Sola’s solutions and century of success
This article is featured in PAX International's October 2021 digital edition, on page 16, and the December IFSA EXPO Long Beach 2021 digital edition, page 20.
The Aura design from Sola
When Bernd Koperdraad, Export Manager Airline and Railway Europe & Africa, started with Sola his first project was to attend the 2019 International Flight Services Association (IFSA) EXPO in Los Angeles, California. Immediately he could see the immense scale of the inflight catering industry.
Little did we know at the time, the COVID-19 crisis was coming our way. Still as of today, the pandemic is seriously affecting our daily business. But we have used the time to push two major projects forward. In this time, Bernd has been part of the development of our single-use plastic cutlery replacement and the complete re-brand of Sola that saw the launch of the new website, logo and brand colors in early-June.
The rebrand encompasses all Sola divisions unified under the same brand image to bring attention to the overall success of the company since our foundations in 1922. Our customers can find all Sola entities on the same webpage: Sola Hospitality Cutlery, Sola Airline Cutlery, Sola Railway Cutlery and Sola Cruiseline Cutlery.
The Amsterdam design from Sola
Through this downtime we have introduced three new cutlery designs, suitable for First and Business Class; Amsterdam, Aura and Nordica. Unlike any of our other existing cutlery, these three designs be changed in size and weight to match the airline’s inflight food service. With our cutlery range for Premium and Economy, the ultra-lightweight steel cutlery as a single-use plastic replacement, and our introduce coffee and tea pots, thermos flasks and bread baskets, our range is complete and can fulfill all airline needs.
As our industry moves toward a restart, we are already seeing a steady increase in demand and we hope that everyone will experience this in the year ahead. We are so proud to be part of this industry that has seen many crises in the past and has always been able to recover. New challenges undoubtably await us, some that we’re already tackling, such as the demand for a more sustainable way of production.
We are excited to reconnect with everyone at the 2022 trade shows, when Sola will celebrate its 100th anniversary. We will continue what we have been doing since the beginning; designing, manufacturing and supplying innovative cutlery designs and steel onboard products to meet passenger demands and trends of the future. It is in our Sola-DNA.
