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MontanaJim

Service Attendant
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
225
Is their a national company that supplies Amtrak with many of its meals? Ive heard on this website something about a company called Gate Gourment.

Ive heard that the EB gets restocked in Havre by a local company. Anyone know who this company is?
 
I have no personal knowledge what the "local company" that provides food service in Havre. I do know however that Amtrak sold "High-Line" box lunches out of the lounge cars on the Empire Builder to bring local flavor on-board. I don't know if they do this anymore, but when the City of New Orleans and Empire Builder were using the same run-through trainset in Chicago, we always had Great Northern logo menus in the lounge car advertising the High-Line meals. This may the "stock" loaded at Havre.

With the exception of the Downeastern and Cascade rail services (state-supported trains having independent food service contracts using Amtrak employees), all Amtrak food service items are provided by Gate Gourmet, a national transportation food service company that primarily does airline food service. It's possible, due to the EB having a long route, GGI has a truck that provides stock en-route in Havre, but I find this very unlikely since you can't get GGI to meet a train in a major city (with a GGI airport commissary) when something happens and the need to restock a diner or lounge en-route! Amtrak always has to resort to the infamous "chicken box dinner" or cold sandwiches and potato chips for all passengers when trains run out of food on very late trains!!!
 
trainboy325 said:
With the exception of the Downeastern and Cascade rail services (state-supported trains having independent food service contracts using Amtrak employees),
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I can't speak to the Cascades service, but to the best of my knowledge, the Downeaster does not use Amtrak employee's in the cafe car. The rest of the train crew is Amtrak, but the cafe car is staffed by an employee of the catering service to my knowledge.
 
Amtrak no longer provides boxed meals on late trains for several reasons. First off, cost. It cost Amtrak a pretty penny everytime boxed meals were provided. Secondly there was the issue with regulars of, "Well last time we were this late we got meals." I mean the gesture is good and reasonable, but it was expensive.

As far as the Downeaster Food Service goes it is an employee provided by the contractor, who's paid a lot lower. I believe both the Cascades and Downeaster are able to get away with non-Union empolyees because the Union Contracts did not include them as part of the service areas established under the contract since both have new routes/crew bases, as well as state support.
 
I knew that the Downeastern service used the vendor's employee to provide food service, but didn't make that clear by grouping it with the Cascades (which use SEA crew base employees for the lounge/dinnette) in my previous post. Thanks to all for the correction about the Downeastern attendant.

As for the chicken box dinners, its a hit and miss thing. The policy for bringing emergency food stock (chicken boxes or cold sandwiches) is for trains that have run out of revenue food stock, both diner and lounge. Complementary food and beverage are not provided for late trains. For example, the Crescent had to make a bus bridge between CLT and GRO due to freight train derailment in June. Due to the fact that 20 was going to get into NYP so late and the diner and lounge were sold out of stock, NOL management ordered food to be loaded at WAS. What we got were expired lounge car sandwiches, potato chips and non-revenue sodas. Four weeks later, while working the CNO, we hit a dump truck in Amite, LA and got held up for 6 hours while waiting on a relief engine. We had no HEP, but NOL management ordered the crew to serve meals whatever way possible. Because the policy for "chicken boxes" is for trains with no food on-board, the lounge car attendent only could whatever didn't need microwaved. Sleeping car passengers were served entree salads and the cold sandwich off the lunch menu. The conductor argued extensively with NOL management about the diner situation and demanded some sort of hot meal option, specifically chicken boxes (a Popeyes was within site of the train). Management refused sighting the company policy that as long as revenue items were available for sale, lounge or diner, no chicken boxes could be purchased. Even with the fact that the diner was out of commission due to no HEP, sleeping car passengers were not provided a hot dinner option. :blink:

Needless to say, that was the beginning of turned out to be a REALLY BAD TRIP!!! <_<
 
trainboy325 said:
Needless to say, that was the beginning of turned out to be a REALLY BAD TRIP!!! <_<
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Otherwise known as "the trip to/from HELL!" Been on one of these several times on "Silver Service" as well! OBS... :ph34r: :blink:
 
trainboy325 said:
Sleeping car passengers were served entree salads and the cold sandwich off the lunch menu. The conductor argued extensively with NOL management about the diner situation and demanded some sort of hot meal option, specifically chicken boxes (a Popeyes was within site of the train). Management refused sighting the company policy that as long as revenue items were available for sale, lounge or diner, no chicken boxes could be purchased. Even with the fact that the diner was out of commission due to no HEP, sleeping car passengers were not provided a hot dinner option.   :blink:
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Dain-bramaged managers. :(

It's stuff like that which makes you wonder how those types ever got to be managers in the first place. It's stuff like that which gives congresscritters ammunition when they set out to kill intercity passenger rail in the USA.
 
