SPAIN. Airport company AENA has named Areas, EatOut Group, SSP and Autogrill as the big winners of its food & beverage tenders at Barcelona El Prat Airport terminals 1 and 2. Around 50 new or upgraded restaurants will open across 15,000sq m of space. The new contracts begin this year and run to 2026 and follow a tender that took place in 2017. EatOut has won around 39% of the space, with Areas taking 36%.
The airport company said it would offer “a wide and varied range, with a high level of quality, and a true reflection of Catalan and Spanish gastronomy”.
With AENA’s stated goal of offering “a true gastronomic experience”, the brands and concepts will vary in different parts of the airport.
Celebrity chefs and brothers Javier and Sergio Torres will open a restaurant in T1 under the Alas name, while in T2 they will unveil one of several grab-and-go options.
Other restaurants with local flavour include La Botiga and Mussol from the AN Group; a food market under the La Place brand; a gourmet venue specialising in Iberian produce under the name Origins by Enrique Tomás, and local bakery and café outlets including Boldú, Pannus, Santa Gloria, Café Pans and Coofe Bar.
Well-known international coffee brands include Starbucks, Coffee Republic and Paul while there is also a range of healthy eating brands, among them Exki, Central Café, Good Mood Food from EAT and Go Natural.
The offer also includes bar or tapas concepts from cocktail master Javier de las Muelas and units from Brewdog brewery, LaTramoia, Piscolabis, Más Q Menos and Dehesa Santa María.
Further variety is added by TGI Friday’s, Häagen Dazs, a sushi bar, five Burger King units and a Mediterranean Terrace bar that takes advantage of an open courtyard in the T1 boarding area.
Areas extends the presence of its COMO dining brand, which is already in place at Barcelona El Prat (Photo: Marta Perez)
The airport company said: “With this tender, Aena has achieved a variety of restaurant operators and the presence of national and international brands of recognised prestige. These provide an additional guarantee of quality, variety of products, types of cuisine and service.
“The presence of these restaurant brands at Barcelona-El Prat Airport is also an opportunity for the operators themselves, given the high number of passengers passing through their terminals [more than 47.2 million in 2017].”
“A showcase for best practice”: Areas hails big victory
Elior Group-owned Areas hailed the capture of 15 concessions, or around 36% of the offer, as noted above. The company builds on its existing presence of 14 food units and 29 outlets in total, including retail stores.
Areas will manage some of the concepts named above, including those representing local names Boldú and Javier de las Muelas. It will run units for popular brands Burger King, Exki, La Place and Paul, as well as in-house brands Deli & Cia and COMO. It will extend the presence of brands that are already at other Spanish airports such as Santa Gloria, Mas Q Menos and Dots Bakery.
Dining diversity: Areas will manage a range of local, regional and international brands, including (from top) Exki, Deli & Cia, Burger King, Boldú, La Place and Santa Gloria
Areas President Pedro Fontana said: “With this new contract, Areas is positioned as the main commercial operator at one of the [leading] airports in the world and consolidates its position as leader in its sector in Spain. This is a particularly special success for us, since it is the 50th anniversary of our company, and comes in Barcelona, the city where we were born half a century ago.”
Areas General Director Spain, Portugal and Latin America Oscar Vela said: “We provide each airport with a unique gastronomic personality. In Barcelona, practically half of our brands are local. We include in our proposals innovative concepts to surprise travellers. Through Areas, Exki and La Place will enter Spain with strategic locations in both terminals at El Prat. It is also important to position ourselves with Burger King, leaders in the hamburger segment. Finally, we have developed our own brands for the travelling public, including our healthy grab & go brand Deli & Cia and our restaurant COMO. We want to make Barcelona Airport a showcase for our best practice.”
