Catering to your aircraft in Hickory.
A single runway at 1,190 feet and a quiet apron mean a turn at KHKY is easy to read. We write the order around the aircraft type and the cabin, then the crew re-plates and serves from labelled boxes.
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.
Hickory sits in the Catawba Valley of North Carolina, and the food that makes sense on a private jet menu here is Piedmont food: it travels, it re-plates cleanly, and it does not need a kitchen at altitude. Every private jet menu we build for Hickory starts from that list of local specialities.
Eastern North Carolina vinegar barbecue is the famous one, but the Catawba Valley and the foothills lean on Lexington-style pulled pork with a red slaw, hushpuppies and a tomato-vinegar sauce that stays in its own pot. For an inflight menu the pork goes in sealed, the sauce apart, and the slaw chilled, so a flight attendant can plate it in the galley without a single change of temperature.
Regional cheese, sourwood honey, pimento cheese and benne-seed crackers make private jet food that eats cold: private jet platters built from them survive a long leg and look right on a tray. For private jet snacks we pack pecans, apple hand pies and boiled peanuts in sealed boxes, which suits a North Carolina departure where the cabin is warm and the afternoon is long. Gourmet inflight meals stay local when the ingredient is local, and the tag tells the crew how it finishes.
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.
Hickory Regional sits at 1,190 feet in the North Carolina foothills, and most of what lands here is a light or midsize jet on a furniture-market or corporate trip. Private jet catering at KHKY is built around that small cabin and that short stop, cooked and packed for the galley you actually have. For the same trip you may hear it called inflight catering, in-flight catering or aviation catering; for a cabin with a crew of two, it is business aviation catering sized to the seat count.
Hickory is a corporate airport first: manufacturing and furniture executives fly in on business jets and leave the same day. Business jet catering at KHKY is therefore short, specific and packed for a small cabin. We also handle corporate jet catering, VIP flight catering and charter flight catering, with a private jet chef building a bespoke menu for luxury inflight catering that matches the trip.
When a state delegation or official party flies into KHKY, government flight catering is arranged through protocol, not through the kitchen. Head of state flight catering, VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering are all handled with sealed labelling, traceability and discretion.
Southern cooking hides its allergens in roux, lard and cornmeal, so special meals for KHKY are prepared apart. Kosher, halal, vegan, gluten free, allergen free and kids meals are labelled by seat and packed in their own boxes.
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.
For a crew sitting out a short turn at KHKY, flight crew meals and pilot meals come in labelled boxes: cockpit meals eaten one-handed, crew meal boxes with seat-free labels, and different meals for pilots when the operator asks for it. Crew catering is on request, invoiced like the rest, and cabin crew meals can be added to the same order.
FBO catering at Hickory is simple because the apron is small: we hand over at the FBO or to your handling agent at the general aviation terminal. Ground handling catering and handling agent catering follow the slot, and catering delivery to the FBO is coordinated so the aircraft gets its trays at the door.
Hickory handles light and midsize aircraft, so galley catering rarely needs a high loader: trays go through the main door by hand. For airside catering delivery and aircraft provisioning, we confirm the aircraft type and door height with your handling agent before loading.
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.
Hickory Regional is the general aviation airport of the Catawba Valley, a small business aviation hub where light jets, turboprops and the occasional midsize corporate aircraft share one quiet apron. Airport catering here is sized to those cabins, and FBO services and ground handling services keep local manufacturers and visiting parties moving.
Traffic at KHKY swells around the furniture market and again in the autumn color season, when the Blue Ridge fills the guest list. For those weeks, inflight catering and in-flight catering stay small and specific, aviation catering is cut to the cabin, and business aviation catering is sized to four to eight seats. Executive jet catering is packed for the aircraft on the ramp, diplomatic flight catering follows protocol, and cabin crew meals and crew meals go on the same order. As a business aviation hub, Hickory rewards short, precise briefs.
Domestic arrivals into Hickory raise no customs question for food. A flight inbound from outside the United States falls under federal agricultural import rules, so as a business aviation hub with no large inspection operation, Hickory is best served by loading fresh meat, produce and dairy locally rather than carrying them in.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Keeping the galley organised at KHKY meant planning vegetable tartlets and a dessert selection for 9 guests with several individual meal preferences in mind. When comparing inflight catering companies, I would look closely at written menu details after this experience. The Galley Girls gave us an update on the salads before the handover, which helped us organise the cabin checks. The cabin team could match the crew provisions to the request before moving on to the remaining departure tasks.”
“Between cabin checks at HKY, I coordinated beef fillet with roasted potatoes for 3 guests and explained our concerns about a late menu amendment. The Galley Girls suggested stackable containers for the crew provisions, and that choice worked well with our storage arrangement. Separating the fruit plates from the first service items helped us avoid opening boxes we did not yet need. I would discuss in-flight catering services with them again, especially when cabin service sequence needs careful coordination.”
“An order of yoghurt pots and fresh berries for 9 people at Hickory Regional Airport had to be organised around a small galley worktop. The Galley Girls kept the starters separate from the finishing elements, which gave us control over the final presentation. The salads stayed together in one group, so another crew member could follow the same plating sequence. The final order confirmation stood out more than any sales pitch about aviation catering.”
Think of the menu first: ham biscuits and fruit for a dawn departure, a warm entrée for a night leg. Private jet catering cost follows that choice, plus the number of seats and any special meal. You see the figure before we cook.
At a small field like Hickory, the lead time question is really a question of gate and ramp access. Your handling agent clears our driver to the aircraft, and we work from the slot you give us; late requests are handled the same way.
Empty legs are easy: crew meals, a few snacks, no passenger trays. Customs rules at Hickory only come up when the aircraft is inbound from outside the United States.
If you plan two services, a catering order gives you a clear order of dishes, with the cold service first and the oven service second. You can still bring special items yourself, and we pack around them.
The contract for the flight does not include catering, so an order into HKY stands alone. A late change in seats is a small edit on our side, not a new order.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
