NAS Airport Services Ltd

Extra Mile Going the

NAS Airport Services Ltd is a company dedicated to delivering the highest quality inflight and corporate catering solutions and associated activities, forever going above and beyond when it comes to customer expectations

Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Matthew Selby

Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship so keep moving, keep growing, keep learning. See you at work!”

For Stephane Lopez, this famous quote from Denzel Washington has become something of a personal mantra – that hard work pays off.

An individual with 24 years’ experience in inflight catering, cabin cleaning, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) across Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Reunion Island, French Antilles, the UAE and now Kenya, he today stands as the General Manager of NAS Airport Services Ltd – a company that’s become crucial to the operational success of over 30 international airlines at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi and Moi International Airport (MIA) in Mombasa. Why? Well, mirroring the GM’s own philosophy, NAS demonstrates consistent dedication to delivering the highest quality products and services. “We are proud to say that NAS is a one-stop shop for all of its customers,” Lopez states. “Our scope covers inflight catering, corporate catering, airport bars and restaurants, lounge operations, train services, laundry services, quality assurance services and laboratory services.

“What differentiates us is our people. Our team members are the greatest asset we have with their depth of knowledge, wide experience, trying mindset and progressive spirit and dedication. They remain agile and focussed on a daily basis in order to exceed our customers’ expectations. “Going the extra mile is very much part of our DNA.”

Giles Pommier, Executive Chef

The who, what and where of NAS

NAS Airport Services Ltd functions as a fully integrated catering provision, loading and off-loading, laundry, bonded storage and dry goods uplift services provider, operating out of Nairobi and Mombasa.

Its flagship inflight catering division is one of the longestrunning and most formidable catering specialists in the world. It has a daily meal capacity of roughly 15,000 units delivered by a workforce of 950 highly trained professionals, all working under purpose-built, super hygienic and fully equipped facilities.

The company prides itself on a deep-rooted understanding of its customers’ businesses, tailoring its services to the specific and individual requirements of each airline, private enterprise, hospital and school that it serves in the aim of remaining the most valued inflight and corporate catering service company on the continent.

Its corporate catering customers include Associated Battery Manufacturers, Chloride Exide, The Standard Group, British American Tobacco Kenya, Unilever, NAS Plastics, Kenchic, Nestle Kenya, James Finlay and Kenya Petroleum Refineries, while its inflight catering perimeter has the opportunity to serve approximately 20 airlines from around the world.

MISSION: To deliver treasures of quality products and services.

VISION: To achieve the taste of excellence.

Mineral Water

The NAS Airport Services team

COMMITTED TO KENYA Indeed, the GM is full of admiration for his staff in upholding such a unique, purposeful ethos.

On a quarterly basis, the company duly celebrates its teams’ efforts during the internal Double Baggers Award Ceremony where those who have contributed significantly are recognised and credited. Likewise, it also hosts a monthly NAS Top Table Award Ceremony that holds a similar purpose. “Top Table is also used to promote our employees who go above and beyond their duties,” Lopez explains. “Teamwork, customer focus, anticipation, communication, a never give up and can-do attitude and respect are key for us.” Awards are not the only way in which staff are rewarded. In addition,

“IN NAS, N IS FOR NURTURING OUR PEOPLE AND GROWING OUR POTENTIAL, A IS FOR ANTICIPATING OUR CUSTOMERS’ EXPECTATIONS AND STAYING AGILE, AND S IS FOR SUPPLYING SAFE FOOD IN LINE WITH STRICT REGULATIONS” - STEPHANE LOPEZ, GENERAL MANAGER

NAS develops team building events in the aim of cultivating a unified spirit and invests heavily in both internal and external training resources to support personal progression plans.

“I am also a true believer of promoting from within our organisation,” Lopez comments. “As managers, we have a mandate to continue building NAS for tomorrow by helping each and every employee realise their full potential in whatever way we can.” The company’s partners and suppliers are also viewed in a similarly important light. Having originally been founded in 1949, NAS has developed a number of long standing, fruitful collaborations with various enterprises over decades, the GM pointing to these relationships as vital.

Aquamist is a key market player as one of the leading bottlers and suppliers of mineral water in kenya. our range of products include still and sparkling mineral water (in glass and plastic bottles), flavoured water, ice tea and frutz ready to drink juices. We have been in operation since 1998 and currently employ a workforce of 350. Our staff have enabled us to sustain the rapidly growing demand for our products, whilst maintaining a high level of quality products and exceptional service. Our fleet of 44 delivery trucks enables us to deliver to customers in major towns across the country.

Aquamist Mineral Water is a naturally balanced mineral water, sourced from the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Our water is bottled under stringent conditions, using state of the art, fully automated equipment. We are ISO 22000:2005 certified by Bureau Veritas and conform to all national and international standards as mineral water. We are proud to have been voted the Most Preferred Water in a Glass Bottle, the Most Preferred Flavoured Water and the Most Preferred Emerging Beverage Brand for our brand Ice Tea at the Kenya Beverage Excellence Awards in 2019.

