BA restaurant lands in Shoreditch

Rosie Baker is Marketing Week’s specialist on sustainability and retail.

There is a legacy assumption that all airline food is pretty dreadful, but it’s a smart and confident move by BA to open a restaurant.

British Airways Shoreditch pop up

The aim of ‘Flight 2012’ is to promote the introduction of a special menu that BA is introducing during the Olympics as part of its role as an official sponsor.

The pop-up is based around the flight experience and it looks like a posh aircraft cabin but the menu is being handled by Heston Blumenthal and at £50 a head for diners, it’s a tad more expensive that an actual in-flight meal.

It will open on 4 April for  two weeks. The limited number of tickets went on sale via Facebook on Monday and are already sold out so BA has already scored points for exclusivity there. There’s nothing like limiting supply to create demand. The very fact that it sold out means that more people will want to experience it and more people will be talking about it.

BA claims that the menu has been inspired by the food available on board in 1948 – the last time the Games was held in London, and includes ingredients soured in London.

Flight 2012 will also act as a gallery to showcase the work of the three British artists chosen as part of the Great Britons campaign BA launched last year.

Like any good pop-up BA will get people talking about it and that will hopefully fuel chatter about the menu and it will earn itself a reputation for serving up decent on-board food.

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