Catering to your aircraft in Columbia.
A KCAE departure can be a Gamecocks weekend or a quiet state-capital charter. Either way, we pack and label the order for your galley and hand it over at the FBO.
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.
South Carolina is a good state to build a private jet menu around, because its food travels well. For a Columbia departure the inflight menu usually starts with shrimp and grits, packed with the grits in one container and the shrimp in sauce apart, so the plate is assembled in the galley rather than reheated into paste. Pimento cheese, the Southern staple, goes out as a cold board with benne seed crackers and pickled okra, which is private jet food that survives a drawer without complaint.
Local specialities lean on the season. Carolina peaches in summer, boiled peanuts and pecans in the fall, collards and low-country rice dishes in cooler months. Private jet platters of smoked sausage, pickles and pimento cheese suit a short regional hop out of CAE, while gourmet inflight meals such as she-crab soup or pan-seared Carolina trout suit a longer sector. Private jet snacks follow the same logic: benne wafers, roasted pecans, peach preserves on biscuits. Columbia and the wider South Carolina table give the chef plenty to work with.
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.
Columbia is the South Carolina capital, and Columbia Metropolitan sees legislators, university boards and manufacturers' flight departments through the general aviation side of the field. Private jet catering for CAE leans on Lowcountry and Midlands cooking, packed for the galley you actually have. We cover inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering at this airport, with business aviation catering, executive jet catering and diplomatic flight catering on request, plus cabin crew meals ordered and invoiced like the rest.
At Columbia, corporate jet catering is often a short brief: who flies, which type, how big the galley is. Business jet catering and VIP flight catering for a private jet charter use a private jet chef who writes a bespoke menu, and charter flight catering with luxury inflight catering sits on the same order.
Columbia is the state capital, so government flight catering at KCAE can mean legislators, officials and visiting delegations. Head of state flight catering and state visit aircraft catering are cleared by protocol first, with named staff and discreet packing. The same named staff and sealed packing carry over to VIP aviation catering on other Columbia movements.
Allergens in Southern cooking hide in the roux, the fry batter, the cornmeal dredge and the stock behind the grits, so special meals for Columbia departures are checked against the recipe, not the dish name. Kosher, halal, vegan, gluten free and allergen free plates are cooked and sealed separately, and kids meals are packed to be eaten without a plate.
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 a Columbia turn need to be eaten on the move. Flight crew meals and pilot meals are packed as cockpit meals in crew meal boxes, and different meals for pilots are available when policy asks. Crew catering is on request and invoiced like the rest of the order; cabin crew meals follow the same rule. Boxes carry the CREW label so nobody opens a guest tray by mistake.
Orders at Columbia are handed over by the FBO or your handling agent at the aircraft. FBO catering and catering delivery to the FBO are coordinated through the general aviation terminal, with ground handling catering and handling agent catering agreed before arrival so the door is open when we are.
For larger aircraft at KCAE the aircraft type decides the loading: door height, whether a high loader is needed, and what the galley can hold. We confirm this with your handling agent so galley catering and airside catering delivery arrive correctly sorted, and aircraft provisioning matches the galley layout rather than the order sheet.
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.
Columbia Metropolitan serves South Carolina's capital region at 236 feet elevation, with airport catering for the commercial terminal and a separate general aviation side. FBO services and ground handling services are located there.
As a business aviation hub for the Midlands, Columbia Metropolitan sees traffic around university football, state government and manufacturing. Inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering orders here suit business aviation catering and executive jet catering, with diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals on request.
International arrivals at Columbia face US import rules on animal products and fresh produce, and uneaten food may be removed. Domestic arrivals are not subject to this, and your handling agent handles declarations.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“An order of yoghurt pots and fresh berries for 8 people at CAE had to be organised around a tight boarding window. We changed the quantities of starters, and The Galley Girls reflected the request in the final packing list. I would discuss flight catering with them again, especially when galley preparation needs careful coordination. The note about the sandwiches was easy to spot, and we could brief the rest of the team quickly.”
“Service planning came first at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, with 4 passengers choosing mini sandwiches and individual desserts and a late menu amendment influencing our preparation. With flight catering services, careful attention to catering handover matters as much to our crew as the menu itself. The salads supplied by The Galley Girls were straightforward to check against the written menu before the cabin handover. The desserts were also listed clearly, which made it easier to pass instructions between crew members during preparation.”
“I wanted vegetable tartlets and a dessert selection for 9 guests at KCAE, packed sensibly for a cabin team dealing with a family lunch request. I appreciated the emphasis on portion planning throughout the airline catering arrangements. The Galley Girls prepared the breakfast portions for assembly in the galley, with the accompanying elements easy to locate. Keeping the crew provisions aside until service helped preserve the presentation while we dealt with the boarding tasks.”
Late count changes are normal for departures from Columbia, and we adjust quantities rather than restart. What drives the figure is the menu: seafood, season and plating level. Add two guests and we add two plates, priced like the rest.
State-capital movements through Columbia often change at short notice, so we treat the order as live. Last-minute orders are handled; what makes it simple is a named contact and an agreed menu.
Special meals travel as sealed, labelled units, which helps at inspection. Child's meals and allergen-free items are listed separately, and anything left from an international sector may be taken off at Columbia.
Bring what you like, but food from outside the US must clear customs. For the wait, a crew meal box ordered on request takes the guesswork out, and is invoiced like any other item.
Not in the charter, no. Catering is its own order. On a long turnaround at CAE we can add a hot course; on a tight one we favour chilled platters and sealed boxes.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
