where the nature of the service appears to be more precisely defined—such as in the contexts of in-flight and maritime catering—owing to the underlying difficulty in identifying the most appropriate contractual classification that can serve as the legal foundation for assessing the agreement at issue. As to the overarching legal categorization of the contract, reference is made to the foregoing sections; the present analysis is confined to a more specific inquiry into the legal issues pertaining to catering services provided in the maritime and aviation sectors53. Commonly, the term “catering” refers to the set of operations involved in the supply of food and beverages carried out by a specialized organization for airplanes, trains, restaurants, hotels, canteens, and private clients. When necessary, it also includes the setup of temporary field kitchens for food preparation. This service does not have a single definition in legal doctrine, and it is commonly used to encompass a range of different cases essentially traceable to a unified concept in terms of socio-economic function [...] providing meals to specific user communities54. As a matter of fact, catering constitutes a contractual instrument marked by a high degree of flexibility, capable of being employed in a variety of contexts, depending on the differing suitability of the relevant venues to allow for the full provision of the catering service. Two main models of collective catering have been identified: the first involves the on-site preparation of meals, while the second entails the mere distribution, at the destination site, of meals previously prepared off-site. Authors55, in analyzing the catering market, has subsequently identified six distinct sectors, each characterized by its own specific features as well as operational and functional requirements: 1) corporate catering / business catering; 2) school and university meal services; 3) Hospital catering; 4) institutional and community catering (e.g., boarding schools, prisons, nursing homes, hospices, etc.); 5) tourist and commercial catering (e.g., hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, self-service facilities, and fast food establishments); 6) transport-related catering (e.g., maritime, in-flight and airport catering, on-board and station-based 53 In addition to the analysis in the preceding paragraphs and the Authors thereby cited, on catering in general see also Petrillo, Catering, in Digesto comm., III, Torino, 1988, 61 ss.; Pittalis, Catering, in Contratto e Impresa, 1989, 265 ss.; Addante, Il contratto di catering, in Bocchini (edited by), I contratti di somministrazione di servizi, Torino, 2006, 650 ss.; Benelli, I contratti di ristorazione e catering, in Delfini e Morandi (edited by), I contratti del turismo, dello sport e della cultura, Milano, 2010, 177 ss. 54 Benelli, I contratti della ristorazione, in Franceschelli e Morandi (edited by), Manuale di diritto del turismo, Torino, 2007, 110 55 Pittalis, Catering,cit. 265 e ss. 50 VINCENZO FRANCESCHELLI | SARA D´URSO | ALESSANDRA CORRADO
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