The Symbiotic Relationship between Hospitality, Foodservice and Travel

These three fields blend together, but they're often talked about
separately. Restaurants, hospitality, and travel all intersect
and rely on one another.


On this episode of The Main Course, Host Barbara Castiglia talked
with Joe Robert-Thornton, EVP and COO of HMSHost, a world leader
in creating dining for travel venues. HMSHost operates locations
all over North America and is part of Autogrill Group, the
world's leading provider of food & beverage services for
people on the move.


The duo talked about the intersection of restaurants,
hospitality, and travel, but first, they traveled through
Robert-Thornton's career.


In his early days, Robert-Thornton worked in fast-food
restaurants and retail. He eventually graduated to the big time
and got a break at Blockbuster Video, where he spent his "good
years." He landed at Starbucks, then Jamba Juice. He took a role
at HMSHost in March of last year. But, you might not recognize
the brand.


"We're not really a brand, and so most people won't know this
because we're operating other people's brands," Robert-Thornton
said. "We've had relationships, prior to the pandemic, with more
than 300 brands."


With operating a lot of brands, they've bid a lot of locations in
airports. When folks compared the toll the travel industry took
during the pandemic, they made comparisons to 9/11. The lack of
travel caused a lot of their brands to take significant hits.
Obviously, this was much worse, according to Robert-Thornton.
But, now that airports are starting to open back up, these
restaurant and hospitality brands are seeing more business.