USA. OTG has partnered with respected pastry chef Jacques Torres and French chocolate specialist Valrhona to open the Mélange Bakery & Chocolaterie at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The Mélange is located in the Global Bazaar in Terminal C. The outlet is part of a US$120 million re-imagining project which will include 55 new restaurants and food markets to serve the 35,000 passengers passing through Newark Liberty every week.
“It takes a small city to create these culinary experiences daily, and that city now includes Mélange Bakery Cafe, a 24-hour production bakery inside the airport, providing the freshest baked goods to travellers terminal-wide,” OTG stated.
Chef Jacques Torres, known for French pastries and fine chocolates, consulted on the development of the concept, along with two executive pastry chefs and a team of classically-trained bakers under them.
“The most fun I have as a pastry and chocolate chef is to surprise and delight my customers,” Torres said. “This is one of the reasons I couldn’t resist developing Mélange at Newark Liberty.
“You would not normally think of a world-class round-the-clock bakery being located in an airport, but that is exactly what we do for United customers every day.”
At full capacity, daily production at Mélange can include over 1,000 croissants, assorted pastries and buns, more than 1,200 hand-rolled New York-style bagels, over 600 muffins, 200 hand-crafted chocolate bars, 75 cupcakes, 12 types of macaroons, 10 varieties of doughnuts, such as Passion Fruit and Maple Bacon, and six varieties of sweet and savoury eclairs.
United Airlines Vice President of Corporate Real Estate Gavin Molloy commented: “There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked goods coming out of the oven to bring a smile to your face.
“With Mélange, our Newark customers have the opportunity to indulge in fare from one of the world’s best pastry chefs; either as a pre-flight treat, a to-go option to enjoy inflight or even as a quick pick-me-up upon arrival.”
OTG partnered with Valrhona to ensure the use of high quality ingredients in the creation of hand-crafted chocolates and bonbons. The Valrhona corporate pastry chefs provided training to OTG’s team at L’Ecole Valrhona Brooklyn and onsite at Mélange.
OTG Chief Executive Officer Rick Blatstein said: “We’re excited to work with Chef Torres and Valrhona to bring Mélange to life for United customers at Newark Terminal C. We pride ourselves on using the best talent and ingredients to deliver the freshest food to travellers. With Mélange, our restaurants throughout Terminal C literally can’t get fresher baked goods.”
Mélange and Chef Torres were recently featured in United’s Big Metal Bird video series.
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The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards.
