Founded

2000

Headquarters

Tampa, Florida

Key People

Cliff Smith, CEO

Number of Employees

500

Phone Number

(800) 247-2433

Website

Air Culinaire

Air Culinaire

Air Culinaire Worldwide, the largest business aviation catering company, serves more than 1,800 airports and delivers approximately 1.4 million meals per year through its own 23 kitchens and a network of hundreds of catering partners on six continents.    

Former NetJets employees Paul Schweitzer—the company’s current senior vice president of global sales and marketing—and Scott Liston cofounded the business that evolved into Air Culinaire Worldwide in Columbus, Ohio, in July 2000. Called Air Chef Holdings, it grew quickly through private equity investment, acquiring Top Flight in Washington, D.C., in November 2000 and opening kitchens in Chicago, Dallas, and New Jersey by 2002.

Shortly after adding kitchens at Luton and Biggin Hill in London in 2005, the company acquired D.C. rival Air Culinaire, which Mark Wolfington founded in 1999. Also in 2005, Air Chef formed the CaterLink network of preapproved local caterers, expanding services to airports where it did not operate a kitchen. 

By 2006 Air Chef had expanded to more than 20 markets in the U.S., England, and Mexico. The company hired food industry executive Clifford Smith, Jr., as CEO in 2007, with Schweitzer continuing as president, Liston as chairman of the board, and Wolfington as a board member. Smith’s experience and financial prowess helped steer the business through the 2008 economic downturn, during which it acquired U.S. West Coast caterer Mirrellies Catering and opened its first California kitchens.

In March 2011, the company introduced Air Culinaire France at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. Two months later, Universal Weather and Aviation acquired Air Chef Holdings and its subsidiaries, including Air Culinaire, Air Culinaire International, and CaterLink Worldwide. Universal rebranded all of the subsidiaries as Air Culinaire Worldwide.

In fall 2012, the company opened a kitchen in Tampa, Florida, and consolidated its management offices at the Tampa Jet Center. It moved to its current off-airport headquarters in 2015.  

In 2018, Air Culinaire Worldwide brought its lifestyle-menu concept—previously in place at its three European facilities—to its 19 U.S. owned-and-operated facilities. The menus draw inspiration from a variety of American cultures and trends. 

In 2019, the company acquired Scottsdale, Arizona-based Food4Jets as its 23rd owned-and-operated location. As of 2021, Air Culinaire Worldwide manages more than 350,000 orders per year, fulfilling 55 percent of them through its own kitchens and the remainder through its network (the rebranded CaterLink).