INTERNATIONAL. Welcome to our video review of the Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference, which took place virtually on 11-12 September. The event, organised by The Moodie Davitt Report, featured a series of compelling presentations and interviews around key themes in the world of travel dining.
SSP Group CEO Patrick Coveney introduced a key session from one of our pillar sponsors, which featured colleagues and associates from across the SSP business (see video).
The session explored a number of crucial topics around the subject of partnership, including its meaning and the role partnerships played in helping the airport F&B industry to emerge from the crisis.
Participants also discussed how the nature of partnerships is evolving, and what uniting forces from the past two years need to be preserved to ensure the airport F&B sector continues to grow into the future.
Coveney concluded with a wide-ranging discussion with Dermot Davitt on the changing nature of the airport F&B business.
Coveney was asked by Davitt when recovery from the crisis will be considered complete. He replied: “I think we are recovered from crisis right now, [with exceptions] we’re broadly back in terms of volumes and passenger numbers. And I think that mindset is important because the answer for what we want to do with our business and industry is not going to be found by trying to replicate what we had in 2019.
“Travellers are different, the air environment is different, brands are different, digital is different… we have to architect concepts and service propositions that work for our clients, and ultimately that work for passengers as they are travelling over the rest of 2022 and into the future. We must configure brilliant F&B solutions that meet those needs.”
*Click here for session by session coverage of FAB 2022. More highlights will appear on our platforms shortly.
