Retail, Driven by the Customer

CHICAGO — The 2007 Airport Concessions Conference put on by Airports Council International - North America here in November
covered a lot of ground, but the main point was clear: upgrade the customer experience. Expectations are high, with consumers demanding variety, healthy options, and an eye on environmental and ethical concerns. The good news is, the current food and retail trends are conducive to airport concessions.

“Our world of concession and business development has changed tremendously in the last decade,” says Shauna Forsythe, president of Alliance Airport Advertising. “Our airports look nothing like they did ten years ago.”

Forsythe notes that the experience of an airport has changed dramatically. She says that the average passenger now spends 108 minutes at the airport, more than double the time spent just a decade ago. That extra time is affecting what they’re looking for in concessions.

“Today we cater to travelers who, very sadly, have resigned themselves to being stuck,” Forsythe says.

“Passengers relish finding entertainment or ways to ... make that time useful while they’re in the airport waiting for a flight.”
According to Mark Erickson, vice president of continuing education at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), consumers’ expectations are on the rise.

“Americans are becoming very demanding about their experience, whether it be a shopping experience or airport experience,” says Erickson. “Socioeconomics have changed the way the American family has done things and certainly has changed the way that people dine.”

Larry Levy, founder and chairman of Levy Restaurants, agrees. “Don’t just go for the money,“ Levy advises. “Customer experience is a big deal.”

Around-the-world cuisine
One of the newest demands coming along, Erickson says, is for more variety and interesting flavors. Three different kinds of national hamburger chains, panelists note, doesn’t count.

Erickson says that an increase in international travel, as well as an influx of immigrants from Asia and Latin America to the United States is driving the American palate.

“The world’s becoming an increasingly small place.

“I can’t tell you, as a chef, how frightening it is to have been trained in classical methods back in the ‘70s and ‘80s and to watch how quickly the world of food has changed,” Erickson says.

“What was once a palate here in America that was dominated by French food or certainly northern European food has become world flavors.”
Erickson notes that things like butter and ‘gourmet’ are being replaced with olive oil and a quest for ‘authentic’ foods. The good news for airports, he says, is that many of these international cuisines have a rich history of street foods.

“Take a look at these foods from around the globe — they are exciting flavors, they are exciting presentations, and they are the kinds of things that can be prepared in an environment where a customer doesn’t have a lot of time to wait.”

“All of these different parts of the world have this tremendous culture of what we call street foods, where people are passing along on the street might stop at a very simple stall and pick something up nosh on as they go on to whatever it is they’re going to go do — and in your case, it might be going to the next flight.”

“The ability to capture some of the flavors that go on in these street food cultures down the road are very, very exciting. I’m recommending looking for concepts, look for the people that bring those kinds of things to airports as a way to bring a little liveliness to the airport dining experience.”

Levy agrees that this international trend is growing. “I contend that Americans have the highest palate of cuisine of anybody because we are a country of immigrants. We have the food of every nationality in our country.” Levy says. “In Chicago, we have more Thai restaurants than they do in Bangkok.”