Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2023

Editor’s Note: Each year, as the airport concessions industry gathers at the annual Airport Experience Conference, the AX Team turns to North America’s leading concessions operators to get an update on the state of the industry. This year, in the midst of the 2023 AXConference, five leaders convened for a private “roundtable” discussion. Included in the discussion were Steve Johnson, president and CEO, HMSHost ; Gregg Paradies, president and CEO, Paradies Lagardère ; Michael Svagdis, CEO, SSP America ; James Wilson, vice president, Delaware North ; and Roddy McOwan, chief development officer, Marshall Retail Group . Melissa K. Montes, AXN publisher, and Carol Ward, editor-in-chief, jointly interviewed the men about the way forward for the industry.

MONTES: It’s been three years almost to the day since the pandemic hit. Have we come full circle? How are your companies positioned now compared to 2020 when we were all just viewing COVID as a vague threat - something that we might have to deal with? PARADIES: Have we come full circle? I wouldn’t say full circle, but I would say we’ve come a long way. The business has changed dramatically, from the cost of [capital expenditures] to the cost of payroll, the cost of goods…. It’s not just normal, natural inflation. I think at Paradies, we’re positioned well. Like a lot of these guys around the table, we’ve gone through a business transformation project to really build a stronger, more efficient, more agile company with fewer layers so we can move faster and we’ve also invested a lot on infrastructure, particularly technology. JOHNSON: I go back to the time [three years ago at the 2020 AX Conference] when we were talking about, this COVID thing and how bad is it going to be. We were looking at 20 - 30% down. I think I said 60%. Little did we know it would drop 98%. But I’ll echo what Gregg said. I think it’s made us stronger. Overall, I like our company better today. We’re not as fat, we’re not as slow, we’re much more agile, much quicker. There are some blessings that came out of the pandemic. It taught us to work differently. These are all solvable problems that we face today. As these challenges are hitting us, we’re finding solutions. With our partners, with the airports, with our brands, with our people, I’m happy where we are today.

SVAGDIS: Emotionally, I feel more connected to this industry and my team because we went through so much for three years. I had a lot of calls with everybody at this table, which was fantastic. What comes out of that strength is newways of doing business. I think nowwe can do anything as an industry - what other challenge could be worse than what’s happened the last three years? MCOWAN: WHSmith acquired us in December 2019, which was excellent timing from our perspective. We had some massive commitments out there, not the least of which LaGuardia [Airport]. If it hadn’t been for WHSmith acquiring us, I can’t really imagine what that would have looked like for us. In terms of full circle, we were all crazy busy. Capital costs were rising. Labor rates and prevailing wage rates were increasing as well. But sales were there. I mean, the growth was phenomenal in 2019, and I think that’s now come back full circle. I think every single one of us is not only trying to grow and get open again all of the existing business, but all of us have a really healthy pipeline of things that are in front of us. WILSON: Our company has bounced back. We’ve learned to be thinner, more mobile, understand how to jump on opportunities

Left: This year’s Leadership Roundtable included (L-R) Steve Johnson, president and CEO, HMSHost; Gregg Paradies, president and CEO, Paradies Lagardère; Roddy McOwan, chief development officer, Marshall Retail Group; Melissa K. Montes, publisher, Airport Experience News; Michael Svagdis, CEO, SSP America; and James Wilson, vice president, Delaware North.

Right: Amidst serious talk about the challenges facing the airport concessions industry, the group had a few lighthearted moments.

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