From humble beginnings, Skychef Servair has successfully made the journey to become the leading catering business in Seychelles, on hand to fill every occasion with its unique combination of delicious meals and excellent service.
Mr. Panos Papakokkinos originally founded his catering business on 4th July 1971, just as Seychelles welcomed its very first B.O.A.C flight. It operated under Nairobi Airport Services (NAS), from a tiny house aptly called Paradiso located just off the runway. The founder endearingly known as “Papa” by his small but loyal team, started what later became known as Skychef. Following the purchase by Dobbs International from NAS in 1975, the business proceeded to open the very first industrial kitchen in the Seychelles islands.
In partnership with the Seychelles government, Mr. Papakokkinos got the opportunity to purchase Skychef from Dobbs International in 1980 and thereafter dedicated his efforts into growing the business to meet international, award-winning standards.
In 1988, renowned French international airline catering company “Servair” partnered with Skychef and in 2017 the company became a proud Gategroup member, celebrating 51 years of service to major award-winning airlines, private VIP jets, Presidential and chartered flights, the VIP and CIP lounges of the Seychelles International Airport as well as catering for large corporate events, the hospital, schools and private customers. This partnership harnesses Servair’s wide experience in the airline catering business, allowing Skychef to benefit from overseas training for its chefs and other team members as well as invaluable technical support via a locally-based operations manager to oversee day to day airline activities.
Mr. Papakokkinos was someone who believed that the success of the company was firmly rooted “in its people” and this philosophy is still very much alive today. The founder’s daughter, Georgia Van Heyste, has been involved with the company since 2014, playing an important role in carrying forward her father’s vision. With her background as an interior designer, she has driven the creation of the airport’s three outlets and has also been at the forefront of company’s marketing strategy, public events and community service work.
Today, she is ably supported by CEO, Ms. Veronique Laporte, who is tasked with ensuring that Skychef Servair is equipped to meet the challenges of the modern business environment. They are supported by a team of over 200 loyal and dedicated employees, most of whom have been in the company’s employ for decades, producing over 3500 meals per day with international recipes adapted to suit Creole, European, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine.
While Skychef Servair already produces a wide variety of dishes, our chefs constantly strive to innovate, developing new recipes and products, such as vacuum packed meals which are cost effective and time-saving, ready-made meals ideal for the home use, and also well-suited to large hotels or companies staff canteens, small hotels, guest houses and restaurants. The freshly made vacuum packed meals are currently sold in the Skychef outlets and in leading retail stores throughout Mahe.
Across the entire spectrum of our activities, Skychef Servair is committed to providing good quality meals to its customers through a rigid adherence to both local and international food safety regulations while ensuring that our team is trained to follow a food safety management system based on HACCP principles and the ISO 22000 standard. All ingredients and products used in food preparation are all of the highest quality, supported by our robust supplier management programme and subject to regular analysis by the Servair laboratories. Our food quality and safety performance is measured via both internal and international auditors to ensure high quality meals which are Halal certified. Skychef Servair also prides itself on embracing the Kaizen principles of lean management for operational excellence.
Aside from our airline and catering services, our friendly team of sales assistants are always on hand to serve the public with a wide range of meals, snacks and refreshments at the Skychef Snack Shop at Independence House in Victoria, as well as at Café Paradiso, the Skychef Shop and Seybar Café & Bar at the Seychelles International Airport. Launched in collaboration with Seybrew, the new Seybar Café & Bar is open to the public 7 days a week, catering for all international flight departure times.
As well as continually striving to extend our services, we are also committed to working hand-in-hand with various charitable events and community projects, donating to several children’s orphanage homes every festive season and organising parties for children at the Seychelles Victoria Hospital on the occasion of Children’s Day and other similar occasions. Echoing our founder’s philanthropy, we remain a proud sponsor of many local events throughout the year, such as the Festival Kreol, Sports Awards, Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Business Awards.
The sky is our limit!