers to be stressed to hold additional weight with double slides and robust panels.

The galley and table service are the two biggest culprits. Cabin crews need to carry everything and the kitchen sink. I once inventoried a G-IV’s galley to find 72 cans of soda, 16 bottles of wine and eighty pounds of China and Silver. That’s one passenger, in total the galley held 540 pound of stock. Half of that would have provided first class service to a cabin of eight.

 

 

Plan for the seventy –fifth percentile flight, not that one time you may need it all. When you do, use fly-away boxes to hold the additional items. When heading to remote regions, then stock the baggage with extra water and wine. Plan you service when working with the center. A salad bowl can double as a cereal bowl and a beard plate can double as a dessert plate.

When designing your layout, ask the completion center to provide adequate space and account for the weight of each storage area. Then use the plans of each storage area as an inventory check list when preparing the aircraft. This will prevent overloading that leads to broken latches, slides that bind, and doors and drawers that break. Most of all, it might mean not off-loading that additional passenger, making range or using every foot of that tight landing.