As planned, Michael Schorm and Andreas Förster, long-standing members of the Executive Board, became Managing Directors of casualfood GmbH on 1 January 2023. At the same time, casualfood founders Stefan Weber and Michael Weigel took seats on the newly established strategic advisory board, alongside ORIOR CEO Daniel Lutz and CFO Andreas Lindner.
Travel catering firm becomes a partner in the strategic collaboration between Miles & More and Fraport
casualfood is now an official partner in the strategic collaboration between Fraport AG and the frequent flyer programme Miles & More at Frankfurt Airport. Travellers can earn the coveted miles at a number of casualfood concepts at the airport. First, the casualfood fast casual bars and restaurants along with the company’s convenience shops at Gates A and B in Terminal 1 will become Miles & More partners. Then, the partnership will gradually be rolled out across Frankfurt Airport and at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Düsseldorf Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport.
As the largest food-service operator at BER Berlin Brandenburg airport, the travel catering firm casualfood has now opened another three catering outlets. The two innovative fast casual restaurants GOODMAN & FILIPPO and Hermann’s, and the lifestyle bar concept Beans & Barley, offer their guests a wide range of contemporary dishes and snacks, fresh and delicious beverages and high-quality beers and coffees. Menus are now featuring more vegetarian and vegan options, enabling all guests at the airport to find something to appeal to their taste and dietary preferences.
casualfood is committed to sustainability. The company is leading the way in the travel catering sector and launching its own sustainability brand with the slogan “POP – Protect our Planet”. In the future, all of the firm’s efforts to enhance sustainability with regard to “PEOPLE, PLANET & PRODUCTS” will come under this brand.
casualfood founders Stefan Weber and Michael Weigel are now switching to the strategic advisory board as planned, handing over the management to their successors
As agreed in the strategic partnership established in 2018, ORIOR AG has now acquired the final tranche of shares in casualfood GmbH as of 8 September 2022. The company shares in casualfood GmbH have all been gradually transferred to the listed Swiss food and beverage group as planned. As part of this process, casualfood founders Stefan Weber and Michael Weigel will be withdrawing from the management of casualfood and will be on hand on the newly established strategic advisory board for the next years alongside ORIOR CEO Daniel Lutz and CFO Andreas Lindner.
Now, visitors can find the coolest take on an authentic Berlin bar in Terminal 1 at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. With its new Berlin Pub concept, the travel caterer casualfood combines the atmosphere of a cosy Berlin bar with the modern features of innovative food-service solutions, all with its usual close attention to detail. The city’s bear mascot adorns the walls, giving the pub a real Berlin feel, but its absolute highlight is the view of the busy airport apron.
casualfood offers the utmost in convenience: customers at all casualfood restaurants and stores in airports and stations throughout Germany can now choose to use PayPal directly at the till. PayPal makes it possible for users to pay for goods in a matter of seconds using a QR code. The technical implementation was handled by epay, a firm specialising in electronic payments, vouchers and prepaid solutions. An interface was used to integrate the solution into the existing checkout system Addipos. casualfood had already worked with epay to introduce the Chinese payment systems Alipay and WeChat Pay alongside classic card payments to cater specifically for Chinese customers.
After a long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the new Terminal 2 at Berlin Brandenburg Airport is going into operation. As the largest food-service operator at BER, casualfood is on board with five concepts. For the time being, guests at the new terminal will be able to obtain refreshments from the Deli Berlin mobiles. In the next few weeks, the food court will see the opening of the successful Italo-American deli GOODMAN & FILIPPO; the trendy snack bar Hermann’s; Beans & Barley, which offers high-quality beer and coffee specialities; as well as the nostalgic Berlin Pub. Overall, the travel catering firm operates nine food-service concepts in Terminals 1 and 2 of BER.
Sustainability is becoming more and more important. casualfood has known that for a long time and is a forerunner when it comes to sustainability at airports and stations. Now, the travel catering firm is launching two pilot projects at Frankfurt Airport. From now onwards, RECUP returnable cups will be used at selected casualfood restaurants and stores. As part of a second collaboration, casualfood will also donate food which is still fit for consumption to the foodsharing.de initiative for further use and distribution.
“We all know how important sustainability is to protect our planet. As a forerunner in Germany’s travel catering sector, we think it is very important for us to live up to our role and test sustainable ideas and concepts at our restaurants and stores. If the initiatives are successful, we want to inspire more companies at airports and stations to take part,” say Stefan Weber and Michael Weigel, Managing Directors of casualfood GmbH.