Aquamist Mineral Water (still and sparkling) is readily available in glass bottles in 375ml, 500ml and 750ml. The 500ml size is a new addition to our range of glass bottles. We have also switched from plastic to metal caps, providing our customers with a more eco-friendly bottle. Using a glass bottle with an aluminium cap reduces your carbon footprint, as glass is endlessly recyclable and aluminium can be recycled and reused without losing its properties. Our glass bottles are heat sterilised between use, ensuring our water is clean, fresh and pure. As a Kenyan company, we decided to introduce our country’s majestic animals to our new look and are striving to make our country more environmentally friendly for future generations. Aquamist has participated in various corporate social responsibility projects over the years. Almost a million Kenya Shillings was raised for the United Nations Malaria Campaign and 12,000 litres of water donated towards famine relief in Northern Kenya. More recently, we partnered with Tropic Air 10 to 4 Mountain Bike Challenge to raise money for the Mount Kenya Trust. We recently donated mineral water to the Kenya Red Cross to support the Government of Kenya in their efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our partnership with NAS Airport services Aquamist Limited began its partnership with NAS Airport Services in 2013. We are proud to be the preferred supplier of branded mineral water to the leading in-flight catering company in Kenya. We extend our heartiest congratulations to NAS on its 70th anniversary and look forward to a continued partnership during the coming years.

Norda industries Ltd

Norda Industries Ltd was founded in 2008 with a mission to create growth and opportunity in East Africa by providing consumers with quality, innovative and outstanding products.

Over the years we have continuously come up with a wide range of popular snacks with Urban Bites potato crisps being the key brand that brought NAS and Norda together as key partners.

Norda’s partnership journey with NAS began on December 4, 2014 and has flourished over the years.

We continue to supply NAS with Urban Bites range available in seven exciting flavours.

PHOTO: PATRICK SORDOILLET

“Our partners and suppliers are essential,” he affirms. “I am proud to say that NAS Catering Services provides meals both on flights and in any canteen that are prepared, cooked and delivered using fresh products, and that is largely thanks to the work of these entities given the farms to fork concept.

“As a local operator, part of our mission is to work with local suppliers and partners, and 95 percent of all

our catering products are currently produced in Kenya. Our suppliers are chosen from an extensive auditing process based on the quality and dependability of their goods which are stored at our cold storage facilities which comply with the strictest international hygiene controls including ISO 22000 – 2018 certification.”

This commitment is further reflected in NAS’s extensive corporate social responsibility efforts, notably its flagship greenhouse projects.

Previously, the company found a number of children’s homes becoming reliant upon its food supplies and sought to change this, empowering them across Kenya with the development of greenhouses in which these facilities may grow their own produce. “The plan is to help at least one children’s home in each of Kenya’s 47 counties,” Lopez says. “We still have a lot of work to, but we have so far opened eight greenhouses that have helped to transform food security for these kids.”

www.norda.co.ke

New Muthaiga Green Grocers Ltd

Operated with panache by Ramesh Ruparel, New Muthaiga Green Grocers Ltd is noted for the quality of its produce.

Ramesh has made his name supplying NAS with fresh fruit and vegetables that makes everything look, smell, taste better for over 22 years.

He takes pride in sourcing fruit and vegetables from the finest growers across Kenya for the world’s airlines.

T +254 728926222 E jaymeernish@gmail.com

Grab a pack of the best quality potato crisps!

Norda Industries Limited. Tel: +254 732 401 786 | Email: sales@norda.biz | www.norda.co.ke

NEW MUTHAIGA GREEN GROCERS

High-class greengrocers, supplying NAS for 22 years

Celebrating 50 years!

P.O.Box 63117 - 00619, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 728926222 Email: jaymeernish@gmail.com

CONTINUING THE FIGHT Beyond the meaningful relationships it builds with both its own people, external partners and local communities, NAS likewise is making great strides in the way of operational improvement. From a process standpoint, it conforms to world-class standards, investing in integrated software to guarantee accuracy and real-time analysis capabilities on every client order and maximise efficiency through its supply chain, scheduling, audits and checklists.

What’s more, this software can be tweaked to be compatible with its client airliners’ own administration platforms – another demonstration of NAS’s willingness to go above and beyond when it comes to exceeding customer expectations.

“We’re always looking to benefit equipment or processes,” Lopez states. “We’re well known for the development of the ‘sous-vide’ technique, where food is vacuum sealed, with our state-of-the-art in-house equipment that includes blast chillers, ovens and packing machines and a research and development kitchen

lead by our culinary director for Africa. “Likewise, owing to the fact that we’re part of SERVAIR – GateGroup, we’ve implemented a brand-new enterprise resource planning system which enables us to have full traceability of our perimeters.”

All these investments will be crucial in enabling NAS to meet its goals moving forward – to grow, protect and consolidate the company, its customers, team members, partners and shareholders.

Given the current global climate, this won’t be without its challenges. The implications of coronavirus will undoubtedly take their toll on economies and companies around the world, NAS undoubtedly set to take a hit owing to rising travel restrictions.

Yet despite the cause for concern, the GM still expresses positivity for the future as our conversation comes to a close, pointing to the pillars upon which the organisation is built as strong enough to withstand the impacts.

“Our environment is in perpetual change with difficult times as now with the current COVID-19 outbreak around the world,” he affirms. “But we

will remain extremely focussed on our mission in order to take our organisation and our teams to the next level. We’re confident that as one we have a great chance of celebrating 80, 90, 100 years and more.

“We’re always excited to work with different people, engage in different projects, learn, share, discover new best practices and different ways of working, thinking and living.

“I would like to thank all our NAS pioneers and team members for their continued fight for our company and customers. As we say here, Pamoja Tusonge Mbele – together we are moving!”

NAS AIRPORT SERVICES LTD Tel: +254 (0)20 6972000 www.nascat.com

Mugoya Vegetable Shop Ltd.

Grocers, suppliers and exporters of fresh fruit and vegetables

Sous Chef is a manufacturer of a variety of frozen food products. It also has an outside catering arm and a Caribbean restaurant within its portfolio.

City Park Drive, Off Limuru Road. P.O. Box 1279-00621, Nairobi, Kenya. info@souschefltd.com | www.souschefltd.com

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