INTERNATIONAL. A high-class line-up of speakers from across the industry has been announced for FAB 2021, a special session dedicated to travel food & beverage in the Knowledge Hub at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo. The event takes place on 11-15 October, with FAB to be held on Thursday 14 October.

The Knowledge Hub sessions at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo, including FAB 2021, will be hosted under three key pillars: Lead, Inspire, Transform.

Leading travel dining concessionaires represented include Areas, Autogrill/HMSHost and SSP Group.

Areas CEO Óscar Vela will talk about the future of the travel dining sector post-crisis, the shape of recovery and how Areas aims to strengthen its position as a leading player in the industry.

Towards a new future for food and travel. Left to right: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Vice President of Concessions Zenola Campbell, Brain & Poulter Founding Director and Co-Owner Suzee Brain and Areas CEO Óscar Vela

Representing Autogrill Group will be Chief Marketing Officer Ezio Balarini, HMSHost President & CEO Steve Johnson and HMSHost International CEO Walter Seib.

They will discuss themes such as inspiring change in the business model, as well as in practices and attitudes across the sector; resilience and flexibility internally and externally; how the company has helped and inspired employees through the crisis and the lessons that will guide, motivate and encourage management, staff and customers in a new era of travel dining.

Left to right: Autogrill Group Chief Marketing Officer Ezio Balarini, HMSHost President & CEO Steve Johnson and HMSHost International CEO Walter Seib will assess the latest market situation and talk about inspiring change

SSP Group senior executives from around the world will speak about rebuilding the travel food sector sustainably and profitably. The company will be represented by SSP America Executive Vice President Pat Murray; CEO Asia Pacific and EEME Mark Angela; CEO Continental Europe Jeremy Fennell and UK COO Neil Campbell.

Rebuilding the business sustainably and profitably. Left to right: SSP CEO Asia Pacific and EEME Mark Angela; SSP America Executive Vice President Pat Murray and SSP CEO Continental Europe Jeremy Fennell

The voices of leading airports will also be prominent in this special session, with contributions from Bangalore International Airport Limited (on the evolution of its tender model) and Manchester Airports Group (on the new T2 at Manchester Airport). Speaker names to be confirmed shortly. In addition, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Vice President Concessions Zenola Campbell will address recovery and the issues/challenges for F&B in the US market.

Suzee Brain, Founding Director and Co-Owner at Brain & Poulter, will offer some compelling insights from beyond the travel F&B world, touching on food trends that will influence the consumer landscape of the future.

The Moodie Davitt Report is delighted to announce the return of FAB Women, an initiative to recognise, encourage and develop the participation of women in the Airport food & beverage sector, first hosted at FAB 2019 in Dallas. Speakers to be named shortly.

The event will conclude with the FAB Superstars Awards. These will shine the spotlight on the thousands of front-of-house and behind the scenes heroes and heroines who have helped keep the food & beverage community within our industry going throughout the pandemic.

Key sponsors of the FAB sessions are Areas, Autogrill/HMSHost and SSP Group.

Click here for the full agenda and timings.

To register for the event, click here.