This summer when a Friend was on a 7.5 Hour late 6 that they gave them food from the Lounge in the Diner for there Dinner. The Choices were the Infamous Dirty Moore Stew, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Breakfast Sandwichs, and I think Turkey Sandwichs. Is this common to do this?
 
The "Empire Builder" dinners were prepared and loaded by a restaurant and casino in Havre called Boxcars. The restaurant is only about a block from the train station, and provide 200-260 meals a day to the passengers according to this article from 2003. The meals must be pretty popular if that's the case (100-130 per train). I never tried one, but they sounded pretty good with fried chicken and the trimmings. I haven't been through Havre on the Builder since the August relaunch, so I don't know if it's still going on.
 
trainboy325 said:
As for the chicken box dinners, its a hit and miss thing. The policy for bringing emergency food stock (chicken boxes or cold sandwiches) is for trains that have run out of revenue food stock, both diner and lounge. Complementary food and beverage are not provided for late trains. For example, the Crescent had to make a bus bridge between CLT and GRO due to freight train derailment in June. Due to the fact that 20 was going to get into NYP so late and the diner and lounge were sold out of stock, NOL management ordered food to be loaded at WAS. What we got were expired lounge car sandwiches, potato chips and non-revenue sodas. Four weeks later, while working the CNO, we hit a dump truck in Amite, LA and got held up for 6 hours while waiting on a relief engine. We had no HEP, but NOL management ordered the crew to serve meals whatever way possible. Because the policy for "chicken boxes" is for trains with no food on-board, the lounge car attendent only could whatever didn't need microwaved. Sleeping car passengers were served entree salads and the cold sandwich off the lunch menu. The conductor argued extensively with NOL management about the diner situation and demanded some sort of hot meal option, specifically chicken boxes (a Popeyes was within site of the train). Management refused sighting the company policy that as long as revenue items were available for sale, lounge or diner, no chicken boxes could be purchased. Even with the fact that the diner was out of commission due to no HEP, sleeping car passengers were not provided a hot dinner option. :blink:
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Can someone say Stupid? What did you end up doing with the expired Sandwiches. At the least the Conductor cared on the CONO.
 
MontanaJim said:
hey empirebuilder fan, did or does boxcars supply meals for the diner, lounge car, or both?
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MontanaJim,

The meals are a special item just for the lounge car. The diner serves the regular Amtrak menu, although I guess they've added some things since the relaunch.
 
wow, i thought they only served sandwiches in the lounge car (as opposed to full chicken dinners).
 
MontanaJim said:
wow, i thought they only served sandwiches in the lounge car (as opposed to full chicken dinners).
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For most of the long distance routes, the lounge car only serves sandwiches, heat-and-eat things and snacks, but for some reason the Empire Builder has this special arrangement. Since they're only available after the stop at Havre, between Chicago/Portland and Havre, and once the dinners are sold out, only the typical lounge car fare is served. I think that it's kind of a nice touch to break up the monotony of food selections if you're riding across the country.
 
When I was on the Capital Limited a couple of weeks ago, we were due into Washington D.C. at noon...we ended up 3 hrs late, they opened the Diner car for lunch since the train was going to be late...Bill
 
Bill Needles said:
When I was on the Capital Limited a couple of weeks ago, we were due into Washington D.C. at noon...we ended up 3 hrs late, they opened the Diner car for lunch since the train was going to be late...Bill
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Yup, that's normal for that train if it's running late. They actually stock that train with lunch for that eventuality.

However if it were to run really late, dinner is a whole other animal. :blink:
 
Actually, it seems like it's simply normal *for* the train to be that late.

Having ridden it recently to DC, it didn't seem like they really stocked it for that eventuality. It was more like, what meals can we slap together from the leftovers.
 
I was anoyed on my first Cal Zephyr trip to arrive at Emmeryville so late that the Hotel restaurant was closed for the night, our last meal being a late lunch over 7 hours earlier.

It would seem that as late runing and the cost of providing "bought in" emergency food is a commonplace problem, one answer might be for Amtrak to negotiate, in advance, a special discount from suitable hot food purveyors for these occassions, which would soften this particular blow to Amtraks finances?

Ed B)
 

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