After 40 years, ARE continues to innovate by delivering Melbourne’s unique flavours to the airport.

More than ever, Australians are travelling on their stomachs.

Restaurant culture has never been bigger, fuelled by an ever-increasing number of celebrity chefs, primetime cooking shows and local good food guides.

Now Airport Retail Enterprises (ARE) is looking to bring foodie culture to Australia’s airports and extend the unique flavours of the city beyond the departure gates.

To achieve this goal, ARE has partnered with two renowned chefs and Melbourne identities –Shannon Bennett of Vue De Monde and Frank Camorra of Movida.

The new partnerships create a unique offering for travellers at Tullamarine Airport’s International Terminal.

Deborah Price of Melbourne Airport said the new offerings, Cafe Vue and Bar Pulpo by Movida, which have a distinctly Melbourne flavour, would provide passengers with something different.

“The success of these restaurants is they are owned by chefs who live in Melbourne and are actively involved in the business so this sets a new benchmark in airport standards,” Ms Price said.

“These chefs, who both have been awarded hats (by the Good Food Guides), are monitoring the quality and that creates a really credible offering for people.

“Melbourne is a city known for its dining and having these kinds of restaurants represented at the airport helps to set Melbourne Airport apart from the others.”

Still in their infancy, the foodie ventures are already proving successful. Last year, Shannon Bennett’s Café Vue opened its doors at the terminal, drawing on elements of its three-hatted, city-based parent Vue De Monde.

Rigorously overseen by Mr Bennett, Café Vue offers simple French fare, as well as in flight dinner boxes. Mr Bennett said he had already received positive feedback from customers.

“ARE has a strong management team at Café Vue led by David Yallouz, who has knowledge in dealing with airport logistics and monitoring systems for quality and cost so I know they can look after the Café Vue reputation out there,” he said.

This year, Melbourne hotspot Movida will follow suit, opening Bar Pulpo by Movida in the same terminal. Again rigorously overseen by its parent restaurant, Bar Pulpo will serve a range of tapas and other Spanish-inspired treats.

“It isn’t intimidating food, it’s the sort of food that is easily enjoyed by anyone,” said David Mackintosh, Director of Movida.

“You can order as much food as you feel like or have time for – if someone’s in a rush they could just order two or three tapas.”

While the Movida-style tapas seems a natural fit for hungry travellers keen for a taste of the city, Mr Mackintosh said it would not have happened without ARE.

“When ARE approached us with the idea we thought it was a great opportunity, but it isn’t something we had thought of doing without them,” Mr Mackintosh said.

“They have long standing experience with the logistics of what could be quite an unfamiliar environment for us.”
 
Indeed, ARE’s long history with airport food and beverage has held it in good stead to launch innovative projects such as these.

ARE owner Peter Butts said that over the company’s 40 year history, he had seen significant changes in customer’s tastes.

“We have seen people’s expectations change and what they want from airport food now is much more sophisticated than it was 10 or 15 years ago,” Mr Butts said.

“With Cafe Vue and Bar Pulpo we have been able to deliver two brands that do very high quality food at reasonable prices to airport customers.

“But to make it actually work, the quality had to be the same as the parent restaurants.

“We have to replicate that standard, otherwise there is no point in doing it.”

These latest ventures are just the most recent instalment in ARE’s history of innovative food retailing.

Francis Loughran of Future Food has been working on food concepts with ARE for the past 10 years. Over the course of their partnership, ARE successfully launched Australia’s first airport specific food retail brands and served the first meal prepared fresh at an Australian airport.

“ARE's desire and drive to not only understand trends, but to stay ahead of the trends has seen the creation of some very contemporary food concepts,” he said.

“ARE's professional capability has allowed the company to very comfortably marry its skills and experience to complement the Cafe Vue brand and thereby deliver the best cafe within any Australasian Airport.”