USA. In February, Kansas City International Airport officially unveiled its new US$1.5 billion terminal. It features a vibrant retail and food & beverage concessions programme anchored by a strong Sense of Place. Senior Business Editor Mark Lane takes a deep dive into the thinking behind the innovative programme in conversation with Vantage Airport Group Vice President, Commercial Sammy Patel.
The Moodie Davitt Report: Tell us about the significance of the Kansas City Airport opening for Vantage Airport Group. What kind of marker is it for your commercial expertise?
Sammy Patel: It goes back to our ability to see things differently, the bigger picture, and a new perspective. It is centred around our brand promise of ‘People, Place, and Performance’.
We’re a family, a group of airports where the strength comes from our people – a locally-based team, creating close connections between the communities we serve and the global expertise of Vantage. It’s more than just bricks and mortar for us; it is about creating a place with the power to define and grow a city or region.
The Kansas City Aviation Department (KCAD) wanted this project to be transformational on every level, and they really meant it. KCAD gave Vantage an opportunity to do things in a different way, be creative, and make a meaningful impact at so many levels.
We have always said it is not about being the biggest airport but a smarter and more profitable, more sustainable one that reflects the unique personality of a place and its people. It’s what we do.
The new terminal showcases Kansas City’s authentic culture and heart, featuring nearly 50 local and global eating and shopping experiences, with 80% of the brands represented from the Kansas City region.
It is a true example of a transformational project creating new opportunities for hundreds and thousands, and not just for a limited few. As a result, it will have a lasting positive impact on local residents, the business community and passengers.
What work did you do to understand the type of traveller that will be using the new terminal, and how did that influence your plans?
Our team’s primary objective was to properly showcase the passion and flavour of Kansas City within the airport – where every guest’s individual needs are met, and their senses invigorated.
As with every project we work on, a key element to delivering a successful commercial offer and enjoyable passenger experience is providing a product mix, and an environment that is relevant to the customer. To gain a deeper understanding of passengers using the airport, we conducted our own research to gain insight into the types of travelling consumers coming to the old terminals to best design and cater the concession programme to their needs.
The research focused on profiling and identification of key passenger segments, focusing on the core users of Kansas City; evaluation of passenger behaviour in the existing commercial facilities as well as developing an understanding of the key requirements of the future commercial facilities; and identification of key areas in which the current commercial offer could be improved.
This approach is one that we use in our network of airports globally to great effect to help us in developing our award-winning programmes, including Larnaka International Airport, Cyprus; Sangster International Airport, Jamaica; and most recently New York LaGuardia Terminal B in the US.
The research included surveying existing passengers and future users, meeting local businesses and organisations, and holding focus groups.
In addition, with the new terminal being the largest single infrastructure project in the city’s history (one million square feet, US$1.5 billion), KCAD conducted quite a few outreach initiatives with the local travelling community throughout the city and the region to obtain local feedback that we included in our overall research.
Can you elaborate on how Sense of Place is integrated into the terminal design and commercial programme?
We understand that airports are the open door to communities, establishing both first and last impressions. In this project we were laser-focused on creating a Sense of Place and delivering a programme that successfully celebrated the region, elevated the guest experience and contributed to the local economy, created jobs, and was built to drive revenue in the commercial programme.
Kansas City is unique and heavily focused on localised concepts as a result of the learnings from our research, passenger base, and objectives of the airport.
Vantage assembled a dynamic team of partners whose experience, credentials and enthusiasm for this project brings to the table deep experience in the airport travel retail and restaurant sectors. They add to the project with their different backgrounds, perspectives and emotional investment in representing the local Kansas City community, which is critical to our shared success.
We had the support of two key prime operating partners: food & beverage operator Outstanding Hospitality Management (OHM) and customer-focused travel and convenience specialty airport retailer Marshall Retail Group, a WHSmith company. They supported the curation of the programme with their own concession locations and also many local brands and concepts.
We captured the unique character of Kansas City in the concessions, reflecting the warm, welcoming personality of Kansas City. In the programme’s design, local means more than just appearing to be local. Our deeply rooted local plan features the iconic experience of Kansas City’s unique neighborhoods, such as the 18th & Vine jazz district, some of America’s best BBQ, and Kansas City’s craft brewery scene.
There are also experiences inspired by KC’s diehard sports fans, and wares and treasures crafted by local artisans and makers.
With the high percentage of local concessions and reflection of the Kansas City region, customers are being delivered outstanding first and last impressions, and employees are proud to call the programme their own, bringing their own energy and excitement to deliver this authentic Sense of Place.
Can you compare the commercial offer at Kansas City with what you helped to produce at LaGuardia Terminal B? Were there big differences in approach or much common ground?
Both commercial programmes are extraordinary in their own way. In both cases, much thought went into the passenger experience, design and space planning. All of these were informed by a clear understanding of the terminal’s users and working from each city’s local pride and history.
