Catering to your aircraft in Preguiça.
A small field at 669 ft on São Nicolau, with trade winds and few arrivals: that sets the pace at Preguiça. Catering here is fish, cheese and cachupa, packed to be plated from the drawer and handed over at the aircraft.
We know the galley, the diet card and the 5 a.m. re-plate — because we lived them. So we built the caterer we always wished we could call.
Fourteen years on VIP and head-of-state cabins. Can plate for twelve in a G650 galley and still land it hot.
The one who reads every diet card twice. If it says no cross-contact, it means no cross-contact.
Answers at 5 a.m. when the leg moved overnight. Same-day swaps are her love language.
São Nicolau eats from the Atlantic and from terraced valleys, and that shapes the private jet menu we write for Preguiça. Tuna is the anchor: grilled steak, cured, or flaked into a cold salad that survives the cabin drawer. Goat cheese from the island's herds travels well and needs nothing but a board. Cachupa, the national dish of corn and beans, is the local hot plate, packed with the fried egg and linguiça kept apart for plating.
Our inflight menu for Preguiça leans on what the island actually produces. Private jet food here means fish, goat cheese, papaya, sweet potato and cane products, with local specialities such as cachupa rica and pastel com diabo dentro, the fried fish pastry. Each one is described by how it travels in a galley: what goes cold, what waits for the oven, what stays in its own pot. The Barlavento Islands add a short, honest list rather than a long one.
Tail, pax, diets, timing. One message — no portal, no quote form. Answered at any hour, by a flight attendant.
Leak-proof boxes, marked by guest and restriction, with reheating times written on the lid.
Two minutes out of the drawer. Whatever you ordered for the crew comes in the same delivery, and one clean invoice follows.
Cape Verde's Barlavento Islands rarely see a large ramp, and Preguiça is no exception: one terminal, a handful of arrivals, trade winds that decide the day. Private jet catering here works around that calm. Business aviation catering for owners flying in from Europe, executive jet catering for small teams, diplomatic flight catering for visiting delegations and cabin crew meals for the leg home, all handed over at the aircraft at Preguiça.
Business jet catering at GVSN is mostly corporate jet catering for small teams on island hops: six passengers, one or two meals, a short stop. VIP flight catering and charter flight catering use the same packing, and luxury inflight catering at Preguiça means a private jet chef writing a bespoke menu around tuna, lobster and goat cheese.
When a delegation flies into São Nicolau, menus are agreed with the protocol office, not decided at the gate. Government flight catering, head of state flight catering, VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering all follow the same discreet route.
Dietary cards at Preguiça start from the island's own cooking: cachupa can be made without pork, fish dishes are easy to separate from shellfish, and goat cheese is clearly marked as dairy. Special meals are sealed in their own packs before they leave the kitchen, whether kosher, halal, vegan or gluten free, with corn, cassava and sweet potato carrying the plates. Each tray travels with an allergen free card and seat number, and kids meals are mild and simple, packed to match the same trays.
A sheet per guest. Separate boards, separate boxes.
Sealed, certificate in the same box.
Their own menu, nothing to cut at altitude.
Vegan, low-carb, light — composed, never compromised.
Crew meals on São Nicolau are an on-request service, billed with the order. We pack flight crew meals in crew meal boxes, write different meals for pilots when the operator policy calls for it, and keep pilot meals simple for the cockpit. Cockpit meals and crew catering are labelled, and cabin crew meals follow the same plan.
FBO catering at Preguiça means catering delivery to the FBO or straight to the aircraft, arranged with your handling agent. The general aviation terminal is small, so ground handling catering is a short, direct handover, and handling agent catering follows your slot.
Most arrivals at Preguiça are light and midsize jets, so galley catering usually goes in by hand through the main door, with no high loader needed. For a larger aircraft the FBO and your handling agent sort out the lift on the apron, and airside catering delivery follows the same route. Aircraft provisioning here is a short, planned handover rather than a trolley convoy, which suits the island's small ramp.
Mention it when you orderCertified, inspected, with cold-chain records filed against your trip.
Whichever terminal you park at, handover is at the aircraft, on your slot.
Allergen sheet per guest, halal and kosher on request, sealed and labelled.
Itemised and trip-report ready, sent after the leg.
The field at Preguiça sits at 669 ft, with a single terminal and light traffic. As a business aviation hub it is small, but airport catering, general aviation support, FBO services and ground handling services are all coordinated through one handling agent.
The island sees owners, charter groups and the occasional delegation. Business aviation catering is built around local seafood, inflight catering and in-flight catering are kept compact, executive jet catering uses chilled plates, diplomatic flight catering passes through protocol, aviation catering stays simple, and cabin crew meals are packed with the rest.
Cape Verde enforces strict controls on imported fresh food, so we recommend local catering over carrying produce from abroad. Your handling agent can confirm the current rules for waste and inspection at Preguiça.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Despite limited fridge space, we wanted the 3 guests at GVSN to enjoy avocado toast components and breakfast fruit without a complicated cabin service. Our brief for aviation catering services was met with a sensible plan for packing arrangement. We described our serving sequence to The Galley Girls and asked for the main courses to be packed accordingly. That left time to check the snack boxes properly before the passengers were ready for the next part of the service.”
“A request for a seafood starter and warm vegetable sides, 12 passengers, and a short ground stop: that was our brief for the departure at SNE. I want an aviation catering company to understand catering handover, and this order gave us a useful starting point. The sandwiches came from The Galley Girls in individual containers, with a packing list that matched the contents. We placed the crew provisions in their planned storage area without first having to reorganise all the catering boxes.”
“The 12 passenger portions of roasted vegetable bowls with separate dressings were the easy part; managing a tight boarding window at Preguiça Airport took more planning. I asked The Galley Girls to review the desserts quantities against the passenger brief, and the proposed portions made sense. There was enough information about the crew provisions to brief the crew without making assumptions about what had been ordered. When comparing aviation catering companies, I would look closely at final order confirmation after this experience.”
Cost on this island is set by the departure window. Early slots favour cold breakfasts with local fruit, evening slots allow cachupa and grilled tuna. How much does private jet catering cost? Order the dishes you want and we invoice them as listed.
Small island, small market. Lead time is set by whether the tuna, lobster or goat cheese you want is available that day. We handle late orders with a fallback menu of cachupa and fruit.
The short version: do not rely on carrying fresh produce into São Nicolau. Customs in Cape Verde may seize meat and cheese, so order local and let the handling agent coordinate the handover.
Yes, you can carry your own, but galley size sets the limit. We fit trays to your aircraft's drawers and hob, so plating at Preguiça is straightforward.
It is not part of the charter. Order private jet catering at GVSN separately, and we adapt to any change in departure caused by the Atlantic weather.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
