Introduction: The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and research and intelligence firm tRetail Labs recently struck a strategic partnership that aims to accelerate the adoption of healthy food & beverage options for travellers.
The agreement brings together independent, not-for-profit organisation CIA’s leadership in food, health, sustainability and culinary education, and tRetail Labs’ nrtureAI platform.
CIA’s Menus of Change initiative and tRetail Labs are now jointly developing the 2035 Travel Food & Beverage Manifesto, a research initiative to help the foodservice industry work towards a future of ‘delicious, healthy and commercially viable’ offerings. We present their Position Paper on the project below.
The Context
Traveller expectations and purchasing behaviours are steadily shifting towards healthier and more nutritious food choices. Yet this demand remains structurally underserved, creating a growing opportunity for the airport F&B industry to seize over the next decade.
The 2035 Airport Food and Beverage Manifesto addresses this gap by proposing the adoption of the Menus of Change framework as an industry-proven, whole-system approach that positions delicious, healthy food experiences as a core element of an airport experience.
The Menus of Change framework, jointly developed by The Culinary Institute of America, is a comprehensive guide for the foodservice industry to build a future where ‘delicious, healthy, and commercially viable’ are integrated as one.
The 2035 Airport Food and Beverage Manifesto sets forth a business opportunity for applying the Menus of Change framework to the airport food environment over the next decade. The proposal better supports human health, planetary health and long-term commercial viability at scale, now and into the future.
Within a broader all-encompassing travel food & beverage domain, the manifesto focuses on opportunities for airport innovation. Airports represent the highest leverage starting point within the travel food & beverage continuum. They are controlled, highly visible and policy-influenced environments where multiple food systems converge, and where millions of food decisions are made every day under time pressure, fatigue and emotional load.
What is offered in airport terminals does more than meet immediate demand; it establishes norms, sets expectations for inflight and onboard experiences, and signals what food during travel should look like.
While airports have historically been treated as exceptions to everyday eating norms and to nutritional responsibility, justified by throughput, convenience and the transient nature of travel, that framing is no longer credible.
Public health priorities and rising passenger expectations are converging. For example, nearly one in four Americans are actively limiting their meat intake, while 44% of consumers state they would be likely to choose a plant-forward dish that featured flavours they know and love.
Policymakers are increasingly explicit that airports should help set the standard for a future where healthy eating is part of daily life, travel days included; while more consumers are looking for healthy and nutritious food & beverage options in the airport setting. This creates clear and growing opportunities for airports and operators alike.
Redefining healthy and nutritional in an airport context
“The industry broadly agrees that healthier food belongs in airports. Where it continues to struggle is definition.”
Health and wellbeing in an airport context cannot be reduced to calorie counts, ingredient labels or isolated healthy menu items. Nor can it be divorced from commercial performance or traveller choice.
Any credible definition must balance three forces: traveller demand, operator viability, and market and system opportunity.
The challenge and opportunity is in designing a healthy food & beverage environment inspired by proven strategies embraced by other foodservice sectors at scale.
For example, a collective shift in food purchases for college and universities leveraging the Menus of Change framework between 2019 and 2023 resulted in a -10.69% reduction in food costs per kilogram of food purchased, with an estimated US$32.65 million in food cost savings attributable to collective plant-forward menu shifts.
Another example is the fast-casual and quick-service industry group, the Healthy Menus R&D Collaborative. Collectively, the initiative leveraged the CIA’s Menus of Change framework to develop the original umami-rich ‘mushroom-blend’ strategy.
Major brands such as Sonic and Sodexo demonstrated that replacing up to 80% of beef in savoury dishes allows for a -25% reduction in sodium without any detectable loss in flavour, proving that high-volume quick service can be both healthier and culinary-driven.
This work transformed the food & beverage industry overall, which saw a +22% increase in blended burgers across retail chains in the USA in just a four-year period following the project.
