Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2023

FOOD & BEVERAGE ISSUE 2023

Dear Readers,

FOOD & BEVERAGE ISSUE 2023 / V21 N248

At the recent ACI-NA Business of Airports Conference, Paul Brown, senior director, airport brands and concepts for SSP America, extolled the ongoing and expanding importance of beverage alcohol sales in North American airports, and he urged concessionaires to take advantage of the trend. “We need to continue to be creative, come up with cool concepts that make things easier for people to feel safe and have drinks,” he said. The industry is already delivering on that front, if the current crop of destination bars is any indication. Airport bars are getting swankier, more inspirational and more cocktail-centric, and they’re delivering big profits to concessionaires. In this issue of Airport Experience News , we spotlight some of the best airport bars in North America and speak to the operators about their visions for the concepts. In fact, this special food and beverage issue is full of content about airport dining. Check out the features on the growing success of ghost kitchens, the future of airport fine dining and strategies for optimizing menus to maximize profitability. The next issue is clearly in our sites with a focus on retail and services. We’ll examine ways airports are making the retail space more inviting for newer, smaller players. We’ll also examine pricing restrictions for all concessionaires, and we’ll report on new advances in data gathering and sharing. At the same time, the AX Team is already in high gear planning for the 2024 conference, our 20th anniversary. We have planned a range of special content leading up to next year’s big event. If you have reminiscences or photos from past conferences that you’d like to share, please email me: carol@airportxnews.com.

GHOST KITCHENS GAIN TRACTION MENU MANIPULATION SPURS PROFIT GROWTH Concessionaires Up Their Bar Game

FINE DINING STAGES POST-PANDEMIC COMEBACK

All the best,

Carol Ward Editor-in-Chief

Airport Experience News carol@airportxnews.com

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