Catering to your aircraft in Ankeny.
A small general aviation field in the middle of Iowa corn country, where the crew often has a drawer and an oven and little else. We cook, pack and label to that galley, and the FBO hands it over at the aircraft at Ankeny Regional.
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.
Iowa feeds a long list of things that travel well in a galley. A private jet menu for Ankeny leans on pork, because Iowa is the country's largest pork producer: a roast loin sliced cold, or a tenderloin sandwich built on a roll that survives the drawer. Sweet corn peaks in late summer and goes into salads, chowders and grilled cobs cut off the cob for the plate. These local specialities make the inflight menu feel placed rather than generic.
Private jet food for a stop at Ankeny Regional can be honest Midwest cooking at its best: apple and pork pairings in the fall, sweet corn in July and August, hearty soups from December. The airport catering we pack keeps sauces apart and salads dressed at the last minute so nothing wilts at altitude. Iowa produce changes with the calendar, so the private jet menu for the Iowa region changes with it, and the list below shows what usually works.
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.
A Beech or a Citation parked on the ramp at KIKV rarely has a full galley, and nobody in Ankeny pretends otherwise. Our private jet catering starts from the aircraft type, then the menu: Iowa pork loin, corn salads, cold plates that wait in the drawer. Inflight catering and in-flight catering orders are packed by former VIP flight attendants; aviation catering for business aviation catering, executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering trips follows the same rules, and cabin crew meals ride in their own box.
A business jet catering brief at Ankeny is usually a short one: a few executives, a morning departure, a small cabin. Corporate jet catering here starts from the aircraft's galley, then the menu. Our private jet chef writes a bespoke menu around Iowa ingredients, VIP flight catering style, so charter flight catering and luxury inflight catering stay simple, plated by one person working alone.
When an official aircraft lands at KIKV, the order is handled through protocol, not through a standard form. Government flight catering follows the same quiet procedure as head of state flight catering: a named team, traceable ingredients, nothing improvised. For VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering, the menu is cleared with the protocol office before the aircraft reaches Ankeny, and the FBO is told who collects the trays at the ramp.
Dietary needs at Ankeny start with where allergens hide in Midwest cooking: butter in sauces, wheat in gravies, corn derivatives in processed starches. Kosher, halal, vegan, gluten free, allergen free, kids meals and other special meals are prepared apart from the main cooking and marked by seat number, so the person opening the drawer knows which tray is which. Halal is the exception rather than the baseline in this part of Iowa, so we plan it deliberately, with its own board and its own box, and confirm it with the FBO when the order is placed.
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.
A crew parked at KIKV for the day wants something better than a vending-machine sandwich. Crew meals are ordered with the flight and billed with it. Flight crew meals and pilot meals are packed so they can be eaten in the cockpit, crew catering is labelled CREW, and different meals for pilots are available on request, each pilot in their own box. Crew meal boxes and cockpit meals stay apart from guest trays.
FBO catering at KIKV is delivered to the general aviation terminal and passed to your handling agent for airside access. Catering delivery to the FBO depends on security passes and an airside escort, which the ground handling catering plan accounts for. Handling agent catering is simple when they have the tail, the slot and the headcount.
At KIKV the aircraft type decides how the food arrives. Smaller business jets are loaded by hand through the cabin door; larger cabins may need airside catering delivery by truck, with a high loader brought to the sill. Galley catering is cut to what the aircraft carries: one oven, a drawer, a small chiller, or less. We sort aircraft provisioning by galley size before we cook, so the load fits the space it has and nobody is stacking trays in a seat.
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.
Ankeny Regional is a municipal airport northeast of Des Moines, at 910 ft, built around general aviation. Airport catering here serves business jets, flight training and agricultural operators. The runway and apron are sized for light and midsize aircraft, so large cabins plan ahead.
Ankeny works as a quiet business aviation hub for central Iowa, with corporate flights tied to agriculture, insurance and finance. General aviation traffic and FBO services keep the field busy on weekdays, and ground handling services are modest but reliable. Inflight catering and in-flight catering here follow the same rhythm: aviation catering for business aviation catering and executive jet catering movements, with diplomatic flight catering on the rare official visit and cabin crew meals boxed on request.
Ankeny is a domestic field, but aircraft arriving from abroad clear customs elsewhere before landing in Iowa. United States rules restrict meat, dairy and fresh produce from other countries, so Iowa-sourced food is the simplest to carry. Check with your handling agent before loading anything on an international leg.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Packing roasted chicken and seasonal vegetables for 11 passengers at Ankeny Regional Airport needed careful thought, especially given several individual meal preferences. I asked The Galley Girls for the crew provisions in stackable containers, with garnishes supplied separately for plating on board. The order made private jet catering menu feel manageable because the portion planning had been considered beforehand. We could finish the side dishes as each guest was ready, rather than laying everything out at once.”
“Keeping the galley organised at KIKV meant planning a breakfast basket with individual preserves for 10 guests with a short ground stop in mind. I appreciated the emphasis on final order confirmation throughout the private aviation catering arrangements. Our handling contact received the order details from The Galley Girls, including how the starters had been grouped. We could account for the snack boxes before passing the boxes to the cabin team, without a lengthy unpacking exercise.”
“Despite an evening cabin service, we wanted the 4 guests at Ankeny Regional Airport to enjoy roasted vegetable bowls with separate dressings without a complicated cabin service. This experience of business jet catering gave us a useful reference for managing final order confirmation on another departure. I gave The Galley Girls our storage brief and asked for the snack boxes to arrive in clearly marked packs. I could hand the salads to a colleague with a short explanation instead of unpacking the whole order.”
Prices at Ankeny change with the crew's duty time and how long the aircraft stays on the ground. A day trip with a fixed return needs one set of meals; an open-ended stop needs more. Local Iowa ingredients keep the cost sensible, and imported items raise it.
Send the departure slot and tell us how long the aircraft waits at Ankeny: that is all a lead time conversation really needs. A long turnaround opens up the menu, a short one narrows it, and last-minute requests are handled either way, day or night.
Ankeny is a domestic field, and the pork loin and sweet corn we pack are sourced in Iowa, so a domestic leg needs no paperwork. On an international sector, customs rules for meat and produce apply at the destination, and the FBO can tell you what your handling agent will accept before anything is loaded.
You can load food at Ankeny, but on an international sector the destination's rules apply, not ours. Fresh meat and produce are most often refused. A labelled catering order makes inspection easier.
No. Catering is not part of the charter: you order it separately and it is billed separately, like any order. A Beech and a midsize jet leave KIKV with very different galleys, so we ask for the aircraft type when we take the order and pack for the equipment you actually have.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
