Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2026

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Fresh food available around the clock in a fraction of the footprint. That proposition is driving a new wave of automated dining concepts into North American airport terminals, as airports look to expand food and beverage options without the capital investment or staffing demands of traditional concessions. Analysis from Market Research Future valued the global hot food vending machine sector at roughly $8.4 billion in 2024 and projected it to reach $16.3 billion by 2035. Transportation hubs, including airports, are among the fastest growing environments for hot food vending, the analysis showed. And while growth is global, North America is at the forefront, holding about 45% market share currently. Beyond The Candy Bar Today’s airport machines stock full meals, grab-and-go salads in refrigerated jars, grain bowls, branded fast-casual items, and comfort food ranging from barbecue to mac and cheese. They operate closer to an unmanned restaurant than a traditional vending machine. The preparation and service is handled in a footprint far smaller than any staffed kitchen. For a traveler running on 20 minutes and low blood sugar, they fill a genuine need. Prepango , a specialty automated retail company founded in 2009, has built its model around pairing well-known brands with the technology to deliver them reliably in airport environments. CEO Marcos Modiano sees the evolution beginning with trust.

“We see a marriage of brand with technology that leads to the traveler behavior story: travelers want compelling brands in a clean and modern setting that inspires confidence,” Modiano says. “That’s the biggest challenge, but once achieved, the volume follows.” Not everything works in a vending context, of course. Items that require customization, extensive condiments or careful temperature management tend to underperform. What travels well, in both senses of the phrase, are meals with clear visual appeal, strong brand recognition and a format suited to eating in a gate area or on a moving train to a connecting flight. Salads and grain bowls have become consistent performers. Automated pizza, perhaps counterintuitively, has emerged as one of the most competitive categories in the fresh vending space. Donatos Pizza deployed its fully autonomous “Pepptron” machine at Columbus International Airport (CMH) in partnership with robotics company Appetronix . The robotic arm handles dough, toppings and baking 24 hours a day. At Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), ZaBot Pizza Robot cooks pies to order around the clock. The machine stores up to 96 pre-prepped pizzas in an onboard fridge. Once an order is placed, the pizza runs through an oven in under five minutes. Last year, California Pizza Kitchen debuted its vending machine at Dallas Love Field (DAL). Pizza has proven unusually well-suited to the autonomous format. The product is familiar, portion sizes are consistent, cook times are short and there are no condiment complications.

Above: Luke Saunders, founder and CEO of Farmer’s Fridge, says the company uses real time sales data and predictive analytics to optimize inventory at each vending location.

Farmer’s Fridge has thrived in airports since introducing its vending machines. Luke Saunders, founder and CEO, started the company in 2013 at a time when ordering a fresh meal from a vending machine was a genuinely novel idea. A dozen years later, he says, “Vending is trending!” Farmer’s Fridge now operates more than 160 fridges across nearly 30 airports in the U.S. The most popular meals include a Chicken Taco Bowl, a Mediterranean Chicken Bowl and a Chimichurri Steak Bowl. “Another popular airport menu item is our chia pudding because it’s a versatile, appealing option for breakfast or a snack,” Saunders adds. Customers can also use their app to check inventory at nearby terminals. Wow Bao is another popular option. The Chicago-based fast-casual chain has been expanding its airport presence through a partnership with Automated Retail Technologies , deploying hot food kiosks that refrigerate and cook bao, dumplings and potstickers to order. The machines use large touchscreens and allow customers to pre-order through an app so their food is ready on arrival. For a brand already operating in airports through traditional concessions, the vending format offers a way to cover terminals where a full buildout would be impractical. Menu performance varies significantly by location. “Performance in general is dependent on the location,” Modiano says. “That said, fresher and more compelling

Hot Food Vending Machine Market

16.32

8.39 8.91

Market Value in UDS Billion

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029 2030

2031

2032

2033

2034

2035

CAGR 6.23% Source: Market Research Future

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AX NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2026