SPAIN/PORTUGAL. Areas Iberia CEO Sergio Rodriguez and the team he leads have hardly been short of challenges since the Spaniard took up the role in January 2020 on the cusp of the travel industry’s biggest-ever crisis.
Two months later the COVID-19 pandemic saw pretty much all of Areas Iberia’s 600+ food & beverage and retail locations in motorway plazas, rail stations and airports across Spain and Portugal shut.
This was not the homecoming Rodriguez had counted on late in a career which has seen him hold a series of senior international roles for Areas since 1996, most recently as USA CEO before assuming the top job for the key Iberia region.
On the record with Sergio RodriguezOn supporting employees during the pandemic: We said no to lay-offs. We owed an ethical and moral debt to all those who, despite the difficulties, maintained their loyal commitment to the company. On the keys to success: It is always the same. You have to provide best quality product and best service. Yes, things like digitalisation, sustainability and innovation are very important, but the bottom line is you must have a good product and good people to serve them. On recruitment: It is a challenge finding the right employees and filling all the roles we have to offer across a business that is 24 hours, 365 days a year. I have been working in four countries across the last ten years and the same situation is faced everywhere. On standards: We must deliver food and beverage of A standard everywhere across our estate, but never C standard. Those high standards – delivered in partnership with our great suppliers – are a key business driver. On his leadership philosophy: I try to be happy doing my job and make people happy doing their jobs, always placing great emphasis on communicating our common goals with them. |
Looking back to the pandemic years and how they changed the business, Rodriguez says: “It was a difficult time of course; it was an incredible experience from the negative point of view. But at the same time we learned a lot which has helped the business going forward.
“It was really confusing at the beginning, because we didn’t know what was going to happen. But in March 2020, we closed almost all of our locations.
“It was a really bad time because at this point we employed more than 6,000 people in Iberia, most of whom saw their jobs put on hold [those numbers are almost recovered with more than 5,800 people working in a region which accounted for €526.2 million in turnover last year]. But I think this was a moment that we showed we are a responsible company.
“We reached agreements with the unions and worked with them to manage the situation. We communicated well with our employees and helped them when needed. We said no to lay-offs. We owed an ethical and moral debt to all those who, despite the difficulties, maintained their loyal commitment to the company.
“These people are the ones who helped us to emerge with the necessary energy and courage from the very complicated situation that we experienced for many months.
“Right now, we have a bond with these people that you cannot break because we were side by side in these tough moments. Fast forward a few years and we are growing now more strongly than we were before the pandemic.”
That growth has been fuelled by two major contract wins in Madrid which have set Areas Iberia and Rodriguez a much more palatable kind of challenge – building 67 restaurants from scratch in the Spanish capital across a tight 16-month timescale.
Some 35 of those outlets arise from a big Areas win announced in February at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport [click here for the story], where it is undertaking the largest-ever food & beverage contract in Spanish airport history.
The agreement – which will see the company run 35 of the 55 points of sale tendered by operator Aena – is expected to realise the company more than €1 billion in revenue over the eight-year contract duration.
Areas will invest more than €15 million to make Madrid-Barajas its commercial showcase worldwide, with a completely renewed offer. Rodriguez notes that the F&B proposition is based on a combination of renowned international brands and local concepts designed exclusively for the airport.
Areas’ F&B footprint covers all terminals, in each case the company being the main operator. In Terminals 1, 2 and 3, Areas will manage 18 points of sale out of 23. In T4 and T4 SAT, Areas will manage another 17 points of sale out of 32.
Rodriguez comments: “The renewal of the gastronomic offer – in which digital and sustainability elements feature strongly – at the airport is being carried out in phases, starting in May this year through to June 2024. Closures of the different points of sale have been planned this way so that they have a minimum impact on traveller service.”
