Ronay ends airport involvement
Egon Ronay's contract to raise the standards of food and drink served at the UK's airports has ended after ten years. Ronay said it was a mutual decision not to renew the contract.
In 1990 he described the food at Heathrow and Gatwick in his Sunday Times column as "suited for animals, not people" and "fit only for the dustbin." The BAA then challenged Ronay to help them improve standards.
Ronay and his team of inspectors wrote 10,073 reports which resulted in changing the virtual monopoly of caterers at Heathrow and Gatwick to the present 101 catering outlets, including a fourfold increase in waiter-service restaurants to the present 20. Nearly all the restaurants at the BAA's seven airports today are high-street brands.
A BAA spokeswoman said: "We will continue the extensive customer research which has been developed and extended with over 30,000 interviews carried out annually, together with our own independent quality assessments. Our business partners will continue to conduct mystery shopping surveys."
The Egon Ronay Foundation continues to carry out quality control for Welcome Break motorway restaurants and JD Wetherspoon pubs.
