Ronay severs links with UK airports food
16 May 2002 by Ben Walker
Egon Ronay's contract to raise the standards of food and drink served at the UK's airports has ended after 10 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 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 restaurants, including a fourfold increase in waiter-service restaurants to the present 20.
Almost all the restaurants at BAA's seven airports are high-street brands.
