Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2024

ONE-ON-ONE

clear customer standards that are baked in our partnership with these vendors and suppliers so that every colleague on the terminal has a shared view of the experience and the expectations for our guests. Part of realizing that is focusing our team. We want employees to have a wonderful experience at the airport and for it to be a very collaborative environment for our our colleagues and partners at the terminal, as that sets them up to have that shared vision and shared approach with our customers. WARD: Right. Moving to the commercial offer, you’ve partnered with URW (Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield) for leasing the concessions. What’s your vision for the program? AUMENT: We’re in a creative stage with URW where we’re looking at how we offer those luxury options that are important for our customers, particularly international customers who spend quite a lot of time

in the airport, while also offering that New York sense of place. We were having wonderful workshops on how we celebrate the culture and diversity that we enjoy in the New York area. RFPs are starting to go out, but there’s also interesting work being done around how we make this something different than what customers have experienced in the U.S. before. We actually have zero brand names or partners to reveal to you at this time as we’re just starting the procurement. I will tell you though, I’ve been excited to see such enthusiasm for partners who want to be a part of this terminal. WARD: Many of the largest concessions operators have expressed concerns about the number of RFPs coming out nationwide this year, as well as the escalating costs of buildout and operations. Are you concerned about whether the RFPs will attract enough interest? AUMENT: I think it’s consistent with the challenges that any infrastructure provider is facing - you see the impacts of inflation, you see a lot of activity happening in the market. We know partners and vendors have to be picky about the opportunities that they choose to go after. We are very thoughtful about getting input from the market and helping to shape procurements. We’re using creative solutions to widen the net, in terms of the players that we inviting to come and participate - including up-and-coming minority-owned players - to make sure that we can meet the needs of the terminal. WARD: You’ve mentioned luxury brands and you’ve also mentioned the local component. How are you balancing demands from the international travelers who will want to see those luxury and other well-known brands with the desire to create a sense of place with local brands? AUMENT: Our job’s pretty easy - we are building a terminal in the greatest city on Earth. When people fly in from overseas, they want to have a luxury experience and they also want to immerse themselves in everything that is New York. We have an opportunity to put some creative partnerships together to be able to come up with some design solutions that make it easier for local businesses…to set up in an airport environment. We have so much talent in this region, and they have exciting offerings that customers are really looking for. It’s just a matter of us being a matchmaker and bringing these small businesses in, coupling them with luxury brands to be able to deliver on that vision for our customers.

Below: Unibail-Rodamco Westfield is responsible for the commercial program at the NTO. The procurement process is underway, with a goal of providing a luxury offer coupled with a unique New York experience.

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AX NEWS JUNE 2024