Airport concession food and beverage brands

Where airport concession brands fit in a terminal

An airport’s food program is divided by the security checkpoint. Units past screening are for passengers waiting to board; units before it are open to anyone in the terminal, including people who are not flying and the airport’s own workforce. Each side has its own rules for deliveries, staffing and hours. A licensed brand supplies the name, core menu and artwork, and your team fits them to the space the airport has leased to you.

Airside units past security

Gate-area counters and concourse storefronts are for travelers who have cleared screening and are waiting for a flight. Space is tight, and a unit may sit between two gate lounges with seating shared across the concourse. A brand with a compact menu may suit a narrow counter, depending on the equipment the unit has, and your team applies its logo and colors under the style guide, within any design standards the airport sets for tenant storefronts.

Landside units for meeters, greeters and employees

Before security, the guests change: people collecting arriving passengers, travelers checking bags, and airport staff starting or ending a shift. Landside units tend to sit in ticketing lobbies, baggage-claim halls or near ground transportation. A brand you license for an airside unit can also run here if both locations are in your license agreement, or a different brand can give the landside unit an identity of its own.

Kiosks, grab-and-go and food-hall stalls

Not every airport unit has a full kitchen. Kiosks and grab-and-go cases often rely on items prepared elsewhere or finished with minimal equipment, while food-hall stalls share seating and sometimes back-of-house space with other tenants. A short core menu may be worth considering for these formats, although what you can offer from a given footprint depends on its equipment, ventilation and the hall’s own rules. In a shared hall, the landlord or master concessionaire may set rules for signage and seating, and your team applies the style guide within them.

Designing around the traveler’s clock

Airport food service follows the flight schedule rather than a lunch-and-dinner pattern. A terminal can be busy before sunrise, calm by mid-morning and busy again as evening departures board. Travelers also face a constraint that street-side guests rarely do: a gate change or boarding call can pull them away from the counter at any moment.

Early departures and late arrivals

Units near gates may open before the earliest flights and stay open for late arrivals, depending on the hours set in your concession agreement. Long operating days usually mean split shifts, and a menu with few components may be easier to hand over from one crew to the next, depending on your prep and staffing. Your team sets opening hours, staffing and prep schedules within the terms the airport sets.

Boarding calls and food that travels

Many travelers carry food to the gate or onto the aircraft, so how an item holds up in a bag or on a tray table matters as much as how it looks at the counter. The logo files and style guide can be applied to the packaging your operation sources, and the food photography can be used on your menu boards and ordering screens. Packaging, holding practices and food-safety limits for carried food stay with your team and your own food-safety program.

Working inside the airport concession model

Airports usually manage food and beverage through a concession program. Space may be leased to a prime concessionaire, split among several direct operators, or leased to a developer who sublets individual units, and tenants are generally chosen through a formal solicitation. The airport’s program shapes which concepts fit each location, and your team decides whether a licensed brand belongs in your proposal.

Prime concessionaires, subleases and who holds the license

In a terminal, the business running a unit is not always the business that holds the lease with the airport. A prime concessionaire may operate some units itself and sublet others, and a developer may lease space to several independent operators. The license generally sits with whoever runs the unit day to day. Once we understand who leases what, the license agreement sets out the covered units, the term, and any territory or exclusivity.

Documents we can provide for a proposal

On request, we provide copies of the USPTO registration records, which show who owns each mark, along with brand materials for your response. Whether those documents meet a solicitation’s requirements, and all evaluation and selection, rest with the airport or the concession operator running the solicitation.

Program requirements and approvals

Each airport sets its own requirements for concession tenants, which can cover storefront design review, menu review, hours of operation and street-pricing policies. Working through those requirements is part of running your concession; the brand kit gives your team materials to submit, not an approval. Menu prices are your decision, made within any pricing terms in your agreement with the airport.

Back-of-house realities in a terminal

Airport kitchens face limits that street-side kitchens seldom meet, and those limits shape which brand suits a unit.

Screened deliveries and limited storage

Goods bound for units past security generally go through screening before they reach the unit, and at some airports they move through a central receiving point. Storage at the unit is often small, so operators may depend on frequent deliveries from a warehouse or commissary. A short core menu can make storage easier to plan, but your supply chain and the airport’s screening procedures decide what is practical.

Compact kitchens, ventilation and equipment

Terminal units often have limited ventilation, and an airport may restrict certain cooking methods in parts of a building. For each unit you have in mind, we compare the brand’s core menu with the equipment you have or plan to install. Ventilation, fire suppression and utilities are governed by the airport’s tenant requirements and local codes, and handled through your own design and permitting process.

Staff credentials and training

People who work past security usually need airport-issued credentials, arranged through the airport’s own badging process. Because each brand is built around a short core menu, there may be fewer items for new staff to learn, although how you train them is up to your team. Hiring, credentialing and scheduling remain your responsibility as well.

Other brands and other properties you operate

Airport concessionaires often run several differently named units in one terminal. A license agreement can list more than one brand and location, and each addition is covered once it is written into the agreement. If you are weighing several brands for one unit at different times of day, read how multi-concept brand licensing works. For properties beside the airport, we can talk about the same brands for hotel food and beverage outlets.