Reducing disposable cups
From March onwards, RECUP cups will be used at seven casualfood outlets in Frankfurt Airport – MONDO Bianco, GOODMAN & FILIPPO, Hermann’s, two QUICKER’s and two Superfood stores. The circular deposit system can substantially reduce the use of disposable cups. Customers pay a deposit of €1 for a RECUP and get this money back when they return the cup. Following the successful completion of the pilot project, there are plans to expand it to all casualfood restaurants and shops at Frankfurt Airport. In addition to this, casualfood is working with the operator Fraport to involve other food-service partners in the initiative so as to achieve across-the-board acceptance. Subsequently, there are plans to use RECUP returnable cups at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport and other airports.
Less food waste
In the future, casualfood will also work with the initiative foodsharing.de to waste less food and prevent it from being thrown away. As part of this collaboration, the charity’s volunteer food savers will initially collect products which are still fit for consumption from Frankfurt Central Railway Station and a QUICKER’s in Terminal 2 at Frankfurt Airport. The food will then be redistributed. If this proves successful, there are plans to extend the partnership.
casualfood steps up its focus on sustainability in 2022
casualfood is aware of its responsibility and has developed a sustainability strategy with an extensive package of measures for 2022. The two pilot projects will kick off the company’s campaign for the year; further sustainability measures will follow. casualfood has been paying close attention to sustainable corporate governance ever since it was established in 2005. It focuses on sustainable products and supply chains, close collaboration with primarily regional suppliers, offering numerous choices for healthy eating, and ensuring that packaging is constantly optimised and designed to be sustainable. On top of all this, the company is a fair, attractive employer which is committed to diversity and equal opportunities and also prioritises occupational health and safety.
About casualfood GmbH
casualfood develops and operates innovative food concepts for airports and stations under its slogan, “The taste of travelling”. Its 14 different catering and convenience store concepts serve a wide-ranging portfolio, from high-quality fast food to an Italo-American deli concept. The company’s proprietary concepts – QUICKER’s, Superfood, basta!, MONDO, MONDO Bianco, Hermann’s, Kilkenny, GOODMAN & FILIPPO, Brezel Lovers and Beans & Barley – the new concepts east side berlin, Berlin Pub and Deli Berlin, and the Kamps and ServiceStore DB brands which are run as franchises are a common sight at transport hubs. Thanks to its successful combination of an attractive product range and a clear brand profile, the owner-run firm has become a leading travel catering company. More information is available at www.casualfood.de.
About reCup GmbH
Established in September 2016 by Fabian Eckert and Florian Pachaly, reCup GmbH offers a simple, attractive and sustainable alternative to disposable packaging with its RECUP and REBOWL deposit systems, which are available throughout Germany. The circular deposit system is based on 100% reusable RECUP and REBOWL containers for takeaway beverages and food. More than 10,600 places throughout Germany hand out and take back the cups and bowls in exchange for a deposit. These outlets range from cafés and restaurants to bakeries, kiosks, company canteens and petrol stations. Trials are already under way with various food delivery service providers as well. Awarded Germany’s Blue Angel ecolabel, the company aims to make disposable packaging superfluous, further raise society’s awareness of packaging waste and encourage people to rethink their consumer behaviour in general. More information is available at www.recup.de.
About foodsharing.de
Since 2012, the foodsharing movement has been stopping tonnes of good food from going to waste every day. Our volunteers distribute it for free between private individuals, among friends, to neighbours, and to homeless shelters, schools and nurseries, or via the website foodsharing.de. Publicly accessible shelves and community fridges (“freedges”) are available for anyone to use. More than 373,000 people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland regularly use the website to share food instead of binning it. On top of this, more than 94,000 people now act as volunteer food savers by collecting surplus food from bakeries, supermarkets, canteens and wholesalers then distributing it. This happens continuously more than 500 times a day, with food being collected from 9,250 partners. More information is available at www.foodsharing.de.
One year ago, Berlin Brandenburg Airport went online at a challenging time in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The travel catering firm casualfood has been at the airport since the very start as its largest food-service operator – with a total of nine permanent outlets plus several mobiles in Terminals 1 and 2. Although the first few months were sluggish, there is now plenty going on at BER as it reaches its first anniversary: there are more outlets, more employees, more passengers and more customers using the eateries and stores.