Qantas has agreed to sell its two food businesses, Q Catering and Snap Fresh, to Emirates Group's dnata.
The deal, which is still subject to approval from the ACCC, will see the sale of airline's wholly-owned subsidiaries Q Catering, which has centres in four Australian ports, and its Queensland frozen meal plant Snap Fresh, which services airlines and the healthcare and food retail industries.
dnata, a part of the Emirates Group, provides catering, cargo and ground handling services from 129 airports. Including its travel services businesses, dnata operates in 84 countries.
The Dubai-headquartered company already operates 11 catering facilities in Australia, currently trading under the dnata catering brand, which was recently rebranded from Alpha Flight Services.
Under the agreement, dnata will supply catering for Qantas flights for an initial period of ten years, and Qantas will continue to work with key suppliers in menu design and development.
dnata's Divisional Senior Vice President of catering, Robin Padgett said the agreement reflected in its confidence in Australia as a market and the ongoing growth potential into the future.
“By combining dnata’s network strength and international talent with Qantas’ domestic catering expertise, this will allow us to further grow our presence and deliver catering excellence to more customers across Australia than ever before. This includes investing in more infrastructure, starting with a new catering facility in Sydney.”
Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David, said, “The catering businesses will benefit significantly from dnata’s global footprint, catering expertise, and ability to drive investment and growth for what is a core focus of its operation.”
“Customers will continue to enjoy Qantas’ premium service, including unique Rockpool-designed menus for First and Business passengers, showcasing the best of Australian produce for millions of travellers each year.
“Together with dnata, we’ll continue to deliver the inflight food and beverage experience we know our customers value, just as we work with catering companies in offshore ports for our international flights.”
