France’s Lagardère Travel Retail will be pushing forward with a tech strategy to boost its digital prowess at airports in the coming year as it helps bring the channel up to speed with domestic markets.
The Paris-based company is looking at a series of advances led by Infineat: a flexible travel dining concept that focuses on sustainability and efficiency. As the airport food and beverage (F&B) segment has become highly competitive, with star chefs and an array of dining options now in the mix, Lagardère’s is acting to stay ahead of the game.
Infineat promises airport landlords a multi-brand food concept delivering a diverse offer with maximized efficiency that can be tailored “to meet the needs of every traveler,” the retailer claims. That is a big commitment considering footprints start at just 800 square feet for grab-and-go take-away setups but also applicable to expansive 10,000-square-foot dine-in food halls.
The concept is built on ‘lean kitchen’ principles (where efficiency and streamlined processes minimize waste and maximize productivity). It also reduces back-of-house space—something always in short supply at airports—and capital expenditure. These kitchens also require no exhaust system and align with Lagardère Travel Retail’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy.
Among the company’s targets for 2025 are to ensure that 75% of single-use plastic water bottles will be 100% RPET by the end of this year and that 100% of eggs purchased for its restaurants will be cage-free.
Self-ordering kiosks, long familiar to users of McDonald’s and KFC, will be incorporated in relevant locations with bespoke menus promised for specific passenger profiles. More than 100 recipes span global dishes to cover regional tastes and local cultural influences.
Infineat will debut in Bulgaria—which with Romania has just become a fully-fledged member of the European Union’s Schengen area. The two openings will be in Varna and Burgas airports between March and May 2025. Separately, the country’s main airport serving the capital Sofia is also set for a major retail and F&B revamp.
Robotics in airport F&B
Lagardère Travel Retail’s efficiency play also extends to robotics. In a statement, the company said: “We are actively exploring robotics within our F&B operations. This promising technology is being tested to complement and assist our human workforce by reducing their physical workload depending on the needs and environment of the restaurant.”
The robotic trials span three key functions: image and marketing, cleaning, and serving. On the cleaning front, waiter robots will assist staff in their daily tasks freeing them up to focus on more complex tasks. The company says that robotic waiters “are proving their mettle” by simultaneously attending to multiple tables “without getting overwhelmed.”
This test-and-learn approach to robotics is with a view to long-term solutions. Lagardère Travel Retail said: “We have encountered challenges which have allowed us to develop a best practices guide to support the scalable deployment of successful robotic solutions across our global F&B operations.”
Airport self-checkouts expand
Self-checkout is well established globally but remains limited at airport duty-free stores due to extra requirements such as boarding pass checks, sealed bags management for some products like alcohol, and age control for others including tobacco.
Nevertheless, Lagardère has created a solution that is now implemented in 14 countries and available in 12 languages. The retailer commented: “Self-checkouts increase the stop ratio of new customers and improve the in-store experience in line with high-street retail trends.”
Travelers have often shunned duty-free stores because of line-ups and/or not feeling comfortable interacting with staff at standard till points. The new checkouts reduce queues and waiting times while increasing customer autonomy. From 600 self-checkouts deployed at airports so far, Lagardère plans more than 400 additional units in 2025.
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