Catering to your aircraft in Santiago.
At Antonio Maceo International the apron is hot and the turnarounds are often short, so we pack for the heat and for the galley you have. We cook for MUCU and hand the food over to your handling agent.
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.
Santiago de Cuba Province has a table of its own, and a private jet menu built here should say so. The eastern end of the island cooks with pork, cassava, black beans, plantain and a lot of citrus; congrí, the rice cooked together with beans, is the dish people ask for by name. For private jet food leaving Santiago, we pack these as local specialities that survive a galley: the pork sliced for re-plating, the rice kept apart from its sauce, the plantain sealed so it does not soften. Our inflight menu for Santiago pairs hot dishes with chilled tropical fruit, guava paste and fresh cheese. Private jet platters of sliced mango, pineapple and papaya travel well in the heat of the apron, gourmet inflight meals built on roast pork and congrí suit a longer leg, and private jet snacks such as plantain chips and coconut sweets cover the cabin between meals.
A private jet menu for Santiago starts with what grows and what is cooked in the province of Santiago de Cuba. Eastern Cuban kitchens favour slow-roasted pork, yuca with garlic and citrus mojo, and congrí; coffee from the Sierra Maestra hills is a local pride. We turn these local specialities into private jet food that a crew can plate from a drawer: sauces in their own pots, rice labelled for the oven, fruit cut on the day. The inflight menu keeps portions simple, because the galley on a light jet leaves little room. Private jet platters of tropical fruit and cheese, gourmet inflight meals of roast pork with rice and beans, and private jet snacks of plantain chips and guava pastries are all packed with the seat plan in mind.
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.
Santiago de Cuba keeps its own rhythm, and SCU keeps it too: a modest terminal, a hot apron and aircraft that turn quickly. Private jet catering here means food that tolerates heat and a galley with little room. Whether you fly a corporate crew or a diplomatic flight, our business aviation catering and executive jet catering are packed by former VIP flight attendants, with diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals handled the same way.
Business jet catering at MUCU is usually a corporate crew with a few passengers and a small galley. Corporate jet catering here means dishes that re-plate cleanly: VIP flight catering for a short stay, charter flight catering for a round trip, luxury inflight catering built on local fruit and pork. A private jet chef writes a bespoke menu around your count and your slot.
Official flights into Santiago de Cuba need quiet and traceability. For government flight catering, ingredients are logged and the team is named; head of state flight catering is cleared with protocol first, VIP aviation catering is sealed, and state visit aircraft catering is handed over at the aircraft with no extra people.
Special meals at Santiago follow a procedure, not a label. Eastern Cuban cooking leans on pork fat, lard-cooked beans and shared fryers, so that is where allergens hide here. Vegan and gluten free dishes get a separate board and a separate box; kosher and halal requests are agreed with the handling agent before cooking. Allergen free and kids meals are marked by seat number on the lid.
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.
At Santiago, crew meals are an item on the order, requested and billed as such. Flight crew meals are sealed and marked, pilot meals are kept separate, and crew catering fits the turnaround. Cockpit meals are made to be eaten between tasks, crew meal boxes carry the word CREW on the lid, and different meals for pilots are possible when the operator wants them.
FBO catering at SCU is handed over where the aircraft stands. Catering delivery to the FBO goes through the general aviation terminal, and ground handling catering is coordinated with your handling agent, who opens the airside gate. Handling agent catering is arranged by slot.
At MUCU the aircraft decides how the food is loaded. A light or midsize jet takes its boxes through the main door straight to the drawer, while a larger cabin may need a high loader at the sill. Galley catering is planned around the galley that type actually has, and airside catering delivery is agreed in advance with your handling agent, who opens the gate. Aircraft provisioning for a heavier type is confirmed once we know the tail.
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.
Antonio Maceo International sits on the south-eastern coast of Cuba and takes both scheduled and private traffic. For business aircraft, airport catering is arranged around the general aviation side of the field, and ground handling services at MUCU decide who opens which gate for the food. Santiago is a modest business aviation hub, small in volume but steady through the cooler months.
At SCU the heat and the winter season set the pace. Inflight catering and in-flight catering for a light cabin are planned around a small galley, while aviation catering and business aviation catering follow the traffic that peaks when the weather is kindest. Executive jet catering suits the compact aircraft that land here, diplomatic flight catering is cleared through protocol, and cabin crew meals and crew meals are ordered on request and billed like the rest. General aviation and FBO services are on hand, and the FBO is where the food reaches the aircraft.
Cuban customs inspect food coming into the country, so dishes prepared here for departure from MUCU are the simpler route compared with imported food. Your handling agent is the contact for any customs question, so confirm the rule for your slot before you order.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Clear quantities were essential at Antonio Maceo International Airport: we had 10 passengers expecting a selection of petits fours and sandwiches and were working around a small galley worktop. I appreciated the emphasis on final order confirmation throughout the airport catering arrangements. The Galley Girls talked through the quantities of sandwiches with us before confirmation, rather than leaving us to guess the portions. It was useful to see the breakfast portions listed separately when checking how much space the complete order would require.”
“Service planning came first at MUCU, with 11 passengers choosing poached fish with steamed rice and several individual meal preferences influencing our preparation. Our brief for inflight catering was met with a sensible plan for portion planning. The Galley Girls prepared the breakfast portions for assembly in the galley, with the accompanying elements easy to locate. We could finish the canapés as each guest was ready, rather than laying everything out at once.”
“Working around limited fridge space at SCU, I asked for mushroom risotto and a green salad in portions appropriate for our 11 passengers. The main courses from The Galley Girls were organised around the cabin plan, with the later service items kept apart. We left the sandwiches stored until needed, which kept the first service manageable and reduced unnecessary handling. Our brief for in-flight catering was met with a sensible plan for storage requirements.”
Cost at Santiago de Cuba follows what you choose to put on board. A departure in the dry months allows fresh seafood and a full hot course; a flight in an unsettled season often goes simpler, with sealed dishes that hold. Local produce such as mango, guava and plantain keeps the price down, while imported items raise it. Each private jet catering order is priced per menu, not per tray.
A long leg with two services is easy to plan at MUCU if you send the tail and the slot with the headcount. We then match one hot service and one chilled service to your galley. Last-minute orders are handled, and we tell you which items are in season in Santiago.
Cuba controls food imports, so the departure slot and the turnaround length decide how the order is handled. A short turnaround leaves little room for inspection and re-plating, so we keep dishes sealed and labelled. Fresh local products such as fruit and pork are not an issue, while imported items are checked by your handling agent. Customs rules are worth confirming for your slot.
If your aircraft flies back from Santiago, the return leg is where outside food becomes awkward. Food brought from another country meets Cuban customs on entry, while food prepared here is cleared for departure. We cook and pack for your galley, and you can add your own dry items.
No: a private jet charter into MUCU covers the aircraft, not the food. Catering is a separate order, billed separately. When the passenger count changes late, we adapt the portions rather than the whole menu, and we keep dishes that stretch, such as platters and rice dishes.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
