INTERNATIONAL. The Moodie Davitt Report is back with the third year of our popular column dedicated to recognising people in our industry – frontline, back office, logistics, management and more – for their commitment and achievements as our sector recovers at great speed from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Travel Retail and F&B Superstars column is a key component in the lead up to this year’s Travel Retail Superstars Awards and FAB Superstars Awards. Details on the timing of these new fixtures in the travel retail calendar will follow soon.
See the 2022 winners of these two awards programmes in the videos at the foot of this column.
If you’d like to nominate a team member, or team, for inclusion in this year’s column, please email Mark Lane at Mark@MoodieDavittReport.com or Martin Moodie at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com.
24 March
Bahrain Duty Free team, Bahrain International Airport
There has been a tremendous accomplishment this week by the Bahrain Duty Free team, which achieved its highest ever sales for a single morning on Monday, according to the company’s LinkedIn feed.
The post said: “At the heart of this success and record-breaking feat is the entire Shift One team who worked the morning. A huge congrats and well done to each of you.”
Bahrain Duty Free CEO and Board Director Bassam Al Wardi added: “This is an incredibly proud moment for the business. The product knowledge, high standards of customer service, and hard work of each member of our sales team has made this record possible.
“With the right resources, training and support, every goal is made possible at Bahrain Duty Free Company. Well done to all of you.”
HMSHost Finland team, Helsinki Airport
HMS Host International CEO Walter Seib has given high praise to the HMSHost Finland team for successfully opening a new F&B venue, Asia Street Cooking, at Helsinki Airport.
Walter said: “The menu in ASC is yet another great example of the amazing talent we have in team HEL: Laura Moisio, Mikko Lahtinen and Kaung Htwe aka Mikey have all outdone themselves: the dishes and flavours are out of this world!“
“Big thanks to Store Manager Jenni Mäkinen and Kitchen Manager Mikey and the whole team in Two Tigers [an adjacent F&B venue] and Asia Street Cooking: your hard work, dedication and professionalism ensured one of the smoothest openings we’ve ever had.”
Kris Romero, SSP America, Orlando International Airport
SSP America Director of Operations Lidexy Rodriguez has paid tribute to employee Kris Romero, who has risen through the ranks from cashier to become Assistant General Manager at Orlando International Airport restaurant Urban Crave.
A post on LinkedIn highlighted Kris’s multiple talents and problem-solving abilities, describing her as a “MacGyver-like, Swiss-Army knife”.
The post added: “Kris exemplifies two of our passion principles – open to new ideas and innovation every day. And yeah, we think she’s pretty cool. Keep doing you Kris.”
Lagardère Travel Retail team, Lima Airport
Lagardère Travel Retail Chief Transformation & Organization Officer/Regional COO Americas Jean Baptiste-Morin recently paid a visit to Peru’s Lima Airport. There, he met with the retailer’s team and employees from partner Lima Airport Partners.
He shared this high praise on LinkedIn: “Times are challenging but it was great to meet the team, in particular all the sales managers and supervisors. They had their first ever meeting of all supervisors, some of them after more than ten years on the shop floor: the opportunity to meet and share ideas and best practices and learn more about staff engagement and communication with their teams.
“I am very proud of the accomplishments delivered after one year of operations and of our partnership with Lima Airport Partners. There is so much to do in the future but we must recognise the results so far.
“Proud also that we can support Peruvian producers and give them space to present their products to a wide audience of travellers: fashion, Pisco, chocolate… an incredible range. Giving more space to these products is helping to promote and support local communities.
“Kudos to Cyril Letocart [CEO Lagardère Travel Peru] and more than 150 people working in our teams in Callao.”
21 February
Megan Roberts, Social Media Team, Manchester Airport
Congratulations to Megan Roberts, who has just secured a permanent position with the Manchester Airport social media team. The airport publicly announced her appointment at the end of National Apprenticeship Week in the UK.
The airport offered this high praise to Megan (pictured below) in a post on LinkedIn: “We are thrilled to offer Social Media Apprentice Megan Roberts a permanent position in the Manchester Airport Social Media Team. Over the last ten months Meg has excelled in her Juice Academy apprenticeship, bringing fresh ideas, creativity and passion to the role.”
