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Hermolis is the official kosher food airline’s company based in the UK. It supplies kosher food for over 40+ airlines globally. Its products are used in flights and lounges. In addition to flights, you can also find its products across local shops in and around the UK, such as Sainsbury’s Waitrose, etc., and buy from them online, pretty much like Deliveroo but premium scale as you get all the food delivered on china dishes. They are also the leading provider of kosher foods in all HMP prisons nationwide.
As a fellow Jew, I felt a personal connection to the interview with Hermolis. Who better to conduct it than someone who shares their cultural and culinary traditions? So, I decided to schlep myself to the airline’s largest kosher food supplier. It was a long journey, but we made it with some Gefilta Fish and luck. Mazel Tov!
Join me behind the scenes in the chat room, where I sat down with COO Mr Avi Lisser, the son of the CEO, Mr Moshe Lisser. They showed me the entire process, from getting the supply to the aircraft trolleys.
In This Post
Q: Who started this company?
A: It all started with my grandmother, who used to run a restaurant in Oxford Street called Kedassia. From there, the business expanded into catering for weddings and events. My father joined the company at a young age, working alongside his mother. After his father passed away, my father helped in the restaurant, working long hours butchering food on Sundays and evenings. They gradually transitioned from catering small events to serving kosher passengers in the airline industry. Eventually, they expanded to a factory 10 minutes away, allowing for more significant production and contracts. They later moved to their current location with the help of a grant from the government. Considering the sizable Jewish population, the company’s ability to provide kosher food to airlines, hospitals, and clinics in Europe was considered essential. Throughout this period, they faced many struggles and eventually outgrew their initial premises, leading to the design and construction of their current facility.
Q: Where were they before they moved here?
A: Before, a small factory in Wembley was about ten minutes from here. It was difficult to access because the road was too small for the size of the place. The freezers needed to be much bigger. They would rent frozen containers that could only fit about 15 pallets. It was a real struggle. My father was around 29 or 30 when he started planning this place. My dad designed it. The entire factory is divided into high-risk and low-risk areas. If something isn’t cooked properly, it’s considered low risk because any bacteria would be cooked off.
Once it’s cooked, the entire place operates as an extensive one-way system. Food comes in, passed through the fridges, prepared, cooked, chilled, and dispatched. The building is designed with airflow in mind, with systems to suck up the heat and pull down the cold air. The refrigeration is also well-designed; the whole place operates like a large fridge. The freezers are massive walk-ins, ranging from -18 to -25 degrees, and are fully designed with the help of great architects.
We had to extend the entire back of the factory to keep up with the demand. We supply fresh food to about 40 airlines, including BA, Virgin, and American Airlines. We receive preliminary orders by 10 or 11 in the morning, and customers can amend their orders until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Orders can also be amended the next day until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. The meals have a three-day shelf life and are deducted from the orders the next day. We have a driver who delivers the orders to the airport twice a day, with the first delivery early in the day and sometimes an urgent delivery later. The food is loaded directly onto the airlines’ trolleys, and we have a stringent security process to ensure the safety of the food during transit.
Additionally, we comply with strict security measures imposed by the airlines we supply to. Enhanced security measures have been implemented following 9/11. This includes staff background checks and periodic audits of our operations and staff by the airlines. For security reasons, we use double wrapping and sealed trays. Our vehicles are also security-locked during transportation to ensure the safety of the meals. Finally, we conduct random meal checks to ensure quality and safety.
Because of strict kosher requirements, we cannot use metal detectors, as foil would be an issue for the metal detectors, and we must double wrap and seal all trays for meals (as we will explain below). Additionally, we have implemented various security measures to ensure the safety of our food during transportation, including locking vehicles and conducting random checks for bacteria in the meals. We serve multiple airlines, including Qatar Airways, Singapore, Egypt Air, Cathay Pacific, and many more, and most meals are delivered by air. We meticulously record and label every batch of meals for quality and safety purposes to ensure no bacteria levels or anything.
Q: Do British Airways and American Airlines have the same kosher menu?
A: They do not. Every airline has a different menu.
