GERMANY. Viennese coffeehouse and confectionery brand Aïda is extending its highly successful Munich Airport pop-up for a further 12 months, taking a concept originally conceived as a temporary experiment into its fourth year.
The extension underlines the sustained commercial performance of the 17sq m Terminal 2 airside concession, operated in partnership with Munich Airport food & beverage subsidiary Allresto.
New figures shared with The Moodie Davitt Report underline the remarkable sales productivity being generated from the compact footprint.
During 2025, the location sold around 120,000 coffee specialities, alongside some 43,000 pastries and strudels and 30,000 cakes and tortes.
Among the standout performers were more than 10,500 portions of Rosa Prousek’s original apple strudel, a recipe closely associated with the heritage of the family-owned Viennese company.
The savoury offer also performed strongly. Around 15,000 Wiener Schnitzel Sandwiches were sold during the year, making the Austrian-inspired creation the leading savoury item, followed by some 14,000 cheese Laugen pastries.
On the sweeter side, Aïda sold approximately 13,000 butter croissants and 11,000 cinnamon rolls during 2025.
Coffee volumes were led by the cappuccino, with around 40,600 sold during the year. The Viennese Verlängerter was the second most-popular hot beverage at approximately 17,000 servings, followed by espresso at around 12,000.
Small footprint, big lessons
Speaking exclusively to The Moodie Davitt Report, Aïda Executive Director and CEO Dominik Prousek said the performance since opening had exceeded expectations – and, importantly, had influenced the company’s thinking about how the brand can develop nationally and internationally.
“The business has performed consistently strongly since opening,” he said. “You will find a line of 20-30 people waiting for their Viennese coffee and pastry specialities, as has been the case since the first day we opened.”
Prousek said the level of turnover achievable from just 17sq m had been one of the biggest lessons from the Munich Airport experience.
“Munich has actually changed the direction in which we see Aïda developing,” he said. “What amazed us was the level of revenue that can be generated from only 17 square metres.
“We managed to put the complete Aïda coffeehouse experience into this tiny footprint, offering an enormous variety from coffee and pastries to savoury food and beverages.”
The airport operation has also provided important insights into the differing consumption habits of travellers compared with traditional high-street coffeehouse customers.
“We learned that travel retail customers behave differently,” Prousek said. “Even though Aïda is the world’s first coffeehouse and pastry brand, savoury products represent a very important part of the business, and alcoholic beverages before a flight also perform surprisingly strongly.”
Just as striking as the sales density is the lean staffing model behind the concept.
Prousek noted that for much of the trading day the concession can be operated by a single employee, rising to two during the busiest periods.
“Generating this level of sales from 17sq m with such a lean operation has given us a completely new perspective on what AïDA can become nationally and internationally,” he said.
A strong partner
The latest extension represents another chapter in an unusual airport F&B success story.
The Aïda location opened in spring 2024 as the historic Austrian brand’s first travel retail concept outside its home country. Conceived initially as a temporary pop-up, it has progressively established itself as a fixture of the T2 airside food & beverage offer.
The concession combines the brand’s distinctive pink visual identity with Viennese coffee culture and an extensive assortment of pastries, cakes, savoury products and gifting lines.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report, Allresto CEO Andreas Reichert welcomed the decision to continue the partnership.
“Thanks to consistently strong sales, the excellent cooperation with Munich Airport and Allresto, and the strong performance of the concept, the concession has been extended once again,” he commented. “This means our original pop-up is now entering its fourth year.”
The latest agreement follows a major accolade for the partners in 2025, when the Munich Airport concept was named Airport Food to Go Offer of the Year at The Moodie Davitt Report’s Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) + Hospitality Awards in Barcelona.
For Prousek, the award provided important international validation for the unconventional marriage of traditional Viennese coffeehouse culture and a small, high-throughput airport footprint.
He said the achievement was particularly meaningful given the strength and international profile of the competition.
The CEO also highlighted the critical contribution of Allresto and Reichert’s team to the concession’s performance, noting that a franchise concept ultimately succeeds only if the operating partner delivers the brand’s standards consistently.
The Munich operation, he said, demonstrates how Aïda’s traditions can be translated into the speed, efficiency and operational discipline demanded by an international airport.
Proudly Austrian
Despite the compact format and the particular demands of the airport environment, Prousek insists that Aïda’s Austrian and Viennese identity is not something that should be diluted as the company expands internationally.
On the contrary, he views it as the brand’s principal point of differentiation.
“For me, it is everything,” he said. “My ambition is to take Vienna beyond Austria and make Aïda an ambassador for Austrian coffeehouse and pastry culture around the world.
“In my eyes, Austria has the best coffeehouse culture and pastries in the world. Around 9 million Austrians grow up taking this quality and tradition almost for granted. Now I believe it is time for the rest of the world to experience it as well.”
That philosophy is reflected in the prominence at Munich Airport of such products as Rosa Prousek’s apple strudel, the Wiener Schnitzel Sandwich and traditional Viennese coffee specialities.
“We are not trying to become an international brand by becoming less Austrian,” Prousek said. “We want to become international because we are Austrian.”
He cited the international recognition achieved by Austrian names and personalities including Red Bull, Mozart, Swarovski and Arnold Schwarzenegger, adding with characteristic confidence: “Next is Aïda.”
The Munich success also sits within an expanding airport story for the brand. Aïda has established a much larger-format presence at Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport in partnership with SSP, demonstrating the adaptability of the concept across very different footprints.
That 300sq m location was joint winner of Best Coffee Shop of the Year Middle East & Africa at the 2025 FAB Awards, alongside the Munich operation’s global Food to Go triumph.
The company’s Austrian airport presence is also set to gain another important dimension through a flagship location in Vienna Airport’s major Terminal 3 Southern Expansion.
Tradition through innovation
As the Munich location enters its fourth year, Prousek said the priority is not to tamper unnecessarily with a formula that has proved its appeal.
“The main focus is not to reinvent something that is working extremely well,” he noted.
“We will continue improving and introducing selected innovations, but always around the core Aïda DNA: Viennese coffeehouse culture, handmade Austrian pastries, strong coffee and recognisable Austrian products. Consistency and quality remain the priority.”
That does not mean standing still. Instead, Prousek sees innovation as a means of keeping the traditions on which the business is built relevant to new generations of consumers.
“My focus is to use innovation to pass our tradition to the next generations,” he concluded. 
