Airport Experience® News - ACDBE 2023

Above: Gregory Plummer, CEO and managing partner of Concord Collective, says that in addition to ACDBEs having less access to capital and financing than primes, there’s also the challenge of small companies and large companies having the same deal-terms even though their economics and resources are vastly different.

believe that because we were nimble and because we chose to propose a ‘local means local’ program, we actually stood out from what the primes proposed.” Patel adds that the overarching strategy when putting together the proposal for the MCI contract was to present a local and regional program ref lective of the history, neighborhoods and strong culinary influences of the region. Further, OHM’s partner, Vantage Airport Group, committed to achieving 60 percent participation by ACDBEs, vastly exceeding the project’s stated goal of 16 percent. “Now that we have actually opened all units at MCI, it’s obvious that our strategy was what the airport, city, citizens and travelers wanted—it’s quite a program,” Patel says. “From the terminal design to our food and beverage integration, it’s probably the most ‘bespoke’ concessions program at any airport in North America. So, being an ACDBE forced us to think differently from our prime competitors who are often hamstrung with national brand commitments.”

Beating The Odds ACDBEs are small businesses, and as such they often lack the capital to truly compete with the major concessions players in the industry. So how did OHM, Concord Collective and LaTrelle’s do it? “It’s clear that the primes have more resources in the RFP process, including lobbyists, large teams, financial resources and in some instances, deeper brand portfolios—this will always be what any ACDBE can expect,” notes Milan Patel, president of OHM, which was founded in 1998 by Patel’s father and uncle. “However, we have proven at MCI that it was not any of those things that drove the award; we

Above: In March 2022, Concord Collective made history at Los Angeles International Airport when it acquired SSP America’s LAX business, marking the first time an ACDBE business took over the entire portfolio of a major food and beverage concession operator.

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