An Onboard Breakthrough

OnBoard Hospitality, February 2007

Anyone who knows Katie Goodwin will tell you that she is always on the look out for good food served in interesting or unusual ways. She also loves travelling and as a result has found herself on a lot of long-haul flights, most often in Economy. What always frustrated her on these flights was that the meal experience was generally a disappointment.

At the same time she was on a mission to cut down the waste produced by airline catering. Everything in Economy seemed to come in plastic or foil wrap, even down to the bread roll. It seemed a priority to address the throw-away culture of cabin catering and reduce what is sent to quarantined landfill.

With those two design objectives set, Katie has come up with Quodpod. The design development was carried out at the Royal College of Art in London where Katie was completing a Masters in Industrial Design Engineering. She experimented with cooking methods, evaluating eco-materials and playing with form and function. Everything had to be practical to use in the cabin and had to fit the logistics of catering kitchens and had to be weight and cost effective for airlines.

She discovered that induction technology was being developed for airlines, and focused some of her energy on designing around induction cooking. She experimented with ice and steam cooking before she got her breakthrough.

Quodpod is a new concept in flight catering design primarily for long haul Economy. It remains very much in its formative stage but OnBoard Hospitality urges airlines and caterers to take a look at this exciting new idea from a young English designer.

Contact
Katie Davidson
Tel: +44 (0)845 2268 048