Gate Gourmet

Gate Gourmet is an airline catering firm with headquarters on the grounds of Zürich Airport, Switzerland, near Zürich.

Gate Gourmet was founded in 1992, and is the world's largest independent airline catering, hospitality and logistics company. As a part of parent company Gate Group, the company has substantially expanded its products and services recently through acquisitions and strategic investments. The portfolio now includes cabin service ware (deSter); comfort/entertainment items (Harmony); packaged food components assembled in central production units (Supplair); aviation services such as cabin cleaning, aircraft washing and de-icing and passenger services (Gate Aviation ); catering security (Gate Safe); business applications (eGate Solutions) and supply chain optimization (partnership with Pourshins).

As of 2004, it had 22,000 employees, had a revenue of 2.4 billion Swiss Francs, and produced 195 million flight meals per year. Some of its clients are British Airways, LAN Airlines, Air Algérie, American Airlines, United Airlines, Qantas Airways, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Avianca, Iberia Airlines, airblue, Air France, Delta Air Lines, Emirates Airline, Thai Airways International, Swiss International Air Lines, TAM Airlines, Airblue, Amtrak and EasyJet.

Gate Gourmet's roots are in Swissair. For a long time, Gate Gourmet was considered Swissair's "Crown Jewel". The company was worth roughly 6 billion Swiss Francs before September 11 and the bankruptcy of Swissair. The rise of oil prices damaged the airlines and many of Gate Gourmet's main customers went bankrupt or narrowly avoided bankruptcy. The weakness of the airlines affected the industries that cater to or support it. This eventually set the stage for Swissair's crown jewel requiring a restructuring effort, which soon burdened its employees. The company was then sold in 2002 to Texas Pacific Group for USD $870 million, and later its ownership became known as GateGroup.