Afew decades ago, flying was a whole lot simpler. There was less congestion, for one thing. Fewer people flew because plane travel was too expensive to do on a regular basis. Security issues were not as strict and complicated as they became after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The air-traffic control system wasn’t yet as antiquated as it is now, contributing to traveler-annoying delays.
For concessionaires and in-flight caterers, flyers were seen as an elite group, and dining options reflected that thinking: Airports offered white-tablecloth operations, cocktail lounges and little else. Full, in-flight meals were mostly restricted to first-class flyers as deregulated airlines struggled to turn a profit. For the most part, quick-service or grab-and-go offerings weren’t plentiful in airports until relatively recently.
“Going back to the 1970s and ’80s, it was a different environment and mode of travel,” says Stan Novack, vice president of concept development for HMSHost Corp., the Bethesda, Md.-based airport and travel plaza foodservice specialist. “I remember when the old Western Airlines had a piano lounge in the back of its DC10s, and some of the 747s had cocktail lounges on the second level. People got dressed up; it was an event. There was a whole different culture going on. Air travel definitely was not thought of as mass transit.”
Novack notes that foodservice options consisted of fine-dining restaurants specifically geared toward rich patrons’ palates.
“Back then you had the Terrace Room at LaGuardia, the Golden Door at JFK and the Newarker at Newark Airport,” he says. “Waiters wore white dinner jackets and black slacks. It was thought of as an evening out. Even celebrities would stop in and eat before a flight.”
But in the 1990s the customer demographic began to change and diversify, and the demand for casual and quick-service menus grew. Enter the branded concept.
“Things really started to change around 1992,” says Brett McAllister, vice president of operations and chief financial officer at the Washington, D.C.-based Airports Council International-North America. “It was sort of an evolution. The European model came to the U.S. It started at the Pittsburgh Airport. It was a move away from unknown generic concepts to local and branded concepts. The idea was to provide customers with a combination of choices that would appeal to local passengers and to those passengers who were visiting and would feel comfortable with known brands.”
Many fledgling restaurant chains were happy to open airport outposts of their concepts in order to expand their name recognition and reach, McAllister says.
“Legal Sea Foods, for example, started in the Boston area and eventually spread down the East Coast after becoming more well known from its airport locations,” he says.
Still, the majority of travelers didn’t necessarily depend on airport restaurants, and most flyers received meals or a substantial snack and beverage on the plane.
But after September 2001, things changed radically, and for better or worse, airport dining would never be the same again.
“9/11 changed the entire industry,” says Nick Biello, chief operating officer of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North Cos.’ travel hospitality division. “Before, people could walk in and out of the [hold] area. Airport security wasn’t an issue. After, it was doom and gloom for a while, probably about a year, because people stopped traveling.”
Furthermore, adds HMSHost’s Novack, when air travel began picking up again, the airlines made the decision to stop offering free food in flight, so passengers had to purchase items in the terminal if they wanted to dine during their trips.
“We had to make a number of changes right away,” he says. “After six to eight months, we saw a number of things happening: People were getting to the airport sometimes two to three hours ahead of time in order to get through security. As a result there was a pent-up demand to occupy time. That’s when you saw a huge expansion in the casual and quick-casual part of the business. You had a combination of people with a lot of time on their hands realizing they weren’t going to be getting anything to eat on the plane unless they got it in the airport and either ate it there or brought in on board with them.”
Todd Cavallaro, director of markets for Philadelphia-based airport concessionaire OTG Management, says 9/11 was the first step toward making airport foodservice a real dining destination.
“Because people come to the airport much earlier and spend more time there, we’re trying to get them to want to go to the airport instead of feeling like they have to,” he says. “Bringing street concepts into the airports has been groundbreaking. More people are aware there are good choices and that airports provide a huge selection. This creates greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Adds Novack: “Branding is playing a much larger part in the business. People are comfortable with it. They want brands. Casual dining at airports has evolved to include such chains as Romano’s Macaroni Grill, On the Border, Damon’s and Max & Erma’s. Even a number of Houston’s have started making appearances. The fact is the passengers, or customers, we’re dealing with have gotten more sophisticated. They are well-traveled are more knowledgeable and want something more.”
Sept. 11 and subsequent security changes also brought operators several challenges that have had to be faced, including increasingly tougher background checks on prospective employees and security restrictions on food deliveries.
“There are all sorts of ways to arrange for deliveries,” Novack says. “We used to use 18-wheelers that were allowed to deliver on the tarmac, but now they have to be inspected and transferred to smaller trucks. Most of the time you have to schedule deliveries during off times, when no passengers are around. That usually happens late at night or very early in the morning. Sometimes deliveries have to come in between 12 midnight and 3 a.m. Distribution of product is somewhat difficult, but we do handle it.”
Another problem, OTG’s Cavallaro says, is the increased costs associated with increased fuel costs.
“Obviously the price of oil has affected our food costs, but of course it’s affecting everything in the world right now,” he says. “It’s even used in takeout containers and it’s used in plastics. [Costs have] gone up internally on such items as smallwares, but we won’t reflect that in our [menu] prices. It’s definitely a challenge for us to do what we do and make the right decisions at the same time.”
Despite all the changes that have already occurred within the segment, operators say they expect more are on the way.
Though Delaware North’s Biello says 85 percent to 90 percent of airports’ dining facilities are located beyond security barriers, OTG’s Cavallaro thinks there will eventually be a shift so travelers can enjoy a meal with their concourse-restricted loved ones before departure.
Biello forecasts that gate-side delivery will be airport foodservice’s next big frontier. Two months ago Delaware North began testing a program in one terminal at Fort Lauderdale Airport in which concession workers take orders from travelers at their gates and deliver them there, so passengers don’t risk missing their flights or losing their seats. Biello says the system has “great revenue potential.”
