EXPRESS Catering Limited (ECL) is seeing gains from a significant increase in passenger traffic and its renovation tactics to increase consumer spending opportunities at the Sangster International Airport (SIA).

In its recently published financial statements, Express Catering reported that its revenue for the June to August quarter — the first quarter of its financial year — soared to US$6.4 million up from US$4.91 million a year ago, as passenger traffic at the SIA rose while on average each was spending more at its stores. Passenger traffic at SIA during the three-month period June to August reached over 724,600, comfortably exceeding the prior years out-turn by 16.4 per cent. The revenue growth was further underscored by an essential key performance indicator (KPI) — the spend rate per passenger. Express Catering Limited reported a spend rate of US$8.69 per passenger, marking a 9.5 per cent increase compared to the similar period in the prior year.

“The idea was to place the best offering in a different location that would yield a better spend opportunity, and so what we saw as a result of that strategy deployed, once we went through it, and refined it and so forth, it has bear fruit,” said Ian Dear, chairman and CEO of Express Catering Limited (ECL), in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

He explained that the design of the airport was modified by two international airport design, retail, and merchandising expert companies, The Design Solution (TDS) and Pragma Consulting. They aided in providing the best appeal to the travelling public by moving around brands and adding new brands.

“We put certain offerings in certain locations and strategically have maybe one pattern of consumption in one area, then have the same consumer go and consume something else in another location based on the location of their dates, and so forth. The whole strategy has worked really well,” he told the Business Observer.

The net profit for the quarter stood at US$843,114, representing an improvement on the net profit of US$652,841 in the similar period in the prior year. Cost management also played a pivotal role in the results.

“Once we were able to be in a position to forecast what our buying patterns would look like, we were in a better position to start; one: purchasing bulk, more items at one time, because we could get to forecast what our numbers were and also, based on that, negotiate a better price at the end of the day,” Dear outlined as steps the company took to contain its costs. Express Catering Limited anticipates further improvements in the cost category as it reinstates similar arrangements with more suppliers.

In July 2023, the first Bob Marley’s One Love food and beverage experience opened to the travelling public in the revamped food court. The finished product is an offering of cuisines from Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. Plans are underway for the addition of two final experiences that will complete the food court renovation initiative. One being Bento Sushi, an international fast casual dining experience of Asian origin, and the other called “Freshens”, a casual health conscious juice brand.

“Sushi has never been offered in airports, per say, as a sushi experience. We feel that with our international customers and, of course, Jamaicans being more exposed to that cuisine, there will be a demand for it. The idea is that we want to provide Caribbean and Jamaican experiences predominantly, but we must have a nice international offering that people would want,” Dear shared with the Business Observer.

With both sushi and a health drink options, Dear said the plan is to provide a very diversified range of products and experiences for people using the SIA to choose from. Both are scheduled to be in operation by the first quarter of 2024. Dear revealed the plans are also afoot to open a fourth Starbucks location in the centre of the court area at the airport.

“We’re also revitalising and repositioning what we called our own brand called Quinos, which is grab and go concept and that is also going to be reinstituted,” he shared. “Tourism in Jamaica is growing significantly; we think we’ll see some record numbers over the next few years. That goes well for our company because the majority of our customers are visitors. We want to provide first class, world-class experiences throughout the entire airport, so that people can come and have a really lasting great impression of Jamaica,” said Dear.