July News Round-up
SSP News Release 22-July-2009
• SSP’s new units at Abu Dhabi are now open. The main food area is divided into a fast food section, which features Burger King, bakery brand Upper Crust, Chinese brand Yum Cha, an Italian pizzeria called Ginos, a Sahten (Middle Eastern) concept, and a Segafredo Italian Espresso Bar. There’s also a Bill Bentleys pub and a Hippopotamus restaurant. Finally, at the gates there are two more units (another Upper Crust and a Caffè Ritazza), while landside in the check-in area there’s a Panopolis bakery.
• SSP America’s programme of new openings at New York’s JKF airport are progressing well. The company will open four coffee shops and nine restaurants at airport. These include a Palm Steakhouse, a number of Peet’s Coffee outlets, ZPizza, Upper Crust, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panopolis, Caviar House & Prunier, Fuel Bar, Panda Express and Tigin. All units are expected to be open by the end of the year.
• Le Grand Comptoir, Panopolis, Upper Crust and the real food company are among the brands that are featuring as part of a major development programme at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. These will be complemented by The Palm, an El Pinto, Z Pizza, Einstein Bros Bagels, Peets, Centre Bar and Rice Tales.
• SSP America has joined forces with local culinary powerhouse The Bartolotta Group to bring high-end dining concept Nonna Bartolotta’s to General Mitchell International Airport at Milwaukee. This will be joined by three Alterra Coffee shops.
• Rice Tales, Camden Food Co and Vera’s Burgers are now open at Vancouver.
• Among the brands that will open soon at Winnipeg are Upper Crust, Rice Tales, Gondola Pizza, Salisbury House, Stella’s Tim Hortons and Starbucks.
• The new food and beverage facilities at Manchester Airport were described earlier this month by leading trade publication the Moodie Report as ‘among the best [it] has seen in a European airport’. SSP’s brand portfolio at Manchester’s T1 and T2 includes Burger King, Caffè Ritazza, the real food company, the Observatory Bar and SohoCoffeeCo.
• SSP UK has recently opened a new Caviar House & Prunier, a Starbucks and a Burger King at Dublin. Also new this summer is a Caffè Ritazza at Leeds Bradford, the first Upper Crust cart at Luton Airport, and a new bar area at Luton’s real food company.
• SSP UK New Product Development Manager Hannah Saunders scooped the title London Sandwich Designer of the Year in this year’s British Sandwich Association Sammies Awards.
• International favourites will join locally renowned restaurant names when the newly refurbished International Terminal at Sydney Airport is fully open later this year. Danks Street Depot received its first major accolade just months after it opened when it was named The Good Food Guide’s Best Cafe in Sydney. Created by Michael Potts, who began his career at the fabled 3 Michelin star Maxim’s restaurant and his wife Angela, the Bambini Wine Room was named Gourmet Traveller magazine’s Best Bar. These icons of the Sydney food and wine scene will be joined by Itacho Sushi, Caviar House & Prunier, and Trattoria Prego.
• SSP Spain has won a major eight year contract at Las Palmas Gran Canaria Airport. As part of the deal, SSP will introduce several new international and national brands to the airport. These include Starbucks and Upper Crust, as well as leading Spanish brands Lizarran, a tapas restaurant concept, and coffee shop brand Cafe&Te. The company also announced a partnership with Spanish celebrity chef Dani Garcia.
• Recent new openings by SSP Norway include a second Seafood Bar and a new O’Leary’s Sports bar at Olso Airport, and a Point convenience store at Tromso.
• SSP Finland is scheduled to open a new 400-seater restaurant at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in August. The new concept, called ‘My City Helsinki’, will showcase the many things to see in do in Helsinki.
• SSP is currently rolling out a new summer promotion called ‘Travelwise’ across its businesses. Unique in its global scale, the programme was launched in response to the current challenging trading environment and the programme focuses on providing customers with added value. It’s supported with sales training initiative called ‘Saleswise’ to ensure that sales are maximised at each location.
• Hong Kong International Airport has been named the best airport for dining by Skytrax. Second in the poll was Changi Airport (Singapore), which was followed by Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok). SSP is the key provider at each of these airports.