Food

Gate-delivery service lands at San Diego Int’l Airport

Food, , , ,

 

You order take-out meals delivered to your home or office, so why not get a meal – or some merchandise – delivered to you while you’re sitting at your airport gate?

That’s the idea behind the app-powered services landing in airports.

Airport Sherpa started doing this last July at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and late last month San Diego International became the second airport in the country where passsengers and airport workers can use an app to order food, drink or merchandise for sale in the airport delivered to them wherever they are in the airport.

At Your Gate did a soft launch of its service in San Diego at the end of January with the company’s three founders joining two employees in making the initial in-airport deliveries to flight attendants, airline employees working gates and ticket counters, ramp break rooms and to a few passengers who caught wind of the program.

The service seemed popular among airport workers right away, with plenty of orders coming in from employee break rooms on Super Bowl Sunday.

Many flight crews with short turn-around times have already ordered food delivered to them at the gates, while at least one airline has set up an account with At Your Gate so they can order food for passengers in the first-class cabin in case the ground catering service doesn’t have time to restock a departing flight.

Another possible application for the app: delivering food to “through” passengers on Southwest Airlines flights who don’t have time on the short connections to get off the plane to buy a snack.

What does it cost?

At Your Gate is currently charging airport and airline employees a $2.99 delivery charge. Passengers in the airport will pay a $6.99 delivery charge when the service officially opens to them next month and there’s discussion of offering unlimited deliveries for a monthly subscription cost.

Sound like a good idea? Let me know what you think.

How to enter the cooking contest at O’Hare Airport

Contests, Food, ,

The “Channel Your Inner Chef” culinary competition is back for another year at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

The HMSHost-sponsored competition gives amateur cooks, culinary students and anyone with a great recipe a chance to show off their favorite dishes and win some great prizes – including having their recipe featured at a restaurant at O’Hare Airport.

To enter: make a two-minute video of yourself preparing your favorite recipe, then upload your video by February 20, 2018 at ChannelYourInnerChef.com.

Five finalists will be selected based on the recipe, presentation, form, and showmanship.

Those finalists will win a trip to Chicago to compete in a live cooking showdown in front of an audience and a panel of judges at O’Hare Terminal 2 on March 20, 2018.

During the timed cook-off finalists will be asked to create an original recipe with ingredients revealed at the event and the winning dish will be featured on the menu of an HMSHost-operated restaurant at O’Hare.

The grand prize winner will also receive two roundtrip airline tickets for a flight within the continental U.S. and a VIP trip for two to attend the James Beard Awards Gala on May 7, 2018 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Deadline to enter is February 20, 2018. Full details at ChannelYourInnerChef.com.

 

Airport Restaurant Week at O’Hare & Midway Airports

Events, Food, Free Stuff, , ,

Airport Restaurant Week is underway again at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports now through February 8.

The in-airport food fest brings a taste of the citywide Chicago Restaurant Week into the airport for ticketed passengers who will get to enjoy cooking demonstrations in the terminals, in-store-samplings, and a wide variety of giveaways and special offers in shops and restaurants.

Passengers who stick around after the cooking demos will get to taste the freshly-made dishes and take home free souvenirs, including an Airport Restaurant Week chip clip and a recipe book (while supplies last).

At O’Hare, cooking demos will take place each weekday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The stages are in Terminal 2 near Gate E1, in Terminal 3 near Gate H3 and in Terminal 5 near Gate M7. At Midway, the cooking demos will occur at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. each weekday in the main food court, just past the security checkpoint.

Check the schedule to get more details about the cooking demonstrations, free-sampling events – and recipes –for Airport Restaurant Week events on special webpages set up for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and Chicago’s Midway Airport.

At O’Hare, check the schedule for Fannie May and Godiva chocolate sampling events taking place at Sarah’s Candies, popcorn sampling at Nuts on Clark, and other sampling events for smoothies, Chicago Hot Dogs, caramel apples and other treats. Many restaurants and shops will also be offering discounts and gift-with-purchase specials.

At Midway Airport, Airport Restaurant Week will not only offer in-store samplings and a full schedule of cooking demos, including beer, pizza, poke tacos, and more, but also a sneak peek at some of the new eateries being unveiled as part of a major concessions upgrade that includes BIG & little’s and the return of Harry Caray’s 7th Inning Stretch.

Free airport meals for military during Thanksgiving

Food, Free Stuff, Holidays, ,

In airports around the country, restaurants and concessionaires will be offering complimentary meals and menu items for traveling military personnel over Thanksgiving.

