Brother Rises to the Challenge

0

Celestino Drago is involved in four restaurants in Los Angeles as owner or part-owner. But he wanted to aim higher as in five or six miles higher so he expanded into catering for airlines.

Drago said that cooking for airlines is different from restaurant work. For one, there’s the logistical challenge of getting freshly made baked goods and meals to planes in time for takeoff. It also requires precision. Each serving must be measured to a specific weight.

“You have to really be a technician,” Drago said. “It’s fun.”

Drago started making desserts for Qantas airlines’ first- and business-class fliers in 2002. Since then, Drago Air Catering LLC has started selling a variety of items to Qantas and has added United Airlines as a client.

The company works out of Dolce Forno Bakery, the chef’s commercial kitchen and bakery in Culver City. It makes bread, cakes, desserts and hot meals for flights departing from Los Angeles International Airport.

The business of selling to the big birds started, well, almost on a lark.

One night in 2002, a group of six Qantas executives went to Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica for dinner. After finishing their meal with an order of panna cotta, a custardlike dessert, they left without a word.

“I got a phone call the next day, and they said, ‘We love your panna cotta. We are from Qantas and we want it for the airlines.’ ”

Drago suggested a price of about $6, but the Qantas representatives balked, saying the airline could buy the desserts for $1.25 each. He decided to give it a try anyway because he wanted to see how the business worked and was willing to take a loss to find out. He began turning out 40 panna cottas a day at a loss.

But in less than a year, Drago found a way to bring costs down and started squeezing out a profit. Slowly, Qantas started ordering bigger quantities and additional menu items. Now the company provides the airline with food for its nine daily flights that depart from LAX. It also added United as a client in the last year.

That amounts to making about 3,000 rolls and focaccia, and 50 cakes a day at his 7,000-square-foot facility. He also makes about 2,000 to 2,500 hot meals a day.

Drago has plans to move the air catering business to a 20,000-square-foot Torrance facility that he’s bought. The location is closer to LAX, and the move would free up Dolce Forno Bakery to focus on Drago’s traditional catering business.

Even though the air catering business does about $300,000 a month in sales, Drago said profit margins are still slim.

“We are making a little bit of money,” he said. “We are learning. We are still experimenting.”

No posts to display