Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2026

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

Above: Like many small to mid-sized airports, MEM seeks a balance in local and national brands. Memphis Made Brewing is one of several brands bringing local flavor, while national concepts like Chick-fil-A remain in high demand. Left: With the concourse modernization completed four years ago, MEM is now focused on a Terminal Modernization and Seismic Program that will update ticketing areas and the security checkpoint. people can skip those lines and process at their own pace are part of that. And of course, there is plenty of opportunity for that person-to-person interaction as well. WARD: Are there changes in the works on concessions, or any new opportunities coming up? BLUE: The contracts took effect with the opening of the new building so we’re just four years in. We still have a few more years to go. But one of the things we are currently looking at bringing forward is a common-use lounge. We want to have it open and operational in 2027. We’re also working with our existing partners, constantly evaluating the mix of offerings [and assessing] opportunities for additional kiosks or standalone units.

and we’ve got the products that the customers are looking for. We’re going to have a new baggage handling system. We’re incorporating new self-bag tag, bag drop locations as part of that system. There will be plenty of digital, of course – that seems to be a requisite these days – and other technologies that will help us to monitor and stay on top of passenger flows. WARD: I’d like to turn to airport concessions. How are they performing, and what’s the big picture strategy behind the program? BLUE: Our concessions are performing quite well, and our spend per passenger right now is still at an all time high. I think that speaks to the effort that

our partners at HMSHost on food and beverage and Paradies (Lagardère) on retail. They’re putting in considerable effort to curate their offerings for the customers. We’ve worked with them to make sure there’s a focus on local flavor and brand recognition with offerings that are unique to Memphis, but also [providing] the brands that customers expect to see or are really hoping to find, like a Chick-fil-A, for example. Those partners are spending a lot of time and focus on customer service and bringing that mid-south hospitality to the customer experience, which is in keeping with the airport’s vision and mission. Of course, tech-abled convenience, mobile ordering, self-service kiosks, so that

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AX NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2026