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Airports are unique and vibrant marketplaces, offering a rare opportunity to reach very large volumes of potential customers. Few other environments see such constant passenger flow. However, people move through airports to travel, and eating or drinking is not always their primary focus.
Airport F&B operates in a world of its own, largely driven by travel psychology.
Passengers move under time pressure from check-in to security to the gate, and their emotional state shifts constantly. They also travel as different 'personalities': business versus leisure, solo travellers versus families, each with distinct needs and expectations. The best operators design for these moments by prioritising clarity over choice and speed over show.
Another key difference compared to the high street is that once passengers pass through security, they become a captive audience. Travellers cannot simply walk out and choose another option. This changes everything: range and variety of offer, price perception, menu expectations, and how people decide where and what to eat.
Operationally, airports are among the most demanding environments for food & beverage. Space is scarce, and available infrastructure such as power and extraction is often limited. Operators must also navigate security and safety regulations, staffing constraints, complex logistics, storage limitations, and very long opening hours. As a result, costs and investment levels are higher, speed is critical, and logistics must work flawlessly.
The legal framework adds another layer of complexity. Airport concession agreements typically involve variable rents based on revenue, underpinned by a minimum guarantee. This model works well when passenger volumes are strong but quickly becomes a burden when volumes, and revenues, fall.
Nevertheless, food & beverage represents a major opportunity for growth, particularly in placemaking and customer experience. Younger generations, in particular, strongly identify with F&B as an experience driver.
In short: Airport F&B isn't harder because of the food, it's harder because of the context.
Over the past decade, F&B has shifted from a functional necessity to a core pillar of the airport experience. While traditional retail and duty-free have come under pressure, food & beverage continues to grow as both a revenue driver and an emotional anchor for travellers. Airports are no longer just transit points; they are increasingly becoming destinations in their own right.
This evolution is driven by three key forces. First, changing consumer values such as health, sustainability, plant-based options, and transparency now shape decision-making. Second, technology, including digital ordering, delivery models, and AI, is redefining convenience and expectations. Third, experience-led formats such as food halls, global flavours, and hybrid concepts are blurring traditional categories and standardised offerings.
Today, travellers expect airport dining to match the quality they experience on the high street. The days of 'good enough' are over.
Clear shifts are visible across both generations and travel purposes, and increasingly it is the combination of the two that matters.
Younger travellers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, arrive with very different expectations. They seek speed and convenience, healthier and more diverse options, strong design and brand identity, and seamless digital experiences. For them, airport F&B is not purely functional; it is part of the journey and often a form of self-expression.
Business travellers continue to value efficiency and predictability, but expectations have risen significantly. Barista-quality coffee, fresh food, and calm, well-considered spaces are now standard expectations.
Families and leisure travellers, often spanning multiple generations, are more experience-driven. They value clarity, flexibility, offers that work across age groups, and places where they can slow down together.
There is no longer a single passenger profile. The same person behaves very differently on a Monday business trip compared to a Friday holiday flight, or when travelling alone versus with family.
Airports are hosting traveller moments defined by who people are and why they are travelling. Designing F&B through this dual lens is becoming essential to deliver relevance, satisfaction, and long-term value.
Food & beverage is still too often planned as an afterthought in airports.
Space is frequently allocated as a fixed percentage of total GLA rather than being shaped by real passenger behaviour, volumes, and dwell times. The result is predictable: over- or under-capacity, long queues, and underperforming units that fail to meet both operational and experiential expectations.
Another common assumption is that more brands or more locations automatically lead to better performance. In reality, a strong F&B portfolio is not about quantity, but about coherence and diversity. Copy-pasting concepts without a clear logic or role within the passenger journey rarely delivers sustainable results.
Finally, visibility and infrastructure remain major challenges. F&B is still sometimes placed in hidden corners or spaces lacking proper visibility, utilities, extraction, or back-of-house areas. These constraints make efficient operations and high-quality execution extremely difficult, regardless of brand strength.
While these challenges are complex and often rooted in legacy layouts or operational constraints, they also represent a major opportunity. With the right strategic approach and expertise involved early enough, airports can turn these pitfalls into drivers of performance, experience, and placemaking.
Without strategy, every decision becomes tactical; and tactical decisions rarely create long-term value.
A solid F&B strategy and masterplan creates a clear sense of place and experience, turns terminals into meaningful destinations, and ensures the offer truly reflects passenger needs. It optimises capacity and flow, attracts the right operators and brands, strengthens the overall retail ecosystem, and maximises sustainable non-aviation revenue.
In short, a well-defined strategy protects both experience and income. Without it, brand selection becomes reactive rather than purposeful, and opportunities for long-term value creation are missed.
At Conceptional, we begin with a fundamental shift in mindset: moving from business cases to value cases.
Rather than asking, 'Which brands can we fill this space with?', we first ask, 'Which traveller moments do we want to serve, and what value should this create for passengers, operators, and the airport?' This means starting with people and context, not square metres. This customer-centric approach is fundamental to how we work.
We map the existing F&B ecosystem, analyse performance, and study passenger flows, dwell times, and pinch points across the journey. From there, we define traveller profiles, needs, and expectations, both today and in the years ahead, and translate these insights into a clear vision and strategic pillars for F&B.
On this foundation, we develop an integrated masterplan covering spatial planning, capacity and mix, concept logic, leasing strategy, and financial modelling. All elements are aligned with the airport's ambition and non-aeronautical revenue goals, resulting in a coherent portfolio rather than a collection of standalone units.
A key part of our role is connecting stakeholders. We act as a bridge between landlords, operators, and brands, aligning interests, supporting brand selection based on genuine fit, and ensuring that infrastructure, operations, and guest experience work together in practice, not just on paper.
The masterplan can then be strengthened through specialised layers, such as embedding sustainability across the F&B strategy via our Sustainable Food Route, like we did with Schiphol Airport; developing F&B concept strategies, such as our work for Aeropuertos Argentina; delivering concept development for specific locations and traveller profiles, as at Brussels Airport; or supporting F&B tenders across multiple airports in the EMEA region.
Airports need to place the traveller at the heart of every decision and involve professionals who truly understand food & beverage, not only how to design beautiful spaces, but how to operate them successfully.
Rather than simply planning spaces, airports must plan purpose, content, and adaptability. Airport F&B is no longer about filling units or maximising short-term revenue. When approached strategically, it becomes a catalyst for experience, placemaking, and sustainable growth.
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