At LaGuardia Terminal B, we curated an approach of combining an experiential environment to create gathering spaces with dwell time to drive spend, one example being the spectacular water feature with programmed music and light shows.
In Kansas City, our partners and the KACD were fully aligned with this approach as they curated the entire passenger journey from the terminal offerings of public art installations and an electric fountain representing Kansas City’s world recognition as ‘The City of Fountains’.
With the airport’s vision, it was easy for us to curate and integrate a programme into the wider airport’s base build plans with the dining and shopping environments created with the local concessions, national brands, and concepts.
As we’ve introduced at LaGuardia Terminal B, one of the lasting trends we’re seeing is a shop-within-a-shop, department store-style experience, which offers much more flexibility for the operators and variety and choice for passengers.
As we did at LaGuardia, we also partnered with Marshall Retail Group in Kansas City, and there was excitement in trying something similar, which led to the evolution of the ‘Made in KC Marketplace’ in the Concourse A Node and the ‘City Market’ in the Concourse B Node. Both locations are representative of Kansas City’s iconic shopping experiences.
The Made in KC Marketplace is a well-known, established local entrepreneurship business and mentorship programme that promotes the careers of hundreds of local makers from the Kansas City region and also has several citywide retail locations.
The City Market has a rich history dating back to 1857 and is located in the heart of Kansas City. It is a year-round farmers market anchored by boutiques and local eateries such as those also found surrounding the central shopping area in the airport, including Brown & Loe, Bo Lings, Pigwich, Taste of Brazil and the City Market Coffee Roasters.
Taking cues from the shop-within-a-shop concept at Kansas City, the approach was also taken to create a BBQ experience for KC as one of the barbecue capitals of the world, including an in-airport full smoker that fills the air with the wonderful smells of BBQ.
This one-of-a-kind, fully immersive dining, shopping, and performance space experience for BBQ was created by operator OHM and is so much more than just a BBQ restaurant.
Passengers can relax and indulge in Kansas City’s best-known specialties, BBQ, and music in this beautiful space with natural light from the windows overlooking the airfield and vaulted ceilings that encompass a combination of a rustic and modern feel.
A BBQ To-Go counter is also available for passengers who want to take BBQ with them on their flights. Also within the BBQ experience space is the Stockyards Brewing Co. serving craft beers and spirits within a dining experience.
The connecting BBQ Spot is a shop that offers passengers an enticing array of BBQ rubs, seasonings, spices, and sauces that have been mixed, manufactured, and perfected locally since 1968.
How will you adapt and evolve the concessions programme at Kansas City to remain relevant as consumer behaviours and trends change?
We recognise that in the concessions world passengers’ needs, wants and tastes can change quickly, so we have committed to a re-investment and refurbishment programme to ensure the programme is always current, relevant, fresh, and in first-class condition. This includes working with our operators to make sure their concepts remain fully relevant and help maximise the use of their locations.
For a start, we will continue to refresh our understanding of passengers as we learn more about how they move, use, and enjoy the new terminal. We have the benefit of open dialogue with our operators and have a keen eye on analysing performance daily, so if we see something isn’t working over a period of time, we can address it early on.
Finally, we will also continue to refresh our passenger research to identify any changes and give us further confidence that the offer continues to be relevant to the customer.
How do digital tools exploit and support passengers and the commercial offer in the new terminal?
Vantage understands technology doesn’t stay static, and it is ever evolving. In turn, we understand that retail needs to remain dynamic to be relevant, and food & beverage options must stay up to date as customer tastes are constantly changing.
Our main day-to-day task is to strive to deliver exceptional customer service, outstanding and memorable experiences, and customer engagement using technology to improve our efficiency and service to our employees and, most importantly, to the passengers.
In our experience passengers want, increasingly, to use their own technology at airports. It makes sense – their own smartphones and tablets provide the information and services they need at home and at work. Our job is to make the experience seamless.
We also know that customers still want the human touch, and that, too, makes sense for us. Our businesses, F&B and retail, will always be focused on customer service and providing that personal hometown experience in Kansas City.
Innovation is critical to the long-term success of any business. At Kansas City, we have implemented the right technology that can save time and provide a powerful, competitive edge in growing the concessions business, as well as offering something unique to arriving, departing, or connecting passengers.
Examples of digital playing a key role include self check-out options, Amazon’s Just Walk Out Technology and mobile ordering.
Also, in a standout initiative, self-serve craft beers and nitro cold brew self-pouring systems are offered in six restaurant locations (Stockyards Brewing Co., Martin City Brewing Company, Meat Mitch, Made of Kansas City Food Hall, and the City Market Food Hall).
This is delivered by OHM in partnership with Drink Command and the latter’s technology platform, offering travellers the convenience and ease of serving their own beverages. Intuitive touch screens and tap-to-pay options provide a premium experience.
