L’Officina is not an Italian franchise transferred into an airport. Lagardère Travel Retail Poland developed the visual identity, interior, menu and experience in-house. That difference turns the restaurant into evidence of a wider strategy: build concepts that can adapt by location, generate proprietary data and become reusable assets.
- L’Officina sits in the public arrivals area at Warsaw Chopin and serves pizza, focaccia, snacks, gelato, desserts, Italian drinks and coffee.
- The concept was developed entirely by Lagardère Travel Retail’s local team.
- The company says proprietary concepts are becoming more important because one format for every airport increasingly fails to match local needs.
What is happening
Lagardère Travel Retail opened L’Officina on 31 July in the public arrivals area of Warsaw Chopin Airport. The offer uses Italian culinary and visual codes, but the Polish team created it specifically for airport operations.
Pizza is a deliberate choice. It is familiar across ages and nationalities, supports fast service, works for solo and group consumption and allows multiple price points and formats. The menu balances universal appeal with a recognisable proposition.
The launch comes at an airport that handled 24.1 million passengers in 2025, up 13%, with 144 scheduled destinations. Lagardère says food-and-beverage spending in Polish airports is growing faster than traffic, moving F&B from a supporting service to a commercial driver.
Lagardère already combines partner brands, local brands and proprietary concepts. Natoo, initially created at Venice Airport, demonstrated how an in-house brand can adapt across markets. Its Frankfurt version retained the healthy and sustainable core while localising sourcing and operating details.
Why operators are building proprietary brands
They control the complete product
A franchise brings manuals, approved suppliers, campaigns and royalties. An owned concept allows recipe, portion, price, service and promotion to change with terminal, time band, nationality and dwell time.
They capture more customer information
When the operator controls POS, loyalty, app, digital menu and campaigns, it can connect item, time, flight and passenger type. Data is less fragmented between franchisor, operator and airport and can improve menu, staffing and pricing decisions.
They create a replicable asset
A successful concept can expand to other airports, stations or countries. The operator owns the intellectual property and improves manuals, recipes and formats over time. Scale does not require exact replication: a global core can support a local layer.
They reduce dependence on external brands
Licences provide awareness but bring expiry, renegotiation and rights risk. An owned portfolio balances that dependency and creates options in tenders where airports seek differentiation and sense of place.
Insight
Passenger needs and location shape the opportunity.
Design
Brand, menu, space and service form the concept.
Operations
Speed, consistency and economics make it viable.
Learning
Sales, flow and feedback improve the proposition.
Scale
A repeatable format carries the brand elsewhere.
Sustainable scale preserves the core and adapts the context. A proprietary brand turns local knowledge into a transferable operating system.
What it means for airports and travel retail
For airports, a proprietary brand can create differentiation without relying on an established domestic chain. It can also be designed for arrivals, departures, connecting or public areas, where time pressure and companions differ.
The commercial relationship can evolve. Rather than assessing rent and sales percentage alone, the airport can evaluate innovation, satisfaction, local sourcing, digital capability and adaptability. ACI Europe reports that a 1% increase in global passenger satisfaction is associated on average with 1.5% growth in non-aeronautical revenue.
For the operator, ownership increases responsibility. The concept must generate traffic without external awareness, train staff, protect quality and renew its proposition. It becomes an asset only if consistency and profitability survive beyond launch novelty.
For local suppliers, proprietary concepts may provide a more flexible route than global franchises. Regional ingredients, beverages and products can enter an operating system with procurement and safety standards, adding authenticity without losing airport efficiency.
Where the commercial opportunities appear
Build intellectual property
Turn operating knowledge into concepts, manuals and reusable formats.
Differentiate the terminal
Select concepts linked to passenger, location and sense of place.
Enter international networks
Place regional ingredients and products inside scalable standards.
Enter the menu
Develop formats, recipes and hospitality-specific activation.
Unify experience and data
Connect POS, digital menu, loyalty, orders, flights and operations.
Activate during consumption
Link content, sponsored items, sampling and incremental sales.
Create modular formats
Adapt flagship, quick service, kiosk and grab-and-go with one identity.
Value the brand asset
Separate outlet economics, development cost and expansion potential.
Is your airport concept only a restaurant, or an asset that can learn and scale?
Risks and practical barriers
- Low awareness. The brand must explain its offer and trust signal quickly.
- Premature scale. Replication before validating unit economics multiplies mistakes.
- Superficial localisation. Local decoration is not a substitute for understanding habits, price and time.
- Menu complexity. Too many items slow kitchen, service and replenishment.
- Operational inconsistency. Brand value falls when locations vary too far.
- Traffic dependence. A concept may work in one terminal and fail with another passenger mix.
- Incomplete data. Without mission, flight or dwell context, learning remains limited.
- Portfolio conflict. Owned concepts may compete with existing franchise partners.
Lagardère presents L’Officina as a fully in-house concept but has not disclosed investment, sales, margin, expansion targets or initial satisfaction metrics. This article does not estimate those outcomes.
How Marksyte can help
Marksyte can connect concept design, passenger data and operating economics to decide which brand to create, where to test it and how to scale it.
Demand segmentation
Identify mission, time, companions, budget, nationality and dwell.
Portfolio design
Decide which concepts should be owned, franchised, local or hybrid.
Menu optimisation
Balance popularity, margin, speed, complexity, waste and capacity.
Location models
Compare arrivals, departures, public area, airside, connection and forecast flow.
Pricing and bundles
Adjust price, combos and dayparts to mission, competition and sensitivity.
Experience measurement
Connect waiting, satisfaction, repeat, transaction value and later behaviour.
Concept scalability
Separate fixed, adaptable and experimental elements before expansion.
AI assistants
Support forecasting, staffing, menu, feedback and exception detection.
A practical 90-day agenda
- Define the opportunity. Select passenger, location, mission and problem.
- Design the core. Set promise, menu, service, identity and unit economics.
- Build a measurable pilot. Instrument traffic, conversion, wait, ticket, margin and satisfaction.
- Test adaptation. Vary menu, price, daypart and sourcing without losing identity.
- Document scale. Turn learning into manuals, data and expansion criteria.
Creating a proprietary brand is not designing a logo and opening a restaurant. It means turning passenger knowledge into product, operations and intellectual property. Operators that master that cycle can compete not only for concessions, but for the ability to create concepts airports actively want to host.
Frequently asked questions
What is a proprietary airport restaurant brand?
It is a concept created and managed by the foodservice or travel-retail operator rather than an external franchise. The operator controls identity, menu, design, pricing, processes, data and development.
Why not always use a recognised brand?
Recognised brands reduce discovery risk and can accelerate conversion. Proprietary brands offer greater adaptation, avoid some royalty structures, increase experience control and create reusable intellectual property.
Can a local concept scale to other airports?
Yes, when the brand separates its fixed core from adaptable elements. Menu, service, design and technology may be partly standardised, while ingredients, narrative, operating hours and assortment change by passenger, terminal and local culture.
Sources
- The Moodie Davitt Report, L’Officina opening, 31 July 2026
- Lagardère Travel Retail, proprietary, bespoke and partner brand portfolio
- Lagardère Travel Retail, Natoo expansion and localisation
- Lagardère Travel Retail, Tastes on the Fly acquisition and North American portfolio
- Warsaw Chopin Airport, 2025 traffic, growth and destinations
- Lagardère, first-half 2026 results
- ACI Europe, relationship between satisfaction and non-aeronautical revenue
Corporate facts and figures come from the cited sources. Portfolio, data, scalability and AI implications are a Marksyte analytical framework.