Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2023

BEFORE YOU TAKE OFF

BRINGING THE CALM One SEA Concessionaire Has An Unusual Solution For Stressed-Out Travelers

BY SARAH BELING

Left, Above: Wunderground Coffee offers mushroom-based adaptogenic beverages – brewed to counteract stressors, such as those that come with travel – to passengers at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport.

on the market - and it has the benefits of mushrooms.” The next step was to introduce customers to their newly-minted recipe. “We knew we wanted to be in the airport,” says Hall. “What I learned at Starbucks was that if we can be in front of 20,000 people a day at SeaTac, we’re in the best spot. “The airport has been such a catalyst,” she adds, noting that the SEA-Tac free-sample program has led 25% of those who purchase later on to go straight to subscription. Another draw of the airport, Hall says, is the airport’s commitment to LGBTQIA+ and ACDBE brands. It’s a relationship that SEA also values, says Khalia Moore, senior manager of airport dining and retail. “Being in Seattle we love our coffee,” says Moore. “We’re excited to be the first airport to bring adaptogenic coffee via Wunderground into the mix.” Wunderground now has its eye on making adaptogenic coffee not just a novelty but a necessity for anxious travelers. Hall is eager to expand to other West Coast airports and also hopes to appear as a to-go product in airport retail. “Health is the new wealth,” she adds. “The real reason I started Wunderground was to help people feel better through the simple act of drinking coffee.”

C ould the cure for travel stress be… mushrooms? One cutting-edge coffee company thinks so, and it’s bringing a new brand of adaptogenic beverages to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA),. Wunderground Coffee, a Seattle brand founded in 2021 and installed at SEA in 2023, is working to overhaul travel anxiety one ‘shroom-filled drink at a time. Brewed to balance the intense stimulants of caffeine, Wunderground’s (non-psychedelic) mushroom coffee and tea blends contain built-in polysaccharides known as beta glucans that are said to counteract the stressors of travel. Armed with the knowledge that travelers may not be used to mushrooms in their morning beverage, Wunderground’s team offers free, transit-friendly samples at the SEA C Concourse, a strategy that founder Jody Hall learned from her days helping to build a once little-known brand called Starbucks. After spending a decade with the now-ubiquitous coffee retailer, Hall struck

out on her own, creating a successful Seattle-based bakery Cupcake Royale and cannabis edibles company The Goodship. Wunderground’s concept came to Hall after Goodship hosted a 2017 lecture by noted mycologist Paul Stamets on the power of mushrooms. “I decided that I wanted to take what I love about coffee, the most ritualistic beverage in the world, and add adaptogenic mushrooms to help us feel better,” says Hall. A Big Hurdle The challenge? “The Achilles Heel of this category is that it tastes terrible,” she laughs. Vowing to make a mushroom-infused coffee that consumers would actually enjoy, Hall enlisted fellow Starbucks alums, including experienced research and development consultant Hannah Su, to help brew Wundergound’s blends. “After cupping the mushrooms and thinking about the right coffees,” says Hall, “[the team] went through 30 batches in R&D to find the right balanced cup that’s on par with some of the best coffee

41

AX NEWS CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE 2023