Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2026

Left: To meet continued demand for healthy, nutrient-rich food in airports, HMSHost recently relaunched its “Eat Well. Travel Further.” grab-and-go program at select airports.

throw it on the grill, we’re going to brine that pork chop so it has the flavor and the moisture that you want. It’s a little bit more of a challenge in an airport, though, because airport travelers tend to gravitate towards what’s familiar. You can try to be very creative, but you have to temper it with ingredients that people understand,” he says. Even so, Baines enjoys finding ways to keep improving his offerings. “When I’m out somewhere and I see something that knocks my socks off, I immediately send Alain a picture, and he does the same thing with me,” he says. “And it doesn’t have to be just food, it could be service oriented, it could be the way the order was taken. We’re constantly trying to evolve and raise the bar for what we’re doing in our locations.” Passion like this is certainly prevalent in today’s airport dining landscape. “I’m genuinely proud of where the industry is now,” Cheung says. “Airport dining had a bad reputation for a long time and a lot of it was deserved. Hot dogs and neonyellow nacho cheese were accepted because travelers had no other choice. That’s not the story anymore; there are truly great restaurants in airports now. “One of the most telling signs is that travelers actually want to get to the airport early so they can sit down and enjoy a good meal before boarding,” she continues. “That’s a complete 180 from not that long ago, and that means something. That’s the shift we’ve all been working toward, and it’s incredibly gratifying to see it happening.”

“I keep my menus simple but special, trying to offer recognizable options with local and global flavors. We’ve begun introducing what we call the Signature Series of menu items to our locations to really bring this idea to life,” Kumrow says. “Examples of this would be an elote burger that might sell great in the Southwest or a kimchi burger for the Northwest – a burger is a really great vessel for showcasing flavors. Another example would be poke bowls, where there’s nice, fresh seafood in it and it also brings in those Asian flavors people are looking for.” Areas USA’s Mendola employs a similar process. “We know that our guests are always going to come back to certain items, whether that’s the burger or the chicken sandwich or the slice of pizza. The onus is on us to take those items and then put a little twist on them – make it still totally approachable but embrace that trend and add plum sauce to it at the end, add something that just gives it that little touch that makes it special and unique,” he explains. CI’s Baines also applies the “recognizable but elevated” method. “Instead of just doing a pork chop and

Above: Jeff Steelman, North American vice president of culinary for HMSHost, has seen a rise in people across generations and demographics asking to read nutrition labels when choosing what to eat, and seeking nutrients like protein, creatine, colostrum, magnesium, vitamin D, calcium and fiber.

28

AX NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2026