HUNGARY. Heinemann Duty Free has launched a fine food festival at Budapest Airport celebrating local specialities.
The ‘Festival of Gourmets’ campaign is running until the end of October. Heinemann has installed special areas within its stores where customers can taste and purchase popular regional products. These include salami, wine, fruit brandy, herb liqueurs and chocolate.
Heinemann also partnered with the airport to host an exclusive Festival of Gourmets dinner and live cooking event in Terminal 1 on 10 October. Long-standing members of the retailer’s customer programme ‘Heinemann & ME’ were invited to attend, along with local social media influencers and food & lifestyle bloggers.
Heinemann Duty Free Budapest has achieved the highest percentage of regional products sales among Gebr Heinemann’s worldwide retail operations, with growth of more than +50% in sales since 1998.
Guests were also invited to get involved with the preparation of the culinary delicacies, which were created by Gasztro-Hack professional chefs. The majority of wines and specialities used to create the menu came from the regional and fine food range at Heinemann Duty Free Budapest.
Representatives from all local suppliers participating in the Festival of Gourmets took part in the event. Wineries Royal Tokaji, Patrícius, St. Andrea, Vylyan and Vida Péter; Pálinka (fruit brandy) distillery Bestillo; and chocolate manufacturer ChocoMe presented their product ranges during the event.
“We wanted to offer our guests an extraordinary dining experience at a special venue where they could enjoy the finest Hungarian cuisine and have interesting conversations in a relaxed atmosphere,” said Heinemann Duty Free Budapest Managing Director Ildikó Jankovich.
“At Heinemann Duty Free Budapest we constantly strive to delight our customers with our attractive shopping offer. At this event, however, our primary concern was to create a tangible experience for the customers of the brands and our range of specialities, and to ensure that their visit to us was a special, emotional experience.”
Budapest Airport Head of Retail and Advertising Patrick Bohl commented: “Being at the core of Budapest’s distinctive shopping experience, our partnership [with Gebr Heinemann] has allowed us to offer our customers exclusive campaigns and the ‘Festival of Gourmets’ has given us another opportunity to continue our vision and commitment.
“It has been an honour to host Gebr Heinemann’s exclusive dinner at our historic Terminal 1 Event Center – the ideal setting for such an exceptional experience for both our customers and partners.”
The partners noted that Budapest Airport has become one of the country’s largest points of sale for Hungarian products over the past two decades.
Heinemann Duty Free Budapest has also achieved the highest percentage of regional products sales among Gebr Heinemann’s worldwide retail operations, with growth of more than +50% in sales since 1998.
