SSP UK & Ireland and Italian drinks brand Bottega is celebrating the initial 12 months of the first Bottega Prosecco Bar & Cafe in a UK airport.
Bringing the atmosphere and ambiance of a Venetian Bacaro bar to the international traveller, Bottega Prosecco Bar offers a broad selection of drinks, along with traditional specialties and food.
This first year records outstanding results: while the air passenger transport shows considerable growth rates between 2018 and 2019 of approximately 5.4 %, the Bottega Prosecco Bar experiences an increase of 23.4% in Transaction Count.
The bar has also been honoured with the Airport Bar of the Year award at the Drinks International Travel Retail Awards 2018 during the TFWA show in Cannes last October.
Sandro Bottega commented, “I am very happy about the success of this concept, which reflects the core values of Bottega and aims to promote and enhance the reputation of Italy in the oenological and gastronomic fields.
'It’s great to acknowledge that British and global consumers appreciate prosecco and our culinary tradition made of simplicity, genuineness and taste. We are very grateful to SSP and to Birmingham Airport for believing in the project and supporting its development.”
Simon Smith, CEO of SSP UK & Ireland, said, “We’re delighted to be celebrating our first anniversary of this exciting and innovative concept. The Bottega Prosecco bar has been very well received by passengers, and I’d like to thank the team for all their hard work in making it such a success”.
Richard Gill, Commercial Director, Birmingham Airport, commented, “Birmingham Airport is delighted to join Bottega Prosecco Bar in celebrating its first Anniversary at Birmingham Airport. It has been a successful first year for the bar which launched back in March 2018.
'Since then the bar was presented with the Airport Bar of the year award at the Drinks International Travel Retail Awards 2018, this is a great accolade for both the Airport, Bottega and SSP. Birmingham Airport looks forward to toasting to a successful first year of bringing the Italian tradition of fine wine and food to our passengers.
'We look forward to working with Bottega and SSP on continuing this success and providing a great experience for our 13m passengers that use the airport each year.”
The Bottega Prosecco Bar at Birmingham Airport was the eleventh opened worldwide. The format made its debut on-board the Viking Line 'Cinderella' cruise ship in 2014 and Bottega has since opened 16 variations of the popular concept in locations around the globe including the Seychelles, South Korea, Gibraltar, Bulgaria, Oman, Tanzania.
The latest addition will be the new venue at the Arena Birmingham boardwalk, to be opened in mid-April 2019. Five more venues are announced to open in 2019 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Italy and Malaysia.