Food Units

As I predicted here seven months ago, the awards for the providing of overpriced airport food were contracted to two of the largest global food companies -- HMS Host and SSP America. Dollars spent here will flow out of here, which is par for the economic course we've designed. We're just playing bogey ball.

A few local owners will be granted the privilege of aligning with these two corporations owing up to a 10% stake in the venture.

Others, who paid several thousand dollars and applied as independents (read: totally locally owned) so as to not be subjected to the dim 4%-6% share of revenues they would have gotten while under the umbrella of either of these corporations, were denied. "Lack of experience," claimed the panel of evaluators for Greg Brida, the owner of Luigi's Slice in Midtown. His family's 50 years of experience in Sacramento was no match against the experience of HMS Host offering globally sourced products to other airports concessions stands. Gone is his $7,000...pissed away to pay for evaluation efforts that clearly were going to lean towards national businesses operating under the contraction of a global food service provider. Famous Famiglia Pizza won the "Italian Foods Concessions Bid." The official pizza of the Palms Hotel. The official pizza of Madison Square Garden.

And soon to be the official Italian-food-unit for Terminal B at Sacramento International Airport. I suppose having authentic pre-formed frozen pizza dough from a factory in Minnesota shipped here and cooked at the push of a single button on a heating unit by a lowly-paid concessionaire and touted as "NY's finest pizza" is exactly what Sacramento needs.

I would have to think that frequent airline travelers enjoy a degree of familiarity when they arrive at a new destination. That they can find a slice of pepperoni pizza that tastes just like the pizza they had at Cleveland International is an important point. That is...they will spend more money there as opposed to an unknown, cast-under-suspicion local outfit like Luigi's Slice.