Author Azran Osman-Rani led the conversation with chef Akira Back.

As airports continue to evolve beyond purely transactional spaces, food and beverage is increasingly emerging as a key part of the wider travel retail experience. This was the theme explored by acclaimed global restaurateur and Michelin-starred chef Akira Back during the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference 2026 in Singapore today (Monday 11 May).

In the conference’s closing keynote session, Back shared how principles from world-class kitchens – from hospitality and storytelling to innovation and emotional connection – can help shape more memorable airport and travel hub experiences for modern travellers.

“Great restaurants don’t just serve food – they consistently adapt, redefine, and reconnect with their purpose,” said Back. “That’s exactly where travel retail needs to go.”

The chef, who now oversees a growing global restaurant portfolio spanning 28 locations, argued that travel retail and airport food & beverage operators should focus less on transactional experiences and more on creating emotional engagement with travellers.

“His business isn’t just about making food, but creating an experience and memory,” explained moderator Azran Osman-Rani, when speaking of Back’s success. “It is an important consideration in travel retail too – how do you create something that people don’t just consume, but can experience?”

Back stressed that the world’s best hospitality concepts continue to evolve while maintaining a clear identity. “Menus change, techniques develop, but the core philosophy remains recognisable. Travel retail should become more dynamic through rotating concepts, local collaborations, and limited-time offers, while maintaining a clear sense of identity.”

The discussion also focused on the growing importance of hospitality standards and personalised experiences within airport environments. Back believes the culinary experience for travellers still has significant room for growth, particularly through more personalised service and elevated hospitality touches.

Among the opportunities he highlighted were multilingual menus, direct personalisation, communal dining concepts, chef’s counters and open kitchens that encourage interaction and create stronger emotional connections with travellers.

The keynote also offered a more personal look into Back’s own journey into the culinary world. Born in Korea before moving to Aspen, Colorado, as a child, Back described arriving in the US unable to speak English and struggling to fit in.

While he had originally learned basketball in Korea, he eventually found connection and confidence in the US through snowboarding. However, after becoming bored with the sport, he turned his attention elsewhere. “I wanted to find another way to be cool,” he told delegates.

Inspired by chefs working in Japanese restaurants, Back said he became determined to enter the industry despite having no culinary background, and recalled repeatedly visiting a local restaurant in an effort to convince the manager to hire him. “I went to the same place every day for two weeks until I was agreed to be hired,” he said.

The decision initially caused tension within his family, particularly with his father, who had expected him to take over the family business. “My dad was confused because I had never cooked at home and he was sure I would quit,” Back said. “The first day I started cooking my father stopped talking to me, but I was so inspired that I couldn’t give it up. I wanted to prove to my parents that I could do it. I thought the chef I was learning from was the coolest guy in the world.”

Back shared how principles from world-class kitchens can help shape more memorable airport and travel hub experiences for modern travellers.

Reflecting on the foundations of his career, Back repeatedly returned to the importance of discipline and mastering fundamentals before pursuing creativity. “The most important thing is learning the basics – in sport, writing, cooking. The roots,” he said. “If you don’t have any kind of roots then you can’t cook. You have to master discipline.”

Although now widely recognised for his creative culinary concepts, Back admitted that originality came gradually over time.

“I used to copy and paste a lot because I needed to learn,” he explained. “But little by little I started developing my own thoughts and truly learnt what I can really do.”

At the same time, he stressed the importance of balancing creativity with operational reality. “You need to be smart and make sure your methods can be executed,” he said. “You still have to study.”

Today, Back’s restaurant empire continues to expand internationally, with the chef crediting much of that success to building the right team. “By the third restaurant, you realise how important your team is and what their strengths are,” he said. “You need to learn to hire better, so the more we open the easier it gets.”

He added that understanding customer expectations and sourcing the right ingredients become increasingly critical as businesses scale. Discussing the balance between maintaining global consistency while embracing local cultures and tastes, Back said local ingredients remain central to his philosophy. “Local ingredients are the most important thing,” he said, adding that he tries to incorporate them as much as possible into his concepts around the world.

Asked about his views on airport food & beverage specifically, Back said he believes airports present huge untapped opportunities due to the emotional nature of travel itself. “I still travel because I love it, and airports have so much motion and people are excited, emotional and stressed,” he said. “There isn’t of a much healthy food offering in airports, so I would like to try to change that one day.”

He also argued that hospitality standards across airports have declined since the pandemic and called for renewed focus on service. “I think quality and service went down since Covid,” he said. “Service is just as important in airports, and we need to go back to where we were. We can’t always be happy but we should try to be. We are all human and we are all the same.”

As a final message to travel retail leaders, Back encouraged the industry to embrace more originality and avoid becoming overly standardised. “My one piece of advice to leaders would be to gamble and go different,” he said. “All airports are the same, but it doesn’t have to be copy and paste. Especially as it is global, you can do fun and different things. You need to give different options to what else is available.”

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