You're Gonna Need a Bigger Kitchen

Thanks for the below-linked post @ivofavotto and @helenpawson. It sounds like @cherylnashir and SFO are pursuing a brave and inspired strategy – just what one expects from the West Coast.

There are a number of reasons we think they’re onto a winner, not least the increasing dominance of online retail generally, and the likely further restrictions in relation to cabin space as airlines continue to compete on price.

Taking the F&B vs traditional retail thinking a step further, it is reasonable to envisage F&B retail space being split much more heavily towards kitchen/supply than seating. With the pace of technological change, this could have happened as little as five years from now.

This vision anticipates airports making ever better use of 'dead' (i.e. non-retail, non-operational) airside space, which is as well suited to sitting down to eat and drink as most other pre-boarding non-shopping activities. More fundamentally, our view is premised on emerging solutions which enable passengers to pre-order airside F&B to take on-board.

Taking Off Now | Online Takeaway / Delivery for Airports

The online takeaway/delivery model being developed by Piccnicc in the UK, and the likes of Airport Sherpa, At Your Gate and Jourve in the US, has many phases, but for now let us focus briefly on two – v1.0, and the long game.

With ever fewer airlines / routes offering F&B included in the price of the flight (and that of poor choice and quality, especially in economy) it is only natural to expect passengers to look more closely to bringing F&B on-board.

Until now that has been relatively difficult – there are all sorts of challenges around bringing a packed lunch to the airport, and abundant factors which prevent many who would like to, from buying food and drink in the airport to enjoy on-board.

All that is now changing. The familiarity of most air passengers with online takeaway services such as UberEats, Deliveroo and so on – makes it a no-brainer to expect and use the same service at airports. (Catering for security and food quality requirements, we will assume that the marketplace offers food and drink exclusively from existing airside restaurants).

The Recipe for Short-term Success

In the short-term, as with the roll out of many other tech-enabled personal services, the key to a successful 1.0 is two-fold: simplicity and delivery.

• Simplicity in terms of the offering – transit-suitable menu options, intuitive ordering process, straightforward delivery/collection process
• Delivery with a capital D. The service offering must reflect an obsession with customer service which exceeds expectations, so that early adopters – consumers and commercial partners alike – embrace their opportunity to champion the concept.

The short-term application of this model is best seen as an 'enabler', making it easier for air passengers to make purchases they'd already like to make.

The other D-word

The long game is equally logical. As passengers become more familiar with the benefits of such a service compared to buying on-board, so the tipping point will arrive when the airlines also adopt the concept.

Instead of selling (or pricing in) expensive and unpopular on-board meal options, airlines will see the broad commercial and specific financial benefits of moving supply to airside F&B retailers, with the likes of Piccnicc fulfilling the logistical requirements by expanding their existing infrastructure.

At this stage, airside F&B will meet two complementary markets – in-airport snacking and dining, and in-flight meal supplier.

This phase entails genuine Disruption. For CDs, Kodak and black taxis, read Gate Gourmet and their like, as the airline catering industry, which is already bearing the brunt of major reductions in demand from legacy carriers such as British Airways, faces just one of the major upheavals that commercial aviation so badly needs.

If you're an airport F&B operation, as they’d say on the West Coast, you're gonna need a bigger kitchen.

The Analyst – Is it time to swap airport specialty retail with food & beverage?