David J. Danto

Business travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD

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Stop Putting Stuff In My Food

In the life of a business traveler, there are major problems (The TSA, airlines that consistently treat us like dirt, unrealistic schedules / connections) minor problems (the growing inconvenience pervasive in air-travel) and simple annoyances. This blog is about something that fits into that third category. For the life of me, I don’t understand airport and hotel food.

It’s usually impossible and unrealistic to pack all the food we’d need to eat on a business trip, so when we’re on the road, we have to find food we can eat to stay alive. Unfortunately, way too often, the companies that make this food available to travelers thoughtlessly add ingredients that many people can’t or won’t eat. Ingredients that could be included as an “add-on” for those who want it, and omitted for those who don’t.

I was traveling through Newark airport yesterday, and like many times, I needed to grab a pre-made sandwich from one of the vendors. It represented what would be my only food for hours. There were many choices, unless you don’t want mayonnaise or mustard on them – then there are none. There’s even a gluten-free sandwich option – but it has mayo on it already. What if you’re someone who can’t eat or doesn’t like mayonnaise? What if you’re someone who doesn’t like mustard on turkey? I simply don’t get why they don’t make these sandwiches dry and then have condiment packages available for the people who want them. It must be more costly to add these condiments on every sandwich then it would be to make it available to the few people who actually wanted them. It would be healthier to control amounts too.

The problem of stuff in my food isn’t just experienced at the airport. Many of the hotel properties I stay at offer a free hot breakfast. The majority of times I can’t eat it. It’s too much trouble to try to pick around the peppers I despise in the ‘western omelet’ to get some of the eggs. As you can see in the photo above from my Hampton Inn stay this morning, I just gave up. Why can’t peppers, cheese, mushrooms, etc. be available on the side so people who want them can have them? If properties have the time and money to offer a selection of hot breakfast items then sure, feel free to offer some loaded choices for people that like them. However, if you’re only offering one choice for breakfast, please don’t put stuff in my food. On longer trips I can rent a car and pick-up food and other things that exactly match my needs and likes. But on an overnight stay I’m at the mercy of the property.

I don’t want to hear the argument that it’s too difficult or expensive or burdensome to offer multiple choices or ‘on-the-side’ extras. That’s clearly hogwash. The same airport kiosk that had no non-slathered sandwiches was offering eight brands of water and six brands of chips (most from companies I never heard of.) That’s the game at airports nowadays. People are upset about paying three dollars for a bottle of water or bag of pretzels that should cost 50 cents, so to add perceived value to these simple products, the common / desired brands are no longer carried and ‘fancier’ brands are sold instead. If you can have a half-dozen types of French-sounding snacks – each selling for ~500% what they should cost – I’m sure you can make some room for packets of mustard and mayo without too much difficulty.

Yes, there are more urgent issues for us road-warriors. As I mentioned there are major problems and minor problems we have to face daily. Why are these firms making things unnecessarily worse by putting stuff in our food? Please stop.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

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