The concessions programme includes numerous female- and minority-owned businesses. What place does this diversity have in the concessions mix?
Vantage has a rich history of creating airports that reflect the best of the communities they serve. We strongly believe in providing opportunities for small, local, minority, Veteran-owned, and Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) companies.
Our commitment is more than participation; it is also our commitment to ensure that these participating businesses and entrepreneurs can succeed in our programme by also focusing on mentorship that supports building their business skills in operating in an airport, the development of their spaces, sales, and customer service.
Vantage has an excellent track record of providing opportunities for local and minority companies, starting at some of our very first projects at our airports in Canada, all the way out to our operations in Nassau, The Bahamas, where the majority of our concession programme is operated by local entrepreneurs.
Collaboration and participation at every level, particularly through local, minority, ACDBE partnerships, brings opportunity for innovation. The more voices at the table, the better our business becomes. More importantly, these partnerships allow us to connect with the local business community to forge the relationships necessary for the most personalised customer experience.
What’s the thinking behind the US$20 million Opportunity Fund and Mentoring Programme? And how it will be used?
We were excited to offer the first-of-its-kind, dedicated financial support vehicle that was available to all small businesses included in our proposal. Vantage’s Opportunity Fund is a fully integrated, industry-leading programme that supports talented local restaurateurs, brands and makers with the tools and support to ensure success at Kansas City International Airport, which helps underpin economic stability for these partners and contribute to the success of our programme.
Vantage recognises that funding the premises improvements for an airport concession business opportunity is one of the single largest hurdles for the success of many local, small, minority, women, veterans, and ACDBE businesses. The fund collateralises the financing provided by Vantage directly through each concession unit and lease, and provides critical assistance that removes the pressures of assuming significant personal borrowing risk by the concession operator.
How do you expect spend per head to increase under the new programme? How else will you measure user reaction to the concessions programme, and ultimately your success here at Kansas City?
With the transformation of the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport as a modern new gateway our immersive, modern, and unmistakably Kansas City programme will more than double commercial revenue and is expected to drive an estimated US$1.5 billion in concessions sales over the duration of the opportunity.
We estimate the programme’s success could generate US$50 million in sales tax alone to the Kansas City region. Importantly, our programme is creating more than 1,000 rewarding jobs, producing new opportunities for residents to participate and contribute to the programme’s success for the airport and the city.
The former airport concessions programme’s performance was far below average due to pre-9/11 terminal design, lack of centralisation, limited well-exposed concession spaces, and virtually no specialty retail locations.
The new terminal at Kansas City International Airport’s concessions programme has almost three times more square footage than the old terminal’s concession programme, which allows for the significant growth of both F&B and travel convenience categories as well as the placement of two centralised specialty retail marketplaces.
Our new food & beverage programme offers a substantial opportunity to increase average spending by offering an extremely local and authentic programme for the first time ever.
In the first four weeks of the new terminal opening, we have found that spending per head is notably ahead of the former concession programme, and customers are enjoying the new dining and shopping locations that are more relevant and inviting.
The F&B programme is proving that the airport is a dining destination in its own right with a broad range of local and national brand offerings, and in turn, producing significantly higher check averages than the previous programme. On the retail side, there is so much more choice through the curated marketplaces than ever before, and they are drawing passengers in to find unique and local artisanal products.
This question combines nicely all the points we have been discussing with a focus on the success of the concession programme, and for the operators, in particular, our small, local businesses, and ultimately brings to light that all things are measured within the customer experience and the programme’s overall success.
With Vantage, our overall commercial vision and strategy go beyond measuring spend per customer and starts with the overall development, building, planning, and management to determine the level of income the airport will generate from its non-aeronautical concessions programme.
Additionally, key drivers within our overarching concessions management strategy focused on customer research, space optimisation, dwell time optimisation, active management and collaboration, and marketing to ensure the airport passenger experience is best-in- class with our programme intentionally designed to grow along with Kansas City International Airport as its passenger base continues to grow over the next ten years, and beyond.
As the concessions programme developer, our highly experienced, independent, on-site management team manages the day-to-day operations of our subtenants and acts as an extension of the Kansas City Aviation Department, completely independent from our subtenants.
This holistic business model is built on bringing real, local owners and operators into the programme, true competition among each line of business, and a unique and authentic Kansas City experience.
Along with our F&B and retail prime operators, Vantage creates and executes a customer service programme to ensure the highest levels of service to passengers. This includes training, coaching, monitoring, mentoring for our smaller businesses, measurement of service levels for continuous improvement, an aggressive marketing campaign, and other strategies to maximise the sales performance of our subtenants.
Other areas of measurement weekly and year-over-year include compliance, service, facilities, safety, and sales performance, including spend per enplanement and average transaction value. 
