Glory for SriLankan Catering at Culinary Art 2019

• Wins 27 medals in international cuisine and beverage competition

SriLankan Catering’s talented and experienced team of chefs and beverage experts did their company proud when they won 27 medals – seven gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals – at the Culinary Art Food Expo 2019 competition held on 21-23 October at the BMICH in Colombo. The competition witnessed more than 1,650 entries from over a hundred participating hotels this year from across the region.

SriLankan Catering CEO Lalith Withana said: “Our entire team is proud of the remarkable achievement of our staff at Culinary Art 2019. The talent that the team showcased during this event demonstrated the levels of excellence that are consistently maintained by SriLankan Catering in our 24-hour, 365-day operation serving all airlines that operate to Colombo and the many lounges, restaurants and transit hotel at Bandaranaike International Airport. All our participants had just two weeks to create innovative menus and recipes and practice for the competition.”

The culinary team at SriLankan Catering (www.srilankancatering.com/) contested in 14 live cooking and cake dressing competitions and won three gold, five silver and five bronze medals. The beverage team in the meantime won four gold, five silver and four bronze medals in the cocktail, mocktail and hot and cold coffee competitions.

One of Southeast Asia’s largest annual food and hospitality competitions, Culinary Art (www.culinaryart.lk) features every aspect of food and beverage products and services and is organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka together with the World Association of Chefs Societies and CDC Events & Travels. 

The 19th edition of the event featured chefs from resorts, hotels and restaurants across Sri Lanka and from many countries in the region including the Maldives, India, Australia, Philippines and Abu Dhabi, whose work was evaluated by 32 international culinary judges from 14 countries.

The fully-owned subsidiary of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering recorded a steady financial performance for the financial year ended 31 March with a 24% year-on-year growth in operating profits from Rs. 3.8 billion to Rs. 4.7 billion, according to its unaudited financial statement.

SriLankan Catering produces 24,000 meals per day at its state-of-the-art flight kitchen in Katunayake for airlines that operate to Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), including the finest globally reputed airlines such as Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Air China, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and SriLankan Airlines. It also operates restaurants and lounges at BIA and MRIA, and the Serenediva Transit Hotel at BIA.

SriLankan Catering is among the rare handful of inflight catering companies globally to be certified to the four standards of ISO 9001:2015, HACCP-Codex Alimentarius, ISO 22000:2005 and ISO 14001-2015. 

The company has won many global and local accolades, including Mercury Awards from the International Flight Catering Association; National Business Excellence Awards under the ‘Best State Services Sector’ in extra-large category; and Presidential Export Award under the category of ‘Processed Food and Beverages’ for three consecutive years.