AUSTRALIA. Victoria University’s School for the Visitor Economy (SVE) has joined the Airport F&B Pathfinders Committee (APC) as its latest Founding Member, adding a regional academic and research perspective to the initiative.
Launched by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and tRetail Labs, the APC is limited to 20 global founding members and is built around the Travel F&B Fit Framework and nrtureAI.
SVE expands the APC’s founding cohort alongside recently announced members, as the committee works to shape the next generation of airport food & beverage through 2035.
These include Munich Airport, through its hospitality subsidiary Allresto, which remains the first global implementation of the TFF Framework and the APC’s founding benchmark.
Areas USA was welcomed as a US-based founding member earlier this year, and Bangkok-based F&B brand development and franchising specialist Exquisine Global recently became the committee’s first Asia-based founding member.
The Center for Food & Beverage Leadership Director – Health & Sustainability Programs and Research Abby Fammartino said: “The committee has always been built on turning research into something operators can actually use.
“Victoria University’s School for the Visitor Economy strengthens both ends of that pipeline, generating the regional research the framework needs and training the people who will carry it into airports and operators across Australia and Asia.
“SVE is strategic to the broader Travel F&B initiative, not just airports, and we expect this partnership to extend over time into cruise F&B and destination dining across the region.”
Strengthening research and training across Australia and Asia
Based in Melbourne, Victoria University’s School for the Visitor Economy is a cross-university school, offering industry-focused education and applied research across tourism, hospitality and event management, with programmes ranging from vocational certificates to PhDs.
The university has established a longstanding transnational education network across Asia over the past 20 years and currently spans six international partner institutes in Malaysia, China, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, together with its VU India campus in Delhi NCR.
SVE’s network provides research and training links across key travel markets in the region. This supports the APC in adapting Menus of Change principles to local conditions, rather than importing them wholesale, while complementing Exquisine Global’s regional expertise.
Victoria University’s School for the Visitor Economy Director Professor Naomi Dale said: “Our network across Vietnam, India, and the wider region means SVE is not starting this work from the outside looking in.
“We are already training the people and studying the markets that will define the next generation of culinary trends across Asia. Joining the Airport F&B Pathfinders Committee lets us put that research and training capability directly to work for the region’s airports.”
tRetail Labs Scientific Advisor Professor Dr. Thorsten Merkle added: “Bringing an academic and research partner such as Victoria University’s School for the Visitor Economy into the committee means the TFF Framework and Menus of Change principles are now being tested and taught, not just applied.
“That combination, rigorous research paired with structured training, is exactly what will let the framework hold up as it moves from Munich and the US into a much more diverse set of markets across Australia and Asia.”
SVE will adopt the same three-phase pathway underpinning the committee’s work.
These include the TFF Diagnostic Lens to identify gaps across traveller well-being, hospitality, sustainability and travel relevance; the Menus of Change framework for implementation; and nrtureAI to measure post-implementation impact.
SVE’s membership will give airports and operators in the founding cohort access to research and training tailored to their operating environments and traveller profiles, rather than a single global template.
Alongside Exquisine Global, SVE’s research capability will help anchor the Committee’s first Australasia- and Asia-focused case studies, with the scope set to expand over time to cruise and destination F&B in the region.
Airports, operators and concessionaires seeking to participate in the Travel F&B Fit (TFF) Framework, the Menus of Change evaluation or the Airport F&B Pathfinders Committee can access further details via ciaindustryleadership.com/airport-fb.
Organisations interested in sharing their expertise, support or experience with this initiative can reach out to Sushanta Das at sushanta.das@tretaillabs.com, Mark Angela at mark.angela@tretaillabs.com or Abby Fammartino at Abby.Fammartino@culinary.edu. 