The information here is specific to British Airways. We have another file that contains the exact details for Virgin. Each customer’s flight includes Club Europe, Economy in Europe and Club World options. Within Club World, some flights are 8 hours long, while others are longer or shorter. Meal options vary depending on the flight’s duration, including breakfast, dinner, lunch, stopover, afternoon snack, and hot afternoon snack. We offer three rotations per year, so the menu changes every couple of months from rotation one to rotation two. Currently, we are on rotation two.
Q: Do you offer different meals for different parts of the world? For instance, if you fly British Airways to the Middle East, will the menu have more Middle Eastern-focused cuisines? And if you fly to Asia, will the menu feature more Asian cuisines?
A: The answer is no. Our menus are based on those of the airlines. Passengers on the plane will be given a choice between chicken or beef, but we cannot provide options. In the past, airlines used to offer choices, and there is still one airline that does. However, we do our best to match the non-kosher options offered. The portions we provide are larger because we assume the passenger may have yet to have a chance to eat before travelling. For example, someone flying economy to America may not have access to kosher food for about 15 hours, so we provide larger portions. We receive specifications from the airline before the flight, such as 80 grams of starch and 120 grams of protein, and we do our best to match them. However, we can only sometimes match precisely due to specific dietary restrictions, like being unable to provide both milky and meaty in one meal. And let’s remember that most seafood isn’t kosher, too. But we stay within the general parameters of what non-kosher passengers are getting. For example, we aim to offer similar options if they get fruit, a salad, and a small dessert.
Then, we’d have to put the new cutlery inside. We also have to put the plate on for the main course so they can transfer the food onto the new plate. We also send the bread separately so it can be warmed up. All the dishes used for the kosher meals must be brand new and for one-time use only (more later).
Q: Are these plates recyclable?
A: Yes, they are. Once the passenger finishes eating their meal, the plate goes into the airline systems, which will later be used for other meals. The next kosher meal would be on a new plate, with cutlery, and so on.
Q: Why does it have to be brand new every time?
A: Every piece of china dish is brand new and is delivered to us every few days by manufacturers. After delivery, the equipment is integrated into their (the airline) system; they don’t dispose of it. They load it up with dishes after the flight, and the used items are sent to a washing company. Afterwards, the items are recycled for non-kosher use. (as explained above).
The reason is that a kosher meal cannot be served on the same plate as a pork meal because pork isn’t kosher. So, the plate will become non-kosher, too. So, to avoid serving kosher food on non-kosher dishes, all the dishes must be brand new.
Q: Why do the meals have to be double-wrapped?
A: This is necessary because our food will travel to various places, including non-kosher environments. For example, it may go on an aeroplane, into a hotel (which may not be kosher), or into an oven recently used for cooking non-kosher food. Double-wrapping the food ensures that no non-kosher flavours or tastes can penetrate it, as the double wrapping is considered impermeable according to Kosher law. This prevents kosher food from taking on the flavour of non-kosher foods that may have been cooked in the same oven.
Q: You have a significant Jewish population in America, so why wouldn’t American Airlines want to work with a local company in the US? Why do they come to London to have their food prepared?
A: The answer is they do. If you fly from America to England, you won’t get Hermolis food. It depends on which direction you fly.
Q: How do you handle complaints?
A: We have a team of two that we work with. One is the PA, and the other is focused on hygiene. Sometimes, we receive more hygiene-related complaints, such as someone finding a piece of plastic when opening a tray. But if you consider the quantities of what we produce and the number of complaints we receive, you can count them on one hand. This is mainly due to the process we’ve implemented here and our staff training. Every single person is responsible for quality control. This means that it’s not just me overseeing things. For example, when it comes to checking an airline tray, if it passes by me, I check it. Then, the eight other people on the line check it as well. We also have an incentive in place. If anyone finds anything on the tray or in any bakery item, such as a piece of baking paper, and reports it, they receive a cash reward of ten pounds.
To Be Continued…
This Hermolis kosher airline’s food interview will be long, so we’ve split it into a few articles. Stay tuned for part 2. In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine.
In the comment section below, let us know which company you would like to see interviewed next and also what one thing you learned from this article.
