HMSHost unveils powerful Sense of Place at Belfast City Airport
Published: 28/07/10
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Dermot Davitt
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HMSHost UK chief Andrew Guy (right) presents a memento of the unveiling to Belfast City Airport CEO Brian Ambrose
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NORTHERN IRELAND. HMSHost’s striking new food & beverage offer at Belfast City Airport, which was unveiled at a special launch event on Tuesday, has helped transform the facility with its strong Sense of Place and high-class designs. That’s according to the airport’s CEO Brian Ambrose.
As
reported, the concessionaire has unveiled three new concepts in the airport’s £6 million refurbished and expanded Departures zone, including a Harvest Market – which takes its inspiration from the market of the same name in Belfast – a Bushmills Bar, plus Ireland’s first Espression by Lavazza concept.
“It’s a major milestone for the airport,” Ambrose told The Moodie Report in Belfast. “HMSHost has added a sense of the unexpected to the food & beverage offer, and a real ‘wow’ factor with concepts such as Lavazza, Bushmills and the Harvest Market. We’re delighted to see local brands work well in this environment, and the customer reaction has already been very strong. Only in Ireland would you open a facility and straight away people tell you that you have to extend the bar already.”
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Harvest Market takes its inspiration from the market of the same name in Belfast city
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The wood fire oven is sure to be an attraction, while a map of the province on the back wall highlights the Sense of Place
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HMSHost has created a series of zones designed to make it easy for travellers to navigate
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Local, fresh produce is a key feature of the Harvest Market concept
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HMSHost UK Managing Director Andrew Guy told guests: “We are delighted to add Belfast City to the HMSHost portfolio. The airport and our brand partners have been central to making this project happen. Lavazza has developed into one of the world’s leading premium coffee brands, and we’re proud to open its first outlet here, Bushmills is a legendary name both here and worldwide, and we are enjoying working with them to enhance that reputation.
“Harvest Market takes its inspiration from the fresh products, bought locally, that are a feature of the Belfast market of the same name, and repeats our success with other ‘market’ concepts such as that at Jersey, Cork and East Midlands airports. It’s not often you find true fresh food in the airport environment, or an open fire pizza oven, as you do here, so we’re aiming to set new standards for the business. And our aim is to develop these three concepts in other locations too.”
HMSHost EMEA Vice President Dawn Wilding told The Moodie Report: “We’ve tried to create a Sense of Place with the two local concepts and customers are reacting well. For an airport, it’s great to be able to showcase local brands and what’s good about the region. It’s a point of difference to other places.”
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Espression by Lavazza makes its Irish debut at Belfast City Airport
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As reported yesterday, Harvest Market is a custom-designed restaurant featuring a menu of locally sourced produce. Deli sandwiches and baguettes, oven-baked pizza and even Asian stir fry dishes are all on display, providing travellers with a variety of fresh options. Biscuits are offered from celebrated local food ambassador, Jenny Bristow of Take the Biscuit, while S.D. Bell provides Irish fine teas and coffees.
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Bushmills Bar creates a neat link with the famous Diageo-owned distillery in Northern Ireland
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Bushmills Bar is a high-class execution of an Irish bar in an airport
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Bushmills Bar is designed to create the feel and ambience of a fashionable bar with international flavour. Malt and blended whiskeys are offered, as well as international wines, beers and bar food dishes such as shepherd’s pie and hamburgers. Espression by Lavazza is an innovative coffee shop that brings together coffee with pastries and sandwiches.
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HMSHost adds fresh flavour to Belfast City Airport
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Belfast City Airport is set to handle around 3 million passengers in 2010, a double-digit rise on 2009, CEO Brian Ambrose said today.
Comment: HMSHost has brought together three progressive new concepts at Belfast City,
writes Dermot Davitt. Harvest Market and Bushmills Bar bring a much-needed Sense of Place to the facility, but do so in a clean, modern, upscale way.
In layout and design, Harvest Market is simple and consumer-friendly, we found, with salad station, packaged food shelves and pizza oven all housed in their own separate zones. Again, how often at airports do we see a long line of customers queuing with trays while waiting for orders to be fulfilled at a single, central service point ahead? At Belfast, airport and concessionaire have taken that element out of the equation.
Bushmills Bar, created in partnership with Diageo, plays heavily on the traditions of the nearby distillery. This is one of the best bars you’ll see at an airport anywhere, with a premium environment, upscale furniture and just the right amount of light for this style of bar (i.e not a lot). The best accolade we can pay is that it wouldn’t look out of place in the centre of the city it serves, home to many famous pubs.
Securing the popular Lavazza brand for an airport of this size (around 3 million passengers) is also quite a coup, though notably it is located well away from the other key commercial areas, which may have an impact on footfall. Like the other concepts, it offers something different, and an element of surprise that will surely appeal to the fast-growing volume of passengers through Belfast City Airport. Add in the new-look World Duty Free store airside, also recently opened, and Belfast City can boast a commercial environment that would be the envy of many other larger airports in Europe.
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HMSHost EMEA Vice President Dawn Wilding: Creating a Sense of Place was critical
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Well-known local names such as Jenny Bristow and SD Bell feature prominently at Harvest Market
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NOTE: HMSHost is a Platinum Sponsor of the inaugural Airport Food & Beverage Conference & Awards, to be held by The Moodie Report at Manchester Airport on 23–25 January 2011. CEO Elie Maalouf is also among the frontline speakers.
The Awards nomination deadline has been extended to October 1 and the ‘Early Bird’ conference registration, offering a £100 discount, has been extended to 31 October.
A full information pack, including entry forms, is now available for the FAB Awards that will take place at the Gala Dinner on 24 January (click on the right-hand advertisement to download). Entries have already begun to flow in.
Please visit
www.kingley.co.uk/FAB for full details on hotel and delegate registration, plus programme and sponsorship details. The event will kick off with an informal Opening Cocktail on 23 January.
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