Cutting Edge Airport Dining Model Set to Debut at JFK

The new JetBlue terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport will feature a number of food-related innovations, including table-service dining in the gate areas and a gourmet market offering healthful, sustainable items, reports USA Today.

Managed by OTG Management, JFK’s new Terminal 5 will include 16-seat clusters in front of about half of the 26 gates where touch-screen monitors will display menus and allow passengers waiting for flights to order food, pay with a credit card swipe and have it delivered to them without leaving the area. The usual wait is 10-15 minutes, USA Today says, and the selections include sandwiches, meat/cheese plates and appetizers available either plated with silverware or in to-go containers. The average check is expected to be $7 to $8.

In all, OTG has placed 22 food/beverage outlets at a cost of $45 million in the terminal. They include three coffee bars, six lounges with alcohol service, nine full-service restaurants/cafes incorporating both casual and upscale concepts and an eight-station food court where customers can customize their choices through self-service touch-screen menus that incorporate the selections from all eight stations. The concepts include Roma Pizza, Lucy's Asian Kitchen, Philly Cheesesteaks, Pommes Frites, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Boar's Head Deli, Dunkin' Donuts and Fresco Italian Pasta.

There will also be several gourmet retail food markets offering more than a thousand organic, vegan, kosher, all-natural, no-sugar and gluten-free products, some sourced locally, all sold pre-packaged and on-board ready. The $743 million terminal will also have 25 other non-food-related retail spaces, designed to accommodate up to 250 daily flights and 20 million passengers annually.