Landing a spot on an airline's in-flight menu has the power to help any food and beverage business really take off.
Lucrative deals, not to mention greater exposure to a global market, can make a huge difference to the bottom line. But finding a way into this mile-high club can be frustrating.
Will Cook, co-founder of snack food company Harvest Box, says pester power eventually won his product a spot on Jetstar's in-flight menu.
"To be honest, it was two years of persistence," he says.
"I made direct contact with them and basically pestered. We bid for the Jetstar tender twice before we were successful, but got there in the end."
The budget carrier stocks Harvest Box's Power Mix and its Apple and Cinnamon Spark Chia Star Bar. Both products weren't specifically formulated for Jetstar, but just happened to fill a gap in the airline's menu thanks to the healthy ingredients and small portion sizes.
Cook says the deal has opened doors for his company.
"Due to the success of these products with Jetstar, we are working on designing products specifically for airlines," he says.
"Being a relatively small team, we have the benefit of being able to innovate and bring things to market quickly, so we've taken what we've learnt from working with Jetstar and are translating it into a new, airline-friendly product."
Archie Moronie struck a deal with Virgin after some of the aircrew sampled his Morish Nuts at Brisbane's Ekka.
"I made an appointment to see Virgin and they were very keen," he says.
"We prepared what we called the Virgin Mix – which was a caramel coated collection of almonds, cashews and macadamias."
Moronie's offering impressed Virgin's catering manager and the Perth businessman has now been supplying nuts to the airline for 17 years. Three years ago he also sealed a deal to supply his Nuts and Knots mix to Jetstar.
The Virgin deal dramatically changed the structure of Morish Nuts and Moronie says it was fortunate the company had moved into a new factory a year beforehand.
"Had we not been in that factory we possibly may not have been able to take it on and execute it," he says.
"The main part of it was negotiating the logistics of it, because as you can imagine that's quite difficult. Getting to grips with that and how to be able to manage their requirements and getting it there on time.
"They basically run on an as-needs basis. They don't carry huge volumes of stock, so on a weekly or fortnightly basis we deliver stock to them."
Moronie estimates his in-flight deals account for no more than 15 per cent of the company's $3.5 million turnover. Perhaps more valuable is the brand recognition.
"The brand was being seen far more and when you mention it considering we were not a major player in the supermarket chain we had very high brand recognition," Moronie says.
Rowie Dillon, of Rowie's Cakes, estimates her deals with Qantas and Tiger represent up to 70 per cent of her company's $5 million turnover.
She attributes her success to finding a niche market and keeping the business small.
"When I went to a meeting with Tiger, they were probably expecting a large business, but Rowie's Cakes was a person and they loved it," she says.
Rowie's Cakes makes sweet and savoury products free from wheat, gluten and yeast, which she widely distributed in the early days of the business. It's what eventually got her goodies into the hands of a Qantas employee.
Dillon says those looking for similar success should get to know how airline catering works.
"Understand the mechanics of the in-flight business and how planes work – planes are different to supermarkets," she says.
"They work totally differently. Supermarkets work off real estate off the shelves and pull-through, whereas airlines have set menus and cycles."
Helen Gray, head of product and service delivery at Qantas, says small businesses are often more suited to airline catering than big businesses. She points to Botanica Juice and butter company Pepe Saya – two small businesses that have created bespoke sized products for airline stowage and products that have particular flavour profiles that work well in the air.
"We look for Australian products that are good quality and offer our customers something unique," she says.
 "As the national carrier, we are always on the lookout for Australian small businesses to partner with and showcase their products on our flights and in the lounges. We play an important role in their growth, and it's something we're really proud of."
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