Airport Fine Dining? No Thanks, Say Most Business Travelers
Business travelers on average prefer quick-service restaurants—that is, fast food—fine dining restaurants at airports, according to recent dining and expense data trends and some industry insiders.
"We initially thought the business traveler was a bit more inelastic on cost; [that] they would be ordering from the full-service sit-down restaurants that they just don't have time to go to," said Jeff Livney, chief experience officer of Grab, which provides airport restaurants with self-checkout kiosks, self-order tablets and mobile ordering platforms. Instead, "business travelers are ordering from Chick-fil-A, Shake Shack and quick-service brands just as much as leisure travelers and airline crew employees do." They often chose those brands over local brands, Livney said.
Expense management system provider Emburse told BTN that Starbucks was the most expensed restaurant in 2019 at U.S. airports by business travelers in 2019. The top 10 most expensed restaurants at airports included Chick-fil-A, Chili’s, Dunkin Donuts, TGI Friday’s, McDonald’s, California Pizza Kitchen and Panda Express, in that order.
Of more than 64 million client transactions analyzed by corporate dining program provider Dinova, which totaled $3.8 billion in spend, 2.5 percent were at U.S. airports, compromising 0.7 percent of dining spend, Dinova found. Travelers spent $16 on average at U.S. airport restaurants, compared to $60 at all restaurants.
Average airport dining spending is so much lower because more than half of that spend is at quick-service restaurants, which are cheaper than other types of restaurants, said Dinova marketing VP Shannon Delaney. Quick-service restaurants accounted for 56 percent of its airport dining transactions at U.S. airports in 2019, with fast-casual (food made at the counter in front of customers, like Chipotle and Moe's) 24 percent, casual (restaurants with seated service, like Applebee's), 14 percent and fine dining (white-tablecloth establishments with higher price points) 5 percent. Dinova found quick-service brands dominated the list. The top brands were Starbucks, Chili's, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King and Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.
Some airports like San Diego International and Baltimore Washington International in the U.S. now host startup delivery services like Airport Sherpa and AtYourGate that travelers can use to have their food, beverages and merchandise delivered to them as they wait by their boarding gate. It's pretty much like Uber Easts or DoorDash but within the airport terminal.
Like those other guys outside the airport environment, these services exist as mobile apps. Users download, input their flight information, shop on the menus of the participating restaurants and have their food, beverage and merchandise delivered to them as they wait by their gate—for a small fee, naturally.
Travelers spend most of their time close to their gate, according to OAG. In a 2019 survey of over 2,000 travelers, 34 percent of whom were business travelers, OAG found 45 percent sit, relax and work at the gate; 32 percent evenly split their time between the gate and shops and restaurants; and 7 percent spend their time at restaurants, bars and retail shops. In the survey, only 9 percent of travelers reported having used gateside delivery for food and beverages, but 62 percent said they were willing to try it.
The genesis for Airport Sherpa came from company CEO and cofounder Patrick DellaValle's personal experience as a frequent business traveler who saw the gap in convenience and comfort between outside and inside the airport. "Outside the airport, you can have anything you want delivered to you at any point in time. It can be aligned with your schedule. It's really very seamless and straightforward," he said. "Inside the airport, you didn't have any of those comforts. You didn't have any of that digital innovation to guide you through that process, especially to be able to order in advance or whether it's for pickup."
Operating in nine airports, such as Minneapolis-Saint Paul International, Boston Logan and Newark International, AtYourGate sees itself as part of a series of trip tools like Lyft and Clear designed to streamline the traveler experience, said AtYourGate cofounder and chief experience officer Chris Hartman. Just as how Clear expedited waiting times for security clearance, AtYourGate expedites ordering food and beverages at restaurants, he said. Among its users, AtYourGate has a Net Promotor Score in the "mid-to-high 70s," Hartman said.
For business travelers, AtYourGate positions itself as a time saver, productivity enhancer and a travel perk. "If you can head straight to the gate and maybe squeeze in one more phone call before you board and have your food brought right to you, those kinds of things are hugely valuable," he said. Based on feedback from business travelers, Hartman said travelers include AtYourGate in their trip planning after they use it a few times and get the hang of it.
To drive customer acquisition among business travelers, venture capital-backed Airport Sherpa goes to corporates with promotional codes for free or discounted deliveries to distribute to their travelers, according to DellaValle. After using the service repeatedly, the hope is that business travelers will stick to the platform for their deliveries. To make corporate usage easier and more seamless, Airport Sherpa has expense management system integrations on its roadmap this year. At the moment, the company provides itemized receipts for travelers.
According to DellaValle, compared to leisure travelers, business travelers are less cost conscious, buy healthier foods and are particular about what they purchase. "They tend to order closer to their boarding time, which makes sense because a lot of them have TSA Pre-Check and Clear."
They also tend to use his service to be more productive or take a break. "For the most part, when they have a layover or delay, even when they are in the business lounge, for example, they've got work to do. Getting food is something they don't want to spend time to figure out and a lot of times they've got their carry-on bags with them," said DellaValle, since checked bags are an extra money and time cost that savvy business travelers don’t want to bear.
The Bottom Line vs the Waistline
From a cost perspective, less nutritious food, which quick-service restaurants can feature, saves the company money. "If you go for nutrient-dense food as opposed to empty-calories food, then it's more expensive to pay for that," said Angela Steel, founder of SuperWellness, which consults companies on better nutrition and health practices.
Encouraging healthier food consumption has a return on investment, Steel said. Companies should "consider what's it actually costing them," she said. "[Think about] the fact that their employees are having high-sugar foods or high-processed food in terms of what's costing them in terms of health insurance or employee wellness."
Education is the best way to encourage better eating at airports, Steel said. Travel managers can educate travelers about the health risks of eating poorly while emphasizing the benefits of eating healthy, like higher energy levels, mood and better work performance. Steel has made lists of recommended airport restaurants for corporate clients, with some of them going as far to incentivize travelers to eat at recommended restaurants with meal vouchers.