Fill the Foodie Culture

As the foodie culture sweeps across the United States in its various forms from farm-to-table cuisine, artisan cheeses and craft-beers, and as cities develop restaurant districts and boutique eating, passengers have asked airports to step up the fare. Today’s travelers expect more than a burger, hot dog or a cookie.

As the Vice President of Adult Beverage and Restaurant Development for HMS Host, Frank Sickelsmith, is responsible for all HMS Host brands, be it national, local and propriety. He says travelers are demanding food options that are of higher quality than ever before and airports need to rise to the challenge.

“We have this foodie culture that really didn't exist before,” he says. “People's expectations are very different today. They know what good food is. They understand the difference between food that's good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.”

Airport Business recently chatted with Sickelsmith to gain some insight on how airports can craft a blend of local, national and proprietary offerings to meet the dietary needs of the varied travelers who pass through on a daily basis.

How have travelers dining expectations changed?

Passengers today are more health conscious. Consumers expect to see higher quality products. That can include dietary specific foods, such as organic or gluten-free or low sodium offerings. They are more educated because food has become a platform for chefs to become celebrities, and people follow them like they do other celebrities. It used to be that the only people who were really into food were chefs.

How have food savvy travelers changed airport restaurant and concessions?

I've been with HMSHost for 10 years and before that, I worked with Brinker International. The most significant change over the last decade is the change from national brands to local brands.  The localization of what you see in airports is very different than what it used to be

In the restaurant industry, not just in airports, both restaurants and consumers are a lot more knowledgeable about food and the different types of food [than in the past]. The food networks have helped a lot with that; people want different foods and higher quality foods. Where it used to be predominantly national brands and possibly some proprietary brands, now it's a pretty good mix of both of these things. Today, local brands have grown significantly and HMS Host’s proprietary brands in specialty categories have also grown.

How does HMS Host interpret the passengers’ specialized needs and desires?

We do a lot with local brands. Much of it is dictated by what airports are asking for. Starting about four to five years ago, airports began asking for some local representation. HMS Host listens to these requests and tries to connect locally with restaurateurs and bring well-known restaurants and chefs into airports. We've are proactive with that; developing relationships early on  to make sure they're the right fit for us and we're the right fit for them. We've done that in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago. From a national perspective, we still maintain an exclusive relationship with Starbucks. We have worked very closely with Starbucks to make sure that we have an efficient model for airports.

What are some of the challenges you encounter when working locally?

Normally when we deal with a local restaurant or local chef, they don't have much experience, if any, in airports. But just the facility constraints of an airport environment change the way things are done. The actual restaurant is typically smaller then there is the challenge of getting food to the restaurant and how you store it. In a street-side restaurant, the trucks pulls up to the back dock, they unload the food, and there are well-established periods of time where the restaurant is busy or slow. In an airport environment, all that goes out the window. We need to educate local restauranteurs and help them adapt to an airport setting. The local restaurateurs and chefs who are really flexible and understand these differences are successful  faster. The ones who have a tough time with these differences have a little more trouble.

On the flip-side, when street-side restaurant opens, any mistakes you make could have a really big effect on your business. Airport restaurants have a level of freedom because they have new customers coming in constantly.

What are some of the more significant trends you're seeing in terms of food and dining experiences?

People like foods to be personalized. That’s why we’ve seen the explosion of brands like Chipotle, where people can customize what they have and it's considered higher quality food than normal quick service dining. Folks also want to be able to get what they want and get it quickly. Then in full-service restaurants, folks seem more willing to try items they might not have been willing to try 10 years ago. They are willing to try items like shellfish or seafood at the airport. Sushi is a big trend right now. In the past, they wouldn't have done that because they would have been uncomfortable with it. I think that people are more adventurous overall when it comes to eating. The look and feel of  restaurants in airports today tends to make people feel comfortable ordering things they probably would only have ordered street side in the past.

How do you craft a dining experience that meets the needs of each individual airport?

Some things are consistently wanted from airport customers. Starbucks is a good example. Starbucks works everywhere. People know it. They know what to expect. Even if they go to a different street-side coffee shop at home, they know the quality and they have an expectation of what they're going to get. I think that's true for other restaurant brands, national restaurant brands. There has been a big trend in local products and local restaurants, but a lot of folks who travel through these airports aren't from those markets and don't know what these great local restaurants are. We still need to have a balance between national, local and proprietary restaurants.

