You won’t realise you’re doing it, but, when you reach the top of an escalator, you will almost certainly turn right. Nobody is quite sure why - it could be something to do with most people being right-handed - but one of Europe’s biggest catering companies is using such insights to change the way in which it sells food and drink at airports and railway stations.

SSP, after recently completing research costing almost £2 million, says that understanding the way that consumers behave while travelling and how that, in turn, governs their spending decisions will be the key to it meeting ambitious growth targets.

Some of the biggest changes are being made in response to the shake-up in airport security to counter the threat of terrorist attacks. There has been a huge increase in the number of passengers opting to go straight through security rather than spending time - and money - landside. As a result, many airports are increasing the number of airside bars, restaurants and shops.

Andrew Lynch, SSP’s chief executive and the man who led its £1.25 billion buyout from Compass Group two years ago, said: “People are stressed until they get airside because they don’t know how long security will take. Things have actually improved, but the perception still lags reality.”

Noel Toolan, SSP’s chief marketing officer, said that the amount of time spent by travellers at airports had risen by up to 25 per cent since the changes to security. “The most dramatic shift has been the amount of time spent airside,” he said. “The fear of missing the flight is the critical factor.”

In the case of Bristol airport, where SSP operates several outlets, the boundary between landside and airside has changed and new outlets have been opened so that a greater proportion of the commercial units are now airside. Mr Lynch said that an Upper Crust outlet that shifted airside had increased its sales by 90 per cent.

The research suggested that, while all sales were increasing, food sales had increased at a faster rate as travellers made use of the extra time on their hands. “If you’ve got more time, you might buy a tie, but you don’t buy a second one, whereas you might buy a second cup of coffee or tea,” Mr Lynch said.

The research found that the increasing stress levels among airport users had made the availability of flight information more important to travellers. Mr Lynch said that people were opting for coffee shops and restaurants next to departure boards. SSP had responded by erecting small information screens in its outlets and training staff to offer information on how long it took to walk to the departure gates.

“Flight information is crucial in determining behaviour,” he said. “People want to know how long it takes to get there, if there are toilets and if there’s food and drink. The dream scenario is to know where you are, to have a monitor with departures and a nice cup of tea in front of you.”

Mr Lynch said that the research was helping the company in negotiations. “When we pitch for business, we go in and use the research to say what kind of outlets should be in what kind of position - then it’s a debate.”

He said that evidence of a growing dissatisfaction with catering facilities at airports had sparked a shift to a greater mix of offerings, including concepts catering to more sophisticated consumers. He cited the Caviar House & Prunier franchise at Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Montreux Jazz Café at Geneva airport as examples of how SSP was responding to those changing tastes. “People are underserved in transport locations. The Montreux Jazz Café has live music and exclusive screenings from the festival itself. It’s all about keeping things moving forwards.”

The research included 114 focus groups, 10,000 questionnaires, 2,000 hours of video footage, 1,000 face-to-face interviews and tracking of 2,000 passenger journeys. It was, if SSP meets those growth targets, almost certainly £2 million well spent.

Who and where

- Europe’s biggest transport caterer, with operations in 31 countries and 26,000 employees. Operations in 130 airports and 270 railway stations.

- Sales in 2007: £1.24 billion, of which almost 50 per cent is in the UK. Profits: £135 million

- Brands owned or franchised by SSP include: Starbucks, Caffè Ritazza, Burger King, M&S Simply Food, Pizza Hut, Upper Crust

Source: SSP

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