“If I Knew Then …”

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.”
 

Digging into her new role was “really, really eye-opening!” During our wide-ranging conversation, Dawn shared some of her impressions of this unexpectedly complex and high-cost business: High sales do not always equal profitability. The impact of rising construction costs on ACDBE joint venture partners. How airline schedules affect concessions. And more. Her conclusion: “it’s both sides of the table really understanding each other.”
 
Here are three key takeaways from our conversation with Dawn that everyone in our industry – concessionaires and airports – should understand:

1. Every business (including airports) wants to recover its own costs – that just makes sense. However, in some places, concessionaires aren’t allowed that common sense practice.
2. Up-front dialogue between concessionaires and airports helps build a better program. As Dawn describes, “It's not just having someone come in and draw the boxes and say, ‘let's put a local celebrity chef in there and this will be great.’ It is really looking holistically at not only the physical building, but also the financial terms and saying, ‘does this make business sense?’”
3. It’s not that airports don’t want to be good partners; sometimes they’re bound by constraints – local rules, airline agreements, management hierarchies, federal mandates – that force decisions which may not make obvious sense to a concessionaire. “There’s pressures coming from different places.”

 
These are just three takeaways. Dawn offered many more insights regarding the business framework between airports and concessions. We invite you to watch, listen to, or read our interesting and informative conversation at the following links:

Watch the Video

Listen to Audio

Read the Transcript

MEET OUR GUEST

Dawn Hunter
Vice President, Development
SSP America
 
Dawn joined SSP America in early 2023 with over 15 years’ experience in commercial and aviation leadership. Prior to joining the SSP team, Dawn was with the Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) for six years initially serving as the senior manager for airport dining and retail. She most recently held the position of director of aviation commercial management and interim chief operating officer. In this role, Dawn was responsible for generating non-aeronautical revenue with a scope of responsibilities that included airport concessions, parking, ground transportation, and airport building facilities maintenance. She represented the interests of tenants and business units when developing policies.

Prior to SEA, Dawn worked for the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) as the senior concessions manager and as the security manager in LAWA’s credential center. As the senior concessions manager, Dawn identified new concessions opportunities within operating terminals, worked with other departments to set goals and develop initiatives for increasing small, local, and minority business participation, and provided input and direction on concessions master plans with key stakeholders.

She holds dual master’s degrees in public administration and policy. Dawn has been recognized as an AMAC Emerging Leader (2019) and Property Manager of the Year by Airport Experience News (2021).