Within an airport context, healthy and nutritional food should be understood as food that supports physical wellbeing, cognitive function and sustained energy during travel, while remaining accessible, inclusive of diverse dietary needs and commercially viable at scale.
By anchoring to the Menus of Change shared definitions and frameworks embraced by other sectors at the airport level, the 2035 Airport Food & Beverage Manifesto creates the foundation and roadmap for alignment across airlines, catering partners, cruise, rail and road travel, and destination food environments in subsequent phases.
The airport food approach and its system-wide influence
Food consumed in airports is part of a broader travel day of food & beverage decisions.
Travellers’ food & beverage choices at airports are shaped by their nutritional biography as well as by context.
Furthermore, food & beverage choice behaviour has an impact on inflight and post-arrival expectations. Airports therefore play a role in setting norms that extend beyond the terminal.
The 2035 Airport Food & Beverage Manifesto focuses on travel hubs because they offer the greatest degree of structural influence over food environments.
Airlines and catering partners are integral to the travel food & beverage system, but their ability to act is shaped by upstream definitions, expectations and frameworks. Subsequent phases of this work will extend the framework established in airports to other travel contexts.
Is food fully integrated into airport planning?
Despite growing policy and consumer attention to wellbeing, accessibility and quality of life, food often remains secondary in airport planning.
Terminal development continues to prioritise movement, capacity and amenities, while food is largely addressed through legacy concession models shaped by short-term financial considerations.
The result is a gap between intent and outcome. Travellers encounter uneven food experiences, operators work within ambiguous expectations, and airports risk signalling commitment to wellbeing without fully embedding it into the food environment.
Responsibility and governance
Responsibility for food & beverage environments in airports is structural rather than individual. Airport authorities and consultants shape food & beverage environments through terminal design, spatial allocation, concession strategy and procurement frameworks.
Health-forward food environments do not emerge by chance. They emerge when systems are intentionally designed to support them.
Responsibility therefore operates across three levels. Strategic intent established by airport authorities. Operational translation by concessionaires and partners. Measurement and accountability led by airports through metrics that consider availability, uptake and traveller trust alongside financial performance.
This approach emphasises coherence rather than control. Clear system design reduces uncertainty for operators and enables innovation within defined parameters.
From principles to frameworks
The 2035 Airport Food & Beverage Manifesto Airports does not seek to prescribe menus or mandate formats but instead offers a shared language and practical guide to apply across diverse airport contexts.
The Menus of Change framework provides a flexible roadmap for chefs and business leaders to align menus, operations and food environments with the latest nutrition, environmental and behavioural science that emphasises flavour and consumer appeal.
Various sectors, from higher education to corporate dining, have adopted these principles since 2010, leveraging them as a navigation tool for menu innovation and operational efficiency with measurable business benefits.
The Menus of Change framework-based approach allows for the integration of consumer-approved, nutritionally supportive options accessible throughout the passenger journey, where healthier choices are consistently available across food environments. This will support commercial success and meet conscious consumer desires through proven strategies.
Such an approach allows airports to lead responsibly while remaining flexible and evidence informed.
The coming decade represents a critical window. Infrastructure and concession decisions made now will shape food access and behaviour well beyond 2035. Without intentional system design, opportunities for meaningful change will be lost.
A call for broader industry collaboration
The 2035 Travel Food Manifesto and its 2035 Airport Food & Beverage Manifesto focus on airports are intended to establish a credible foundation and roadmap for rethinking food across travel and visitor environments in the next decade.
This work brings together public health, culinary practice, behavioural insight and operational realities to develop shared definitions, frameworks and evidence that can inform planning, policy and design decisions over the coming decade.
The future of food in travel is best shaped together. Join us in this shared effort.
Reach out to Sushanta Das at sushanta.das@tretaillabs.com, Prof Dr Thorsten Merkle at thorsten.merkle@tretaillabs.com or Abby Fammartino at abby.fammartino@culinary.edu to contribute your voice, support or experience to this initiative. 
