One of the most challenging aspects of any business is keeping up with your customer. In the post-pandemic era, it's a matter of survival.

Chicago's O'Hare Airport had no choice but to improve its concessions after COVID-19 pushed passenger traffic to 20% of normal activity in 2020.

The city's aviation department recognized that passenger activity would rebound, but the concessions needed an overhaul since consumers came to expect self-service options and many former employees were not interested in returning to their pre-COVID employee roles.

Airport pivots

The department responded by upgrading vending and self-checkout options that have largely restored concessions sales to pre-COVID levels, but the self-service innovation unleashed by the pandemic has taken them even further.

During the opening keynote presentation at the Self-Service Innovation Summit Wednesday, Glen Ryniewski, assistant commissioner of concessions for the Chicago Department of Aviation, gave an update on the changes at the O'Hare and Midway airports to keep pace with a more demanding consumer.

The attendees filled the room to capacity and engaged Ryniewski toward the end of the presentation with questions that could have easily taken additional hour.

By 2023, all concessions at O'Hare will offer a self-serve touchscreen, Ryniewski said.

"The COVID situation really jumped it to the front of the line," he said. "We pivoted."

The department released an RFP in the summer of 2020 for vending, automated stores, automated ordering and gate delivery. Concessions were expanded to include five categories: food and beverage, news and gifts, duty-free, advertising and specialty retail.

"Your day has come!" Ryniewski announced to his audience.

Starbucks, McDonald's take the lead

While COVID jumpstarted the demand for self service, the department began experimenting with it a few years earlier with pioneering concepts by Zoom Systems, Starbucks, McDonald's and Farmer's Fridge.

Today, O'Hare Airport features 18 Starbucks restaurants, making it Starbucks' most profitable zip code in the world, Ryniewski said. He further pointed out that Starbucks' legendary chairman/CEO Howard Shultz opposed having a "grab and go" offering until HMS Host, the airport's foodservice operator, introduced the concept at O'Hare. Grab and go now accounts for a fifth of Starbucks' sales.

"This was like the genesis of self-service and quick food to go," Ryniewski said regarding Starbucks.

McDonald's, for its part, pioneered self-service with its eight restaurants at O'Hare. Ryniewski made no attempt to hide his pride in the fact that O'Hare was the first airport to have all of its McDonald's restaurants equipped with self-serve touchscreens.

The McDonald's restaurants delivered an immediate 20% sales lift after introducing touchscreens in 2019, and that was just for starters. The interim sales lifts have ranged from 38% to 67%, lifts he attributes to order add-ons.

Another machine that did well around this time was Farmer's Fridge, which is especially popular with flight crews. Auntie Anne's and Chili's have also performed exceptionally well at O'Hare.

"This (O'Hare) is a mall where we park planes," he said.

Vending zones have given vending a greater sense of place at O'Hare Airport. Photo provided by the Chicago Department of Aviation.

The airport now has 15 vending zones that include a total of about 120 machines offering snacks, cold beverages and convenience products.

"We ensconced the vending machine units and gave it a sense of place," he said. He expects vending sales this year to hit $3 million.

The 2020 RFP also included a Hudson Just Walk Out store that uses Amazon technology.

"The cameras are so tightly positioned that when you walk out it will credit your credit card," he said. "It really jumped from 2020 to 2021 in sales."

The Just Walk Out store prompted a call from a foodservice decision maker at the University of Wisconsin anxious to share the news that the school was introducing robot food delivery. The caller told Ryniewski that today's college students are expecting a "grab and go" experience.

More to come

But the best is yet to come at Chicago's airports.

In 2023, Ryniewski said the airports will release an RFP that will encompass all five product categories previously mentioned. The department is asking all concessions providers to offer touchscreens.

"It (the airport) needs a big refresh," he said. "Things are coming about aggressively in 2023."

Looking to the future, Ryniewski said Starbucks is introducing pickup only stores in response to the labor challenge. While the company hasn't introduced it to airports yet, he expects to see it.

Another innovation Ryniewski is keeping his eye on is Chef Rick Bayless's modular Tortazo, which offers curbside pickup and delivery. Bayless plans to introduce the concept to airports.

Other innovations on Ryniewski's radar include:

  • The Reef delivery-only kitchen has been introduced to the Raleigh Durham airport.
  • The Tapville Social features self-pour wine and beer taps. The customer buys a payment card that tracks the amount of beverage poured and establishes a virtual tab for the customer.
  • The Foxtrot, a data driven convenience store, offers delivery of food, alcoholic beverages and gifts. "They want to be known as the place you can only get certain items," Ryniewski said.
  • The Singing Barista is a coffee bar where the baristas sing as they deliver customer orders.

"This is Generation Z," Ryniewski said.

Besides concessions, Ryniewski noted that the self-service Clear biometric boarding pass enrollments are also posting significant gains post-pandemic. Clear enrollment at the O'Hare and Midway airports jumped from 54,374 year-to-date last October to 1,126,144 year-to-date in October 2022.

"You're going to be checking in with just your camera or just your phone," he said.

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