Gail’s is making its first move into airport dining with the opening of a new store in Gatwick’s South Terminal this June.
The latest expansion of the bakery chain continues its growth in the travel sector following openings at London train stations St Pancras and London Bridge last year and more recently at Liverpool Street.
Gail’s said the Gatwick site will have seating for 100 covers and help ensure more people can easily access better quality food and drink options before their flight.
The menu is to feature an extensive range of offerings including fresh pastries, seasonal treats, house blend speciality coffee, sandwiches, salads, and breakfast items from the ‘grab and go’ selection, it said. Additionally, travellers can explore Gail’s curated gifting range featuring crockery bags and boxed preserves, alongside coffee and tea selections.
“Gatwick offers a new opportunity to build on our mission of bringing delicious, nourishing and carefully-sourced food and drink options to more people,” commented Gail’s CEO Tom Molnar.
“Though we’ve grown over the years, our philosophy has remained the same: to make good food that people love, and create bakeries that people want to keep coming back to. Whether operating within local neighbourhoods or near runways, our dedication to deliciously crafted food remains our priority. It’s also a great opportunity to showcase some of our local UK-based producer-partners to a broader set of customers,” Molnar added.
To cater effectively to travellers across all time zones, Gail’s noted that it will be baking on-site all day in Gatwick. Four ovens will be pumping out warm cinnamon buns throughout the day and all lunch items will be made fresh on the premises. Gail’s uses Unox BakerTop-X ovens across its estate, which have AI-powered sensors built in to automatically queue up appropriate baking programmes.
The Gatwick bakery will be open for peak departure hours seven days a week, as well as offer extended hours as it does at its train station sites. For international traveller convenience, there will also be flexible payment options including in multiple currencies. Other bakery brands already operating sites in Gatwick airport include Greggs and Warrens.
Gail’s estate has now hit 169 shops with latest openings in Stoke Newington, Bristol (it’s second site there), Long Acre in Covent Garden, Prestwich, Primrose Hill, and St Margarets near Twickenham. Two more stores are scheduled to open this month in Macclesfield and Ely. The company has a focus on sustainability in its buildings, especially at its new site on Southwark Bridge Road in South London which features reusable counters, leftover tiles from previous fitouts, and reclaimed timber flooring.
This year, Gail’s is targeting a similar rate of expansion to last year – 35 new openings – and recently appointed Nick Ayerst as its new managing director, who will start later this month. The company’s latest financial results for the full year to 29 February 2024 showed retail sales of £179m, up 28% from the year prior.
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