FRANCE. Paris Orly Airport recently completed the opening of a fine food hall, Place de la Madeleine, at its West Terminal. The hall, which opened in December last year and features a number of leading fine food brands, is part of operator Aéroports de Paris’ (AdP) commitment to enhancing the fine food and dining experience at Parisian airports.
“We wanted to give this new facility an identity that would resonate with the echoes of Paris, its history and its magic, which is why we chose the evocative name of “˜Place de la Madeleine’,” said AdP Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Pierre Graff.
“I am particularly proud to welcome Caviar House & Prunier, Ladurée, La Maison du Chocolat, Mariage Frères and Nespresso, whose presence will make Paris Orly Airport even more attractive by addressing our passengers’ appetite for a premium quality retail environment.”
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An appetite for fine food: Passengers can enjoy a range of teas from Mariage Frères and premium coffee from Nespresso |
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French luxury chocolatier La Maison du Chocolat offers individual pieces of “intrinsically high artistic merit” |
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Best of the sea: passengers can visit the Caviar House and Prunier seafood bar and watch dishes being freshly prepared |
Graff acknowledged the importance of retail to AdP’s financial model, contributing €426 million (US$552 million) in 2010, nearly a third of the company’s total revenue and an increase of +13.6% from 2009.
Operating from 6:15am to 9:30pm, the Caviar House and Prunier seafood bar serves dishes such as Kamchatka red king crab, lobster, Balik smoked salmon, Prunier caviar (Traditional or Malossol) and Balik Pearls and Tartare. Up to 40 diners can be served at any one time.
This opening marks Ladurée’s debut at Orly and the three-room tea house covers approximately 180sq m. It is open daily from 6am to 9:30pm and the a la carte menu features dishes such as beef fillet a la plancha with puree of baby rattes potatoes, roast fillet of cod with kohlrabi cream and preserved ginger, and chicken vol-au-vent with wild mushrooms.
Lighter snacks include black truffle omelettes, club sandwiches, salads and a range of sweet options from the patisserie.
Luxury chocolatier La Maison du Chocolat sells products such as ganache macaroons, cocoas, chocolate assortment boxes in several sizes, gift boxes of chocolate truffles and marrons glacés (crystallised chestnuts), as well as snack packs with orangettes (chocolate-dipped candied orange peel) and chocolate-coated almonds.
Speciality retailer Mariage Frères sells a range of teas such as white, yellow, green, black, blue, red, matured, compressed, sculpted and fragranced teas. A range of gourmet tea-based confections and a selection of tableware products (teapots, cups, etc.) are also on offer.
The opening of the Nespresso outlet marks the first time the brand has opened an airport boutique. Measuring approximately 80sq m and open every day from 6am to 9:15pm, the outlet at Orly West will enable travellers to sample any of the eight premium quality Grands Crus coffee varieties especially selected by Nespresso.
Passengers can place their orders by calling the brand’s “˜Club Nespresso’ or by going online, and collect their coffee an hour later from the store’s dedicated collections counter.
In 2011 AdP opened 35 new points of sale – shops, bars and restaurants – and plans to open 70 more in 2012.
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