Budapest, 17 October 2018. Passengers at Budapest Airport in September and October can also expect a journey for their taste buds: in cooperation with the airport, Heinemann Duty Free Budapest is bringing a local fine food campaign to the airport under the motto "Festival of Gourmets", which reflects the special culinary flair of the Danube metropolis. Until 31 October, customers can browse through the local Heinemann Duty Free Budapest range on specially installed areas in the Main Shops and taste popular regional products, such as salami, wine, fruit brandy, herb liqueur or chocolate directly in the shop.
Wine tasting and cooking event for Heinemann & Me members
Together with Budapest Airport, Heinemann Duty Free invited long-standing members of its customer excitement programme “Heinemann & ME”, along with local influencers such as food and lifestyle bloggers, to an exclusive "Festival of Gourmets" dinner and live cooking event in the historic terminal building T1 on 10 October. After the aperitif, professional chefs from the Gasztro-Hack team asked all the guests to lend a hand and get involved with the preparation of the culinary delicacies. The highlight was the large selection of wines and the regional specialities from which the guests created the menu: the majority of them came from the regional and fine food range at Heinemann Duty Free Budapest.
In addition to representatives from Heinemann Duty Free Budapest and the airport, representatives from all local suppliers participating in the "Festival of Gourmets" took part in the event. The wineries Royal Tokaji, Patrícius, St. Andrea, Vylyan and Vida Péter, the Pálinka (fruit brandy) distillery Bestillo and the chocolate manufacturer ChocoMe took the opportunity to personally present their product ranges at this exclusive dinner event.
Mutual indulgence as a special emotional experience
"We wanted to offer our guests an extraordinary dining experience at a special venue where they could enjoy the finest Hungarian cuisine and have interesting conversations in a relaxed atmosphere. At Heinemann Duty Free Budapest we constantly strive to delight our customers with our attractive shopping offer. At this event, however, our primary concern was to create a tangible experience for the customers of the brands and our range of specialities, and to ensure that their visit to us was a special, emotional experience," says Ildikó Jankovich, Managing Director Heinemann Duty Free Budapest.
“Once again we have experienced a unique and successful event with our closely-held commercial partner, Gebr. Heinemann. Being at the core of Budapest’s distinctive shopping experience, our partnership has allowed us to offer our customers exclusive campaigns and the ‘Festival of Gourmets’ has given us another opportunity to continue our vision and commitment. It has been an honour to host Gebr. Heinemann’s exclusive dinner at our historic Terminal 1 Event Center – the ideal setting for such an exceptional experience for both our customers and partners,” says Patrick Bohl, Head of Retail and Advertising at Budapest Airport.
The historic Terminal 1 provided the perfect setting for this. All guests enjoyed the freshly prepared menu around finely-dressed tables in a relaxed ambience: Handmade sheep cheese with apple and oat bread with plum and Kapia paprika was the starter, followed by grilled duck breast marinated in soy chocolate and red wine, and as sweet finale grilled pineapple slice with macadamia nut milk chocolate sprinkle and Pálinka.
Focus on regional products
Heinemann Duty Free Budapest is celebrating its 20th anniversary at Budapest Airport this year and has always placed special focus on the sale of local brands. The Hungarian fine food specialities in particular underscore the high standards of variety and quality with which Heinemann Duty Free Budapest, together with its brand partners and the airport, selects its local range. Thanks to this joint commitment, Budapest Airport has become one of the country's largest points of sale for Hungarian products over the past two decades.
"With growth of more than 50 per cent in sales turnover since 1998, we achieve the highest percentage of regional products sales among Gebr. Heinemann's worldwide retail operations," adds Ildikó Jankovich.
Around 850 bottles of Hungarian wine sold per day
In addition to typical Hungarian specialities such as salami, goulash or paprika cream, local wines are a popular exquisite treat for many international passengers. The Heinemann Duty Free Shops at Budapest Airport sell an average of 850 bottles of Hungarian wine specialities per day. Late harvest wines from the famous Tokaj cultivation area are particularly popular among travellers to Great Britain, Germany and Russia. Chinese passengers prefer the sweet dessert wine Tokaji Aszú. Customers heading for Scandinavia, on the other hand, prefer rosé wines from the Villány region.
Media contact:
Julia Knors / Corporate Communications Manager
+49 40 3010 2186
