Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2025

The airport is certainly a unique business environment. Even among other nontraditional venues, it stands apart for many reasons. But there’s one aspect of the business that some industry professionals think doesn’t need to be any different from other nontraditional businesses, and that’s beverage rights deals. “Airports are often the only major property in a city without a strategic beverage partnership,” says Heather Neisen, chief customer officer for Enliven , a company that aims to change this current landscape to include more airports in the mix. “Universities, stadiums, theme parks, convention centers – even hospitals – have long embraced the value of exclusive or semi-exclusive beverage deals, and many of them also lease out foodservice operations to third parties, just like airports do.”

“We help airports create and manage strategic beverage partnerships – what the industry often refers to as pouring rights agreements,” Neisen adds that Enliven works “directly with airport authorities, concessionaires and leading beverage brands to build programs that align with the airport’s goals and deliver long-term value across the entire concessions ecosystem.” But value for whom? Concessions operators say pouring rights agreements are detrimental to their businesses. “From an operator’s perspective, we do not see any benefit to pouring rights deals, only challenges,” says Andrew Weddig, executive director of the Airport Restaurant & Retail Association (ARRA). “They reduce customer choice, which reduces sales as well as degrades the customer experience, and they increase operator costs, which reduces already thin operating margins. There’s nothing to like for a concessionaire.” Echoing this, Nicholas Schaefer, executive vice president of business development for SSP America , points out that operating in an airport is already challenging enough without the constraints of pouring rights agreements. “Running a restaurant inside an airport isn’t just a variation of streetside dining – it’s an entirely different business, with operators taking on massive upfront investments, from sky-high construction costs and rents to mandatory annual fees just to operate,” he says. “Add in federally mandated security measures, and the cost of doing business climbs even higher. “ But perhaps the most significant factor is that our success depends entirely on unpredictable passenger volumes – something most traditional restaurants never have to consider,” Schaefer continues. “In short, the airport environment is uniquely

Above: Andrew Weddig, executive director of the Airport Restaurant & Retail Association, feels strongly that the only beneficial pouring rights agreement for concessionaires is no pouring rights agreement at all, as concessionaires face potential cost increases and sales declines under these deals.

Above: Nicholas Schaefer, executive vice president of business development for SSP America, says that operating in an airport already poses significant and unique challenges without the constraints of a pouring rights agreement, which in addition to limiting the beverages operators can serve also erodes margins and creates operational disruptions, among other issues.

Right: Heather Neisen chief customer officer for Enliven, asserts that strategic beverage partnerships are beneficial for everyone involved, including the airport, beverage brand, concessionaires and passengers.

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AX NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2025