USA. The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and research and intelligence firm tRetail Labs have 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.
Through the partnership, the pair will jointly develop a suite of services and resources, starting with the 2035 Travel Food & Beverage (F&B) Manifesto, a phased, multi-year roadmap for advancing plant-forward food service across the travel F&B sector and the broader visitor economy.
It will also lean on CIA’s Menus of Change initiative, which over the past decade has sought to spark new insights and develop solutions for the culinary and foodservice sector in the USA, with a focus on healthy, sustainable menus.
“CIA’s Menus of Change initiative has helped define what the future of food must become, while tRetail Labs’ nrtureAI is the AI in foodservice that can enable those principles to be implemented, measured, and continuously improved across visitor facing food environments,” said tRetail Labs Founder and CEO Sushanta Das. “By connecting our capabilities, we can help travel F&B operators move from aspiration to measurable impact.”
Building on the CIA’s decade-plus of collective impact data from its Menus of Change programme and its related networks, the organisations said they will provide end-to-end solutions for players in travel dining. These range from experience design to plant-forward menu development, sustainable procurement guidance, food waste reduction strategies, workforce training programmes and experience design recommendations that help guide guests toward healthier options.
“We’ve all been there—running to a flight and looking for a grab-and-go option that is somewhat healthy,” said CIA Vice President—Strategic Partnerships, Industry Leadership and Impact Robert E. Jones.
“With tens of millions of meals being served in airports every year, there is an enormous opportunity to make a positive impact at scale, and I believe this partnership will help lay out a roadmap for airport F&B operators do just that, while also improving profit margins.”
The initial geographic focus will be the USA, with a specific emphasis on airport F&B, aligned with current federal and industry priorities related to healthier food access, family-friendly travel environments and aviation infrastructure investment.
The partnership will focus on supporting airport concessions programmes through Department of Transportation (DOT)-aligned food & beverage frameworks that translate Menus of Change principles into practical, measurable outcomes.
Any airport F&B business interested in participating—or in providing philanthropic support for the study, please contact Sushanta Das at sushanta.das@tretaillabs.com, Prof (Dr) Thorsten Merkle at thorsten.merkle@tretaillabs.com or Abby Fammartino at abby.fammartino@culinary.edu 