Here are the offers from Delaware North restaurants:

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Free meals for active duty military during Thanksgiving week at participating Delaware North locations: Earl Campbell’s Sports Bar, Schlotzsky’s Deli, Maudie’s TexMex, Salt Lick BBQ and Saxon Pub

Boise Airport

Holiday meal will be provided to airport police and EMTs on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

10% discount for uniformed military personnel during Thanksgiving week

Detroit Metropolitan Airport

On Thanksgiving Day, active duty military can receive a free sandwich from Subway in the McNamara Terminal or from Le Petit Bistro in the North Terminal

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

10% discount for uniformed military personnel during Thanksgiving week

Los Angeles International

Preparing holiday meal and carving traditional turkey for active military at Bob Hope USO post on Thanksgiving Day (starting at 11am)

Nashville International Airport

Preparing and serving traditional Thanksgiving meal for active duty military at Swett’s (beginning at 10:30am)

Richmond International Airport

Serving traditional Thanksgiving meal (roast turkey with gravy, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and salad) for traveling military at the airport’s USO post

Tampa International Airport 

Free meals (entree and a drink) will be offered to active duty military on Thanksgiving Day at participating locations: RumFish Grill, Four Green Fields, Chick-fil-A, Auntie Anne’s, Plane Box kiosk, Panda Express, New York New York Pizza. Free pizza will also be brought to the airport’s USO post on Thanksgiving Christmas Day

Will Rogers World Airport (OKC)

Holiday meal will be served to active duty military, airport police and USO staff

Ontario International Airport

Holiday meal will be served for active military at airport’s USO post on Thanksgiving Day

In addition: 20 restaurants operated by Paradies Lagardère in 10 North American airports will offer active or retired military to a free meal through its Food and Beverage Division’s Treat Our Troops program during Thanksgiving weekend, Thursday, November 23, through Sunday, November 26.

Show your military identification when ordering or checking out to take advantage of this offer.

Participating airports/restaurants:

Asheville Regional: Blue Ridge Tavern

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta: Sweet Auburn Market

Long Beach: Long Beach Marche, 4th Street Vine, The Boathouse

Austin–Bergstrom: Second Bar + Kitchen, Ruta Maya Coffee, ThunderCloud Subs

Northwest Arkansas: Smokewood American Grill, Say Si Bon! Gourmet Market, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Core Brewing Co.

Denver: Say Si Bon! TravelMart, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Big Bowl, The Magic Pan Crepe Stand, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs

Pittsburgh: Bar Symon, Bottega dei Sapori

Reagan National: Say Si Bon! Gourmet Market – Center Pier and North Pier, The Magic Pan Crepe Stand, Wow Bao, Washington Pour Bar, U Street Pub

Eagle County: Townie Tavern, Alpenglo Grille

 

And HMSHost offers a 15 percent discount year-round or military with valid identification on food and non-alcoholic beverages at HMSHost airport (and travel plaza locations) throughout the United States.

Find a list of locations here.

 

Thanksgiving dinner at the airport? You can do that.

Food, Holidays, ,

By this day next week many people will be pulling their chairs up to big Thanksgiving dinners.

But some of us may be traveling – or stuck at an airport.

Don’t worry, though. In many airports you’ll still be able to get some turkey. And in many cases, the traditional fixings that go with it.

Here are few ideas from HMSHost outlets:

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport the Atlanta Chophouse (in the atrium) will be serving a  Thanksgiving menu with the choice of either deep fried Cajun turkey breast or oven roasted apple glazed pork loin, complete with dinner roll and the choices of two sides.

At Charlotte Douglat International Airport, the 1897 Market (in the atrium will be serving up roast turkey with Macaire potato hash, baby squash, gravy and cranberry and Brookwood Farms BBQ (also in the atrium) smoked turkey with sweet potato casserole, cornbread dressing, braised greens, turkey gravy, cranberry, and pecan pie will be on the menu.

Ikes (Terminal 1, in the airport mall) at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, will be serving up its traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which include their sage roasted turkey with sage stuffing, Yukon gold mash potatoes and – a slice of pumpkin pie.

And, for those stuck at Los Angeles International Airport, consider the “The Pilgrim” sandwich at the larder at tavern (in the Tom Bradley International Terminal) which is made with roasted turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Over Thanksgiving, many airport concessionaires will also be offering free meals or menu items to traveling military personnel. I’m gathering details on those opportunities now.