Announcing a Fabulous 2018 Airport Food & Beverage Conference programme

FINLAND/INTERNATIONAL. A powerful programme of expert speakers and diverse topics has been revealed for the seventh Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference, to be held in Helsinki from 20-21 June.

FAB is organised by The Moodie Davitt Report (with sister title The Foodie Report) and will be hosted this year by Finavia Corporation, operator of Helsinki Vantaa Airport.

FAB, the only industry event dedicated solely to the airport F&B sector, attracts senior representatives from the world’s leading airports, food & beverage concessionaires and brands.

Autogrill and its food & beverage divisions HMSHost and HMSHost International, OTG and SSP have pledged their support as Platinum Partners for this year’s event. Areas and Lagardère Travel Retail are Silver Partners, and Mango Tree, Travel Food Services and TRG Concessions supporting sponsors. Copper Dog whisky will once again sponsor the innovative #Airofthedog Great Airport Cocktail Award at the annual FAB Awards.

Sarah Naqvi (HMSHost), Steven Barrow Barlow (Kallpod) and Mark Bergsrud (GRAB) with The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie at the 2017 FAB Conference

Conference topics will range from best practice in airport food & beverage to digital developments and data; plus insights from the world of F&B design. Case studies and interactive sessions will highlight a range of innovative concepts and chef-led dining experiences.

FAB 2018 will begin with an Opening Lunch on 20 June (preceded by an airport tour), followed by a half-day plenary session and the Opening Cocktail. Day Two will feature a full-day conference, culminating in the Gala Dinner and FAB Awards on 21 June.

Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference 2018 Preliminary Programme

Day 1 Wednesday June 20

08.30 Helsinki Airport Tour

Finavia

1230 Lunch

1400 Welcome and introduction

Martin Moodie, Chairman, The Moodie Davitt Report

1415 Host airport’s welcome

Joni Sundelin, Senior Vice President, Airport Director, Helsinki Airport

1430 Why Innovation + Imagination = Incremental Revenues

Elena Stenholm, Vice President Commercial Services, Finavia

Walter Seib, CEO, HMSHost International

Eugene Barry, Executive Vice President Commercial, Dubai Airports

1530 Digitalisation and humanisation in travel dining

Xavier Rossinyol, CEO, Gategroup

1600 Coffee Break

1630 Transforming consumer perception

Glyn Williams, General Manager Retail, Sydney Airport

1705 Tomorrow’s airport for today’s passenger – reinventing the airport dining experience

Rick Blatstein, CEO, OTG

1740 Day 1 concludes

19.00 Welcome Evening & Opening Cocktail

Day 2 Thursday June 21

08.00 Registration & refreshments

08.45 Welcome

Martin Moodie, Chairman, The Moodie Davitt Report

08.50 An audience with…

Speaker to be named soon.

9.20 PANEL: Tech, Trends & Tastes – Analysing the evolving airport F&B landscape

Sarah Naqvi, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, HMSHost North America

Patrick DellaValle, CEO, Airport Sherpa

George Martin Moore, Vice President – Non Aeronautical Revenues Bahrain Airport Company*

To be joined for Q&A session by:

Steve Johnson, President & CEO, HMSHost North America

10.20 Driving a data revolution

Craig Mackie, General Manager, Moodie Insights

10.50 Coffee Break

11.15 CASE STUDIES: Thinking out of the box in airport dining

Heidi Köpple, Head Commercial Centers, Zurich Airport

Talha Al Hashimi, Chief Executive Officer, HWH Hospitality Investments

Deema Anani, Commercial Director, Amman Queen Alia International Airport (Jordan)

12.15 FAB COOKS! The Chef’s Table

Renowned Finnish chefs Marko Palovaara (Bistro O Mat, Kirkkonummi) and Mika Roito (Ravinteli Bertha, Tampere) join SSP CEO Nordics and Spain, Group Director Strategic Client Partnerships Nick Inkster for a live cooking demonstration and interactive discussion on culinary trends.

13.15 Lunch

14.30 New dynamics in airport F&B

Steve Collis, Joint Managing Director, JHP

Mark Bergsrud, CEO, GRAB

Mélanie Guilldou, Executive Vice President Food Services, Lagardere Travel Retail

1530 Coffee Break

1600 Future positive? Where is airport dining headed?

Nick Inkster, CEO Western Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Nordics, SSP

Angela Heuer, Director of Business Development for Airports, Westfield

Zenola Campbell, Vice President Concessions, Dallas Fort Worth Airport

David King, Convenor of Judges, FAB

17.00 Conference ends

19.00 Pre-Gala Dinner cocktails

20.00 Gala Dinner & Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Awards 2018

*to be confirmed

Recognising excellence: The FAB 2017 winners at last year’s event in Toronto

2018 Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Awards

A Gala Dinner on 21 June will see the annual FAB Awards recognise and reward best practice in airport (and railway station) food & beverage.

Location, location, location: The Clarion Hotel is one of Helsinki’s best-equipped conference venues and lies at the heart of the city

The event will be held at the Clarion Hotel in Helsinki. Click here for hotel and conference registration.

NOTE: The Moodie Davitt Report also publishes The Foodie Report, the world’s only media focused on airport (and other travel-related) food & beverage. The Foodie Report e-Newsletter is published every two weeks and The Foodie Report e-Zine every month.

Please send all news of food & beverage outlet openings, together with images, menus, video etc to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com to ensure unrivalled global exposure.

Food & Beverage The Magazine eZine