I disagree with your assessment of their quality. As someone that used to spend a majority of the year traveling in the pre-COVID world, OTG takeovers have only improved the quality of food and drinks that are available in the airports they have won contracts in. Yes, they have some establishments that aren’t great, but I still prefer their attempt to be somewhat more appealing than Subway/Burger King/Dunkin Donuts/whatever other garbage tier food option used to be in the same spot OTG took over.

Their prices are stupidly expensive, but for business travelers with expense accounts…it doesn’t matter.

In my experience Subway has a 100% hit rate of being better than a $26 airport hash brown, egg and bacon muffin, and small coffee.

Fast food chains are normally the way to go for minimizing the downside risk though.

https://www.changiairport.com/en/discover/attractions.html#/...

And good food choices, over 150 of them.

https://www.changiairport.com/en/dine/dining-directory.html#...

Which Britain airport?

EDIT: after rereading GP's comment, I think they're saying that the airport _was_ managed by such a company, and they loved the food from it (as opposed to Subway etc.)

And if limited per day, spending less at the airport can mean spending more elsewhere.

(Non-USian) Does the IRS treat these expenses as taxable benefits? Even Paying 30% tax eats into a $27 meh meal vs packing your own.

The joys of the US tax code -_-

Was more about checking boxes than anything else.

Was funny when you have a dinner with 7 people and end up with 14 receipts because we can’t expense alcohol.

Multi-brand strategies are common. Using that as proof that they aren't "proud" and they "hide" is a leap that requires more than just a statement.

Offering everything at all the locations would be terrible, because you just can't cram that much into one tiny airport concession kitchen. And offering the same limited menu at all locations would also be terrible, because different people like to eat different things.

Awful service but at least I feel like I got my money’s worth. Interesting that Starbucks corporate was more generous than HMS. They were both very responsive, fwiw

Source: am consultant. Have hit 200k miles/yr multiple times.

800 miles SFO to SEA, 45 weeks... That's 72k miles alone.

Here's hoping that engineering team and others like it are doing something very valuable to the world at large, because it's costing all of us. This example highlights the cost we all pay when companies and teams refuse to adopt remote work for these kinds of cases. I wonder, after a year long remote work experiment will that team go back to requiring a weekly roundtrip flight, or will they change their practices?

[0]https://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?tab=3 [1]https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-t... [2]https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon...

On the other hand when you think of it as spending so much of your life flying that your average speed over a whole year is 22 miles an hour…

Mix of an active travel lifestyle, living in hotels full time, and a lot of work meetings, events, and commitments around the world.

I hit 50k/year just going back and forth between SFO and YYZ once a month. I'm just a software engineer, with a lot of collaboration between our SF and Waterloo offices.

Have a family, we travel. My expense account is my wallet.

Don't the also operate franchises like those, too? It's been a long time since I've flown, but I think my local airport has well-known franchises, "local" restaurants, and probably some generic ones, all operated by the same company (which is clear from the receipts).

That's the point though right? OTG prices at the highest point they can, which is likely 50%-65% of a per-diem @ $75/day.

As a non-business traveler though, it's a nightmare for the monopoly, but I'm agreeing w/ the quality part.

Airline food, now that's terrible, even in Premium Economy.

My company picking up the tab for my insanely overpriced airport food, hotel bar drinks, and other semi-ridiculous daily purchases is one of the prices they pay to keep me around and living out of a suitcase (during more normal, non-COVID times).

> Our promise to “street pricing” means things cost the same here as in town.

https://www.portofportland.com/about/pdx

Side note: the amazing Salt and Straw is from Portland.

I think there might be an Ivars kiosk.

The folks running the airport actually manage selecting the establishments to make sure there is a variety of price points, types of places, and etc.

https://www.otgexp.com/experiences/featured-experience?loc=2...

I wonder what 'run by' really entails.

A lot of the same restaurants are in the new terminal, but they're now past security.

[1] https://www.foodtravelexperts.com/international/ [2] https://hmshost.international/

Unlimited free food and beverages (restaurant quality at The Centurion), free WiFi to do some work, and a clean relaxing space to decompress a bit or even shower before a flight.

Will never pay $18 for a mediocre airport sandwich again.

By 2018 or so, I often began avoiding the Centurion in favor of Delta lounges just to have some space to myself.

The only thing better than executive platinum status is not having to get on another f#cking airplane.

But I am actually using every penny of the airline, Uber and Equinox credits ($200 + $200 + $300) so it’s effectively free for me and all the extra benefits like lounge access are icing on the cake.

Lounge access is only good when it's not full of people who just pay for a credit card. I'm quite fond of the Cathay, Swiss, and Lufthansa first class lounges. Centurions have gone completely down-hill since the Platinum got popular.

Haven't been to the US, but the same applies to most European airports. Silly shops, silly layouts,etc. Heck, a few weeks ago I departed from a midsize airport that recently benefitted from billions of investment. Rest assure the money didn't go to make the whole process a bit easier for passengers and we all still had to stand in a crowded corridor and then on the stairs with no aircon except a big fan hanging off the ceiling.

The airport is the most interesting situation because it's the most unavoidable monopoly.

If you have really bad food, it might be bad enough that I decide it's not worth going to the stadium - this is theoretically bad for the stadium.

I doubt many people are going to not fly because the food in the airport sucks. They'll just pack snacks. The airport doesn't really care.

Why would the airport want to deal with a dozen small providers, a third of which will no doubt drop out on any given year? Far easier to hand it off to one provider, let them deal with everything, and focus their energy on more important parts of their business.

Also in many places one company will own or operate several airports. I'd assume having the same company provide restaurant services across all their airports just makes life easier.

It's a similar thing with ski resorts, skating rinks, bowling alleys, etc.. all of whom tend to charge exorbitant prices for mediocre food, or worse.