Tampa International Airport Launches Airside Food Delivery Service
TAMPA, Fla. — Say you’re waiting for a Southwest Airlines flight from Airside C at Tampa International Airport, but you’re craving a Columbia Cuban sandwich from Airside E.
Or you’re flying Delta out of Airside E, but you’d really like a plate of Firecracker Shrimp from RumFish Grill in Airside C.
The airport now has you covered.
Tampa International on Monday rolled out an expanded version of TPA to Go, a new service offering touchless delivery to any terminal from more than 20 restaurant locations around the airport.
The service, found at TPAtoGo.com and powered by the delivery apps Grab and AtYourGate, has been in limited use since December, as the airport looked for ways to offer contact-free food service as business picked up throughout of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been tweaking and perfecting the system for several months,” said airport spokeswoman Veronica Cintron. “We did a soft launch earlier this month and are now launching it to the public.”
Several local restaurants are featured in the program, including airport outposts of the Columbia Restaurant, Cigar City Brewing, Mise en Place, Burger 21, Ducky’s Sports Lounge, Goody Goody, Ulele and RumFish Grill. Participating chains include Pei Wei, Chik-fil-A, Illy, Wendy’s and Hard Rock Cafe.
Deliveries have a fee of $4.99, but there’s also a free pickup and carryout option for restaurants in your terminal.
The app comes at a time when staffing at some airport restaurants is on the rise. Concessionaires operating out of Tampa International Airport had shed more than 800 jobs during the pandemic, although some have staffed back up in recent months. Tampa International Airport recently held a hiring fair where concessionaires hoped to fill 185 jobs.
Cintron said programs like TPA to Go are also in operation at airports in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Grab and AtYourGate plan to roll them out in another half-dozen airports by this summer.
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