Let us turn our eye to the passenger experience on the trains – with London North Eastern Railway (LNER) launching its new catering options.
The menu presented celebrates specially sourced food and drink from local suppliers along the East Coast route. These options are for those travelling in the train operators’ First Class seating.
The catering options also offer vegan options for those trying to keep up their Veganuary commitments.
Three options are available Dine, Dish or Deli – all complimentary in First Class.
The dishes on Dine services include the ‘Full LNER’ or ‘Full Veggie LNER’ cooked breakfast freshly prepared by LNER’s onboard chefs. Roast chicken with roast potatoes and wilted greens served with sherry and shallot sauce and a creamy coconut sweet potato curry are among the choices later in the day, with sticky toffee pudding and salted caramel sauce to finish.
As LNER supports Veganuary for the first time, the variety of vegan options available includes a sweet potato pakora Bang Bang salad bowl, falafel, roasted pepper and humous sandwich and vegan sausage roll.
In Quotes
Richard Judge, Head of Customer Experience Proposition at LNER, said:
“We pride ourselves in offering our customers the best possible experience and we’re delighted to be introducing our new year menu. The communities we serve really matter to us and we are also proud to support local suppliers along our route. By working together, we’re proud to be able to offer such a wide range of delicious and flavoursome food and drink onboard our trains, further enhancing our customer experience.”
Other options too … not forgetting those in standard class
Hot sandwiches, including vegan options, waffles and a speciality salad bowl also feature on the Dine and Dish menus, along with various hot and cold beverages. For customers enjoying the Deli offer, a range of sandwiches, snacks, biscuits and sweet treats are available as part of the complimentary catering offer in First Class.
A full menu can be found at https://www.lner.co.uk/the-east-coast-experience/first-class/menu/.
If you’re in Standard Class, you can also sample a variety of produce through LNER’s at-seat service ‘Let’s Eat At Your Seat’. You can find the menu at https://www.lner.co.uk/the-east-coast-experience/the-east-coast-standard/catering/#Menu
Passenger Experience matters – even on the rails
I talk a lot about passenger experience on this blog – not just sitting on an aircraft – but as a holistic view as every action with a company or place shapes that experience. Train travel as we know is an essential part of the mix, especially as people seek to take themselves off airlines. To do this, there must be compelling options up and down the stack.
The East Coast Mainline has those options – from the super-budget friendly (in the case of Lumo) through to more connections for those in standard (if you’re travelling LNER up the East coast), through to those who are enjoying the long-distance journeys and want to spend the money on a first-class ticket enjoying the experience (or just who want a larger seat for the 4-hour run between London and Edinburgh, and beyond.
Offering a reasonable catering option can fill part of the journey, which train travel inevitably has compared to air.