Also via LinkedIn, Manchester Airports Group Social Media Manager Ellie Todd offered this glowing tribute: “So incredibly proud of this girl. I knew from the first few minutes of her interview ten months ago that she was a perfect fit for our team and since then she has excelled. Congratulations Megan Roberts.”
12 February
Farmer’s Market team, Indianapolis International Airport
SSP America CEO Michael Svagdis visited Indianapolis International Airport this week to be part of the opening celebrations for the food & beverage operator’s newest venture, the Farmer’s Market restaurant.
The eatery serves up a menu of foods and products grown, produced and packaged by more than 60 Indiana Grown members. The Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Indiana Grown initiative was created to promote products that are grown or made by Hoosiers [a native or inhabitant of the state of Indiana -Ed].
In a post on LinkedIn, Michael had these words of praise for the SSP team behind the new venture: “Super excited to be part of the grand opening of the Farmer’s Market featuring Indiana Grown with the Indianapolis Airport Authority yesterday. Our team is rocking it! They exemplify our passion principles. The team is definitely serving from the heart with a passion for every detail. So proud of our team in Indy.”
6 February
Camden Food team, Dubai International Airport
SSP Group (Global) Head of Safety Lisa Cobb has offered high praise to the team which operates the SSP concept Camden Food at Dubai International Airport (DXB).
Lisa called in to the store while transiting through the travel hub, and paid this very nice tribute to the team and its Duty Manager Amr Ramadan, who has worked for SSP at DXB across 17 years.
In a post on LinkedIn, she said: “It was great to meet Amr Ramadan [pictured below with Lisa] and the team and to chat about people and food safety here at Camden Food. Even in the early hours, Amr is amazing with our customers, speaking so many languages to give that customer interaction a personal touch. An absolute pleasure to watch.”
5 February
Jones Express team, Dubai International Airport
HMSHost International CEO Walter Seib has recently visited some of his company’s operations across Middle East airports. The tour included a visit to Dubai International Terminal 2, where he picked out gourmet brand Jones Express for special praise.
The café offers single origin coffees, croissants, muffins, sandwiches, salads, soups and hearty mains.
In a post on LinkedIn, Walter said: “Visited the Middle East region and had a great visit to Dubai Terminal 2 where we operate a Jones Express. Great store, great products and great associates led by store manager Robert from Kenya. So much energy and passion, thanks for all the efforts.”
Tennessee Trading Post team, Nashville International Airport
Hudson Executive Vice President Brian Quinn has expressed his delight at the performance of the company’s concept Tennessee Trading Post at Nashville International Airport.
The Tennessee Trading Post store recently won the ‘2022 Unit of the Year’ award from Fraport Tennessee in recognition of the team’s strong sales performance, commitment to service and partnership with the airport.
“Congratulations to our incredible team at BNA,” said Brian in a post on LinkedIn. “Thanks to our friends at Fraport for this recognition. Tennessee Trading Post delivers the best of Hudson with a strong local flavour. A true win for the traveller and the local brands featured in this space.”
No.1 Lounges team, Gatwick Airport
New York-based Airport Dimensions VP Global Guest Experience Gilles Alexandre Bussutil has paid a visit to the No.1 Lounges team at Gatwick Airport. He was joined by No.1 Lounges Managing Director Shaun Weston and Director of Operations James Feeney on the tour.
In a post on LinkedIn, Gilles gave this praise to the Gatwick No.1 Lounges team (pictured below): “Led by Shaun and James, we explored our incredible lounges, but most importantly met with our incredible colleagues who day after day provide memorable experiences to our guests.”
No.1 Lounges is a joint venture between Airport Dimensions and Swissport and also operates pay-to-use airport lounges at Heathrow and Birmingham airports in the UK.
Meet last year’s winners of the inaugural Travel Retail Superstars Awards (see video above) and FAB Superstars Awards (see video below).
Great stakeholders in travel retail and F&B graced last year’s Superstars column including Heathrow Airport, Fraport USA, Cyprus Duty Free, Plaza Premium Lounge, Palm Beach Airport, Paradies Lagardère, HMSHost, Heinemann Americas, SSP Austria, Marketplace PHL, Bahrain Duty Free, Viking Line, Areas Iberia, Melbourne Airport, Lagardère Travel Retail and SSP America.
Read the Travel Retail and F&B Superstars Column 2022 here.
Read the Travel Retail and F&B Superstars Column 2021 here.