The remaining 32 outlets in the Madrid restaurant construction programme arise from a contract estimated to be worth €121 million with trade fair organiser and facility owner IFEMA Madrid [click here for details]. Areas will manage the entirety of its food & beverage options following success in an open tender which was announced in May.
Areas began operations in 12 of those outlets in September, coinciding with the start of the trade fair calendar, and will ultimately invest around €9 million in delivering a new strategic F&B model for IFEMA Madrid.
The strategy aims to position IFEMA Madrid as a culinary hub in the Spanish capital. It also involves a combination of leading international brands and local concepts curated exclusively by Areas for this space.
The F&B offer incorporates digital and sustainability solutions to improve customer experience at the IFEMA Madrid events. For example, smart kiosks have been located strategically, and sustainable development models will be integrated into each outlet, minimising the use of plastic and reducing food waste.
Rodriguez adds: “Winning this tender strengthens our leadership position in Spain and the recognition of Areas as a benchmark company in the transformation of the food & beverage sector through innovative, diversified and sustainable proposals.
“Our purpose is to show the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through IFEMA Madrid each year the best food that the city has to offer and in turn to provide a wide array of options for all audiences and trends.”
While delivering on these two contracts in Madrid is taking up substantial Areas resources, Rodriguez says the company continues its search for new opportunities in the Iberia territory. He reveals that a number of new F&B contracts at airports associated with tourism across Spain are soon to be announced, with contract details currently being finalised before the nature of the business is made public.
“We have a major focus on what we are doing in Madrid; these are big, big projects,” Rodriguez comments. “But at the same time we are focused on finding new profitable tenders. If we see good opportunities, of course we are going to go for them but we need to be focused on swallowing current projects.”
Asked about current business challenges, Rodriguez observes: “The challenge is always the same. You have to provide best quality product and best service. Yes, things like digitalisation, sustainability and innovation are very important, but the bottom line is you must have a good product and good people to serve them.
“It is a challenge finding the right employees and filling all the roles we have to offer across a business that is 24 hours, 365 days a year. That is something that is faced by everyone in the F&B industry, not least in the aftermath of COVID. I have been working in four countries across the last ten years and the same situation is faced everywhere.
“When you have those employees in place there are also the challenges to look after them well – things like employee wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and, very importantly to us at Areas, engagement.”
Continuing on the people theme, which Rodriguez draws into the conversation throughout the interview, he notes: “A main focus is product, where we must deliver food and beverage of A standard everywhere across our estate, but never C standard. Those high standards – delivered in partnership with our great suppliers – are a key business driver. But I see people as half of the P&L.”
Communication with staff holds the key to good performance and happy workers, according to Rodriguez. “With any business review, I am always thinking about the impact it will have on people. And you have to share everything with your team about the business – only a few things are confidential. It is important that every employee, from waiters to senior management, is respected and everybody is aligned with the strategy.”
We conclude by discussing Rodriguez’s leadership philosophy. “I try to come to work every single day with a smile and try to help people enjoy their jobs and go home feeling happy. An old boss once described me as ‘a romantic of the management’. And I told him, there are a lot of ways to reach your objectives and focusing on the happiness of your employees is one of them.
“It is an approach that has worked for me since I started in the food & beverage business 30 years ago as a manager responsible for a fast-food shop. I try to be happy doing my job and make people happy doing their jobs, always placing great emphasis on communicating our common goals with them.
“When I talk about the business, I always use the word ‘we’, not ‘I’. I strongly believe that working as a team, we can conquer all the challenges that we will face.” 
*Click here for an interview with Areas CEO Óscar Vela, who talks about recent contract gains, regional ambitions, the convergence of food and retail and corporate spirit.
**Click here for an interview with CEO France Yves Lacheret about protecting and extending a strong position in a key territory.
***Click here for an interview with CEO Latin America Eduardo Torres, who talks about consolidation and expansion in Mexico and Chile.
****Click here for our interview with CEO Areas USA CEO Carlos Bernal, who discusses recent US airport and motorway contract wins.