The footprint and size of an airport and the way it's laid out pre-security and post-security must be considered, then you have to customize things based on enplanements, where traffic is, what the airport wants, what's available, the delivery system and commissaries. It's a very complicated equation; every single airport we are in and every airport we bid on is unique in some way.

Many new brands are coming from the HMSHost wheelhouse. What advantages do these new brands bring to the table?

We have a strong national program and local program but we also do a lot of our own proprietary restaurants, which we develop ourselves then replicate. We have probably 12 to 15 different brands that we replicate. Most of these are full-service restaurants. When we develop these restaurants, we put the skeleton of what we do really well behind it then apply concept-specific attributes to it. We also have about 500 locations that sell alcohol, and we're developing a wine bar.

Can you tell me about the inspiration behind the 1897 Market?

1897 was the starting place for what has been the proliferation of our own award-winning brands. We worked with consultants and chefs and went to Europe and checked out a bunch of marketplaces. At that time whole foods was really starting to take off in local marketplace restaurants. We wanted to create our own, so we traveled to London, to mainland Europe, to see a bunch of different marketplaces and restaurants with interesting themes and different ideas blending retail and food. We brought those ideas back and developed the 1897 Market.

1897 was the year we were founded, and we wanted a name that would connect with the company. From that initial exercise, we created Pork & Pickle, which was the full-service part of 1897. We created PZA, which is our standalone "pizza by the slice" brand. We created a brand called Grounded In, which is our burger brand, and a brand called Greens, which is our salad brand. The exercise in and of itself was pretty complicated, but what we learned from this is that we can create our own brands and since then we've brought in the talent needed to see it through to completion.          

Since the initial endeavor in Charlotte is we are localizing each one of our 1897 Markets. In Charlotte, you'll see finishes and looks and design elements specific to Charlotte. As we go to other markets, you'll see a nod to those areas as well. There'll be some things that are the same everywhere, but the food offerings will change based on the city we are in. The airports greatly influence what we serve, so the concept is fun for them as well. If they eat at 1897 and have some ideas [for their airport], we take those onboard. As we localize the concept, we ask for their expertise to try to get small business people to consider the airport.

If you go to some of these locations, you'll find they mimic the experience of going into a new city with brands that you've never really been to, but you can recognize their quality, not just from the food, but from the way the restaurant looks--the atmosphere, the music, the way it smells, how it appeals to your five senses. In an airport you have a lot of people traveling through, so if you make some mistakes, you can change them quickly and you're not in danger of people not coming back.

When an airport seeks to revamp their concessions program, what are some things they need to consider?

It’s always important to consider your customer. Every airport is different and airports know their traveling customers better than anybody. I know they do tons of research on it, so it's important to know what the customers want and to provide that. That could mean something very different than what they expect if they do that research. I also think that every airport should have a representation of the city that they're in. This provides travelers with a little taste of that market. You also need to consider the brands you have and the types of brands you need. You need to make sure there's a good mix of full-service and fast-food restaurants, food offerings, and experiences.

Where is the concessions industry heading at airports?

I believe it's going to get to a really good balance between established and up-and-coming recognizable national brands that people feel comfortable with. There will be internationally recognized brands, as well, so a person who is not a regular traveler doesn't have to make too many decisions and is comfortable with a known brand like Starbucks or other types of brands like that. I think that's a real convenience and comfort for people. Localization is great.

The industry has learned a lot. We certainly have in the markets where localization really exploded. You want a representation of the local market, but you also want to make sure that you have a partner that understands that they need to be flexible, it's going to be different and they may need to make changes that wouldn't be necessary in a street-side restaurant.

I think those companies that set out to develop their own restaurants and do it in the right way, rather than just designing something and then having it sort of fade away because it's not being kept up are going to be able to do some really cool and interesting things that are specific and customized to individual airports. In the future, there will be a good, solid mix between those three categories of restaurants.

Focus on Frank

What he looks for in airport restaurants. I look for visual quality indicators--the way it looks and feels, the smell of the place, the way the food looks on tables. I try to find interesting and new things. I look for a place that looks like they know what they're doing and customers who look happy. I don't look specifically for one brand, except for Starbucks, of course.

Spare time fun. I love restaurants, so in my spare time, my wife and I and our four kids, go out and try different types of restaurants. My wife's a restaurateur as well. We met in a restaurant.

Cooking for Fun. We both cook well. A lot of the food that we create for restaurants, we cook. We spend time on the weekends with folks from the HMSHost team. When we get together we create new drinks and try out new recipes.