Catering to your aircraft in Nelson.
Nelson is a small field with big produce: scallops from Tasman Bay, Waimea berries in summer, lamb through winter. We pack for the galley on the aircraft in front of you.
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.
Nelson Region is the food basket of the northern South Island, and a private jet menu built here leans on what the Tasman Bay and the Moutere hills actually produce. The inflight menu can open with Nelson scallops seared and packed apart from their sauce, move to Marlborough Sounds greenlip mussels served chilled, and finish with summer berries and stone fruit from the Waimea Plains. Private jet food from this region travels well when it is chosen for the galley: cold seafood platters for a lunch sector, a roast lamb rack for a cooked dinner. Local specialities include hop-forward craft beer (for the FBO lounge, not the cabin), Golden Bay cheese, and manuka honey. We assemble private jet platters, gourmet inflight meals and private jet snacks around that produce.
Cooking for Nelson means working with produce that peaks by season. The private jet menu for NZNS shifts from stone fruit and berries in summer to hearty lamb and root vegetables in winter, with seafood from Tasman Bay a constant. An inflight menu here might pair chilled scallop crudo with a Nelson Region salad of heirloom tomatoes, then a lamb rump finished in the galley oven. Private jet food is chosen for what the aircraft can finish: sauce apart, cheese boards re-plated cold. Local specialities from the Nelson Region, Golden Bay cheese and manuka honey included, anchor private jet platters, gourmet inflight meals and private jet snacks.
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.
Nelson sits on the sunniest corner of the South Island, and a jet parked on its single runway in January sees fruit stalls, hop kilns and a Tasman Bay that supplies the seafood we pack. Our private jet catering here is cooked and packed by former VIP flight attendants for the galley you actually have. Inflight catering, in-flight catering and general aviation aviation catering requests all land in one place, and business aviation catering and executive jet catering orders are treated the same way as diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals: one brief, one label, one handover.
At NZNS, the business jet brief is often a four-seat cabin and a galley with limited space. Our private jet chef writes a bespoke menu for that cabin, with corporate jet catering and business jet catering plates that can be finished in an oven, plus VIP flight catering and charter flight catering options. Luxury inflight catering here means seafood and lamb done simply.
Government flight catering at Nelson works through protocol and traceability: the menu is cleared before anything is cooked. Head of state flight catering, VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering orders get a named team and a discreet handover at the FBO.
Special meals at Nelson are a procedure built around a seafood-heavy local kitchen, where shellfish is the first allergen to keep away from a plate. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free orders are packed on a separate board and sealed, allergen free trays are marked by seat number, and kids meals follow the same labelling as the adult 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.
A crew on a Nelson turnaround rarely has time to sit down, so we pack crew meals on request, billed with the order. Flight crew meals and pilot meals travel in labelled crew meal boxes, crew catering follows your headcount, and cockpit meals are kept simple. Different meals for pilots are available when policy requires.
FBO catering at Nelson ends at the general aviation terminal or the aircraft door, depending on your slot. Catering delivery to the FBO is coordinated with your handling agent, and ground handling catering and handling agent catering are one phone call.
Most traffic at Nelson is light and midsize jets, so galley catering usually goes straight from the van to the cabin door without a high loader. If a larger aircraft is on the apron, tell us the type and we plan airside catering delivery and aircraft provisioning around its door height and galley position, coordinated with your handling agent.
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.
Nelson Airport serves a regional hub on Tasman Bay, with scheduled turboprops alongside private aircraft. Airport catering here works around a single runway and a general aviation ramp used by visiting jets.
The general aviation traffic at Nelson peaks in summer when wine, hiking and sailing bring private jets. FBO services and ground handling services handle fuel and parking, and inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering orders are placed through us. Business aviation catering, executive jet catering, diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals are all available, and the airport works as a small business aviation hub for the top of the South Island.
Customs and food-import rules in New Zealand apply to anything crossing the border on an aircraft. Declared food is inspected, and undeclared items can mean fines. We source locally and pack sealed, so a Nelson order does not become a biosecurity problem for the crew.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Keeping the galley organised at NSN meant planning a charcuterie board and fresh bread for 5 guests with an evening cabin service in mind. This experience of aviation catering services gave us a useful reference for managing packing arrangement on another departure. After a final adjustment to the sauces, The Galley Girls gave us one revised order summary to work from. There was no need to reconstruct the crew provisions quantities from several messages during the final departure checks.”
“On this departure from Nelson Airport, 5 passengers had chosen a mezze selection with flatbreads, and a short ground stop needed to be reflected in the order. I want an aviation catering company to understand written menu details, and this order gave us a useful starting point. The Galley Girls used a readable packing list for the side dishes, which helped when two colleagues checked the order together. Keeping the sauces identifiable helped the colleague taking over service understand the order without another long explanation.”
“Nothing about the 5 guest order at NZNS called for excess complexity: just prawn salad and small fruit plates and sensible planning for a late menu amendment. I gave The Galley Girls our storage brief and asked for the canapés to arrive in separate meal boxes. We placed the desserts in their planned storage area without first having to reorganise all the catering boxes. When comparing aviation catering companies, I would look closely at meal organisation after this experience.”
Cost depends on what is on the plate and where it is sourced. Because New Zealand biosecurity limits what comes off an aircraft, we plan menus from local produce so leftovers and returns are never a customs problem. A scallop-led lunch costs more than a Waimea berry platter, and the quote is built per menu.
If your aircraft is turning around and heading back to Auckland or Sydney, we can stage the return meals in the same drop. Produce like berries or scallops is seasonal, so tell us early what you prefer; last-minute orders are handled.
An empty ferry flight keeps the order small. Crew meals only, packed sealed, declared as required under New Zealand customs, with nothing left open that would complicate inspection.
Delegations often want their own preferences, and customs in New Zealand will want to see anything arriving on board. We can build the menu around theirs, with a discreet team and a labelled chain from kitchen to apron.
Catering sits outside a private jet charter contract. If your departure slot at Nelson is short, tell us early and we coordinate the handover with your handling agent so the galley is stocked before engines start.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
