Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2023

Freedman says employees enjoy the option because they have limited time on their meal breaks and the pick-up approach saves time. And families like it because each member can get what they want. “It’s one place, you get a single bag and everything is in there,” Freedman says. Johnson says Hubb Kitchens will open additional ghost kitchens soon, one at Dulles International Airport (IAD) and another at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), where Johnson operates another restaurant. Where the location at RDU still is called getREEF Virtual Food Hall, the new ones will be called “FLYTES” Powered by REEF. The partners have a five airport deal. “I believe in the ghost kitchen model,” Johnson says. “I think it makes a lot of sense. I think it makes more sense in airports than anywhere else.” Rethinking Chicky At SEA A fewmonths after REEF opened at RDU, celebrity chef Kathy Casey introduced Chicky, another virtual restaurant that shared the same kitchen staff as another restaurant called Lucky Louie at Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA ) . “We came up with this idea during the pandemic and then didn’t have any staff,” says Casey, who says she still believes in the concept but shut it down about three months after opening for some rethinking. “The issue was at the airport it is very hard to publicize something,” she says. “The airport was helpful. They did put it up on some digital screens around the airport. But unfortunately, it flipped by too fast, and people weren’t able to do a QR code that quickly.” Casey hopes to talk with the airport about doing some more permanent signage that would allow folks to order from a stationary QR code. She’d also like to capitalize on a unique, fun chicken logo she drew up that she believes could spur sales, and she hopes for the return of the employee newsletter, currently on hiaitus, because of the potential to reach that audience. “We just need to get a little more buzz around it,” Casey says. “I definitely think we’re going to re-pop it back up, probably next year or the end of this year. People

loved it. It was another option. Sea-Tac doesn’t have a chicken restaurant, so it really, I think, filled a need. We just weren’t able to get the word out.” Getting the word out has been a key component to the successful launches of REEF at RDU and Breeze at LAX. At RDU, Freedman says that all concessionaires can utilize some internal signage allowed at RDU for the ghost kitchen and it’s listed as an option on the website. The REEF partnership also has bought some advertising from Clear Channel. One thing that helped is having enough nearby seating, and enough staff to ensure one can act as an ambassador of sorts. “When there is a guest ambassador outside the kiosk area who is able to engage potential customers and guests, that helps sales overall and it also helps people that are less technologically savvy understand how the concept works,” Freedman says. Lawee says Breeze has gotten a lot of word-of-mouth advertising and social media buzz, but inside the terminal at LAX the company has also utilized an ambassador, as well. It’s also got a visible location. “If we were tucked away it would be very hard,” she says. So, while the concept of ghost kitchens has not yet exploded on the scene, those who have dipped their toes into the concept seem united in their belief that it should be a good fit for airports. They have a supporter in Alan Gluck, senior manager of the global aviation commercial advisory for aviation, travel and tourism at ICF .

Above: Chicky at SEA offered a collection of chicken dishes to passengers via virtual kitchen. The concept shut down but will likely reopen with some visibility enhancements.

Ghost kitchens could help pick up the slack if airport restaurants don’t have the necessary staffing to serve the rising number of passengers most airports are seeing, he says. “They should be able to be valuable pieces for a concession program, particularly if there is not enough restaurant space to accommodate increasing passenger levels,” Gluck says. “Customers change their minds when they see the lines, so they either don’t make a purchase, downgrade or purchase from a convenience store or vending machine. In all those cases, the passenger is likely spending less than they might if their original option had been available.” There are a couple of caveats, Gluck adds. The ghost kitchens must include multiple menus, preferably with at least some recognizable brands. That hasn’t been the case, he says, at all of them so far. And they should, tomaximize use, also include delivery. “If the customer has to get up from their hold room to pick up the product, there are no time savings and it fails to serve the gate hugger, who doesn’t want to leave,” he says. “My theory is that such a concept will work if and when anyone figures out how to succeed with delivery.”

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