A Conversation with Kevin Burke
President and CEO
Airports Council International – North America

​Earlier this year, Kevin Burke celebrated his 10th anniversary as President and CEO of Airport Council International – North America. During his decade in office, Kevin has seen innovation and growth in our industry, as well as a (hopefully) once in a lifetime, serious, industry-threatening challenge. Over his tenure, despite Covid, the industry transformed to a stronger, better place. Yet, ever the optimist, Kevin sees our brightest days ahead.

​A Conversation with Paul Brown
Senior Director, Airport Brand and Concept Development
SSP America

​Many of us know Paul Brown as manager of concessions at Atlanta, and earlier in his career at SeaTac, O’Hare, and Midway. Most recently, Paul was airport director at Jackson, Mississippi. And along the way he worked for concessionaires and brands. Paul has been part of the concessions scene for more than 20 years and has seen our industry from all sides. So, when Paul speaks, we should listen!

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​When  managing the concessions program at the world’s busiest airport, Marlene Coleman once thought concessions was a very lucrative business — “almost to the point where you think concessionaires are printing cash.” Since joining Areas USA, she now realizes that is a false impression. She now realizes that airport concessions teams see only sales and rent. Marlene now realizes that the airport perspective is “out of balance because there are so many other costs.”

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Meghan Woods admits her experience at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport was “kind of in a bubble.” But the holistic approach to airport management she learned there informs her insights to the airport-concessionaire business relationship. It’s an understanding of the overall airport messaging with a view to communication, assistance, and working collaboratively together. It’s the sense of partnership that grew in the pandemic and continues today.

​A Conversation with Liz Grzechowiak
Senior Director, Brands and Concept Development
Delaware North
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Liz Grzechowiak develops brands and concepts for Delaware North. Before Covid, Liz developed concessions for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. She has clearly seen the concessions industry from “both sides.” And Liz has seen many RFPs – from “both sides.” What surprises Liz: “there’s so much opportunity to bolster and refine the process, to make it a streamlined experience for both parties.” All it takes is transparency and communication. Which, ultimately, would enhance the guest experience.
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A Conversation with Dawn Hunter
Vice President, Business Development
SSP America

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​A look from the other side often adds clarity to a situation. After joining SSP America earlier this year from a leadership position at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Dawn Hunter has now seen the concessions industry from “both sides.” What has Dawn learned at SSP that she wishes she had known during her time at SeaTac? Unexpected complexity and high costs. During her airport days, Dawn knew concession businesses cost a lot, but she “had no idea how much money it really cost.”
 

A Conversation with Nick Crews
Managing Partner and President/CEO, Crews Hospitality
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​Earlier this summer, ACI-NA sponsored its annual Business of Airports conference. One of the many insightful panels was “Pivoting best practices in concessions.” The significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and solid recovery that has followed together forced airport operators and airport concessionaires to pivot their strategies and operations to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. This panel provided insights into their own experiences and best practices for pivoting the airport concession industry through our post-pandemic recovery.
 

​(A PANEL AT SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS CO-ORGANIZED BY THE MOODIE DAVITT REPORT AND ARRA)
 
With Panelists
Jim DeCock, AirProjects
Matthew Greenbaum, International Shoppes
Erasmo Orillac, Motta Internacional
Andrew Weddig, Airport Restaurant & Retail Association
 
Moderated By
Dermot Davitt, The Moodie Davitt Report

This panel revisited the theme we first explored at Summit of the Americas last year: recovery toward a “new normal” for airport concessions. This year, we updated the state of the recovery, topics that our industry has addressed over the past year, and the many topics that remain to be resolved. Although our industry is much improved from one year ago, we cannot overlook the impact of the pandemic: air travel has widely recovered to 2019 levels, but that is still more than 10% below where we expected to be in 2023. And the people who did not travel during the three years of the pandemic – nearly 1.3 billion travelers in the U.S. alone – and their purchases are lost forever.

​With Guests
John Cugasi, Paradies Lagardère
Stu Holcombe, Travel Retail Partners
Mookie Patel, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
 
​The RFP topic is so big, so important, it took two Forums to do the topic justice! For our December Forum, “Revisiting the Ideal RFP,” we posed a difficult question: do current RFPs reflect the financial and operational realities of the post-Covid business environment? Our guests’ answer: not so much! Mookie, Stu, and John covered many facets of the Ideal RFP: balancing the needs of airports and concessionaires, industry lifecycles, moving the needle on MAG, and the role of procurement rules. We encourage you to read the recap or watch the replay here.
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With Guests
John Cugasi, Paradies Lagardère
Stu Holcombe, Travel Retail Partners
Mookie Patel, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
 
 
The RFP topic is so big, so important, we got through only half our agenda! For our December Forum, ARRA hosted three industry veterans who – along with host Andy Weddig – collectively have worked on more than 500 RFPs over their careers. This panel knows RFPs! And, as we all know, RFPs set the framework for a successful airport-concessionaire business relationship.