Plant-based before boarding

Abstract

Global food systems face mounting pressure as livestock production contributes disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions (Aiking et al., 2018). Airports, as high-volume food consumption environments, represent both a source of this impact and an opportunity for change. Royal Schiphol Group has committed to a 50% reduction in Food & Beverage-related CO₂ emissions by 2030, with a key strategy of shifting its food assortment to 60% plant-based ingredients (Royal Schiphol Group, 2024).

Despite this ambition, plant-based sandwiches account for only 5% of total sandwich sales at Loaf, one of Schiphol’s main F&B outlets. At the same time, Schiphol’s passenger satisfaction scores rank below those of comparable international hubs, with the F&B experience scoring particularly low (Schiphol data, 2024–2025). Plant-based options introduced so far have been largely rejected by passengers, putting both sustainability targets and commercial viability at risk (RSG Sustainable Food Route, 2024). This project therefore addressed the question: “How can a design intervention at Schiphol Airport nudge passengers towards sustainable food options?”

A Human-Centered Design approach, structured around the Double Diamond framework, guided the project. Research combined desk research on the protein transition, consumer behaviour theory (including the COM-B model and nudging theory), and airport F&B trends with qualitative user research through travel diaries (n=5), semi-structured interviews (n=14), and terminal interviews (n=6). Insights were synthesised into an empathy map and a choosing mechanism model, and validated through a co-creation session with passengers (Sanders & Stappers, 2012).

The research showed that passengers rely on familiar food as a coping strategy to make a confident choice during a stressful and uncertain travel day. Three must-have design criteria were identified: familiar positioning, guidance, and enabling imagination of taste (Papies et al., 2020; Farrar et al., 2024). This led to the design challenge:
“Design a guiding intervention that enables imagination of taste and builds familiarity around a plant-based sandwich at Loaf.”

Four concept directions were developed and evaluated through co-creation sessions, stakeholder discussions, an experiment with Schiphol employees (n=9), and a between-subjects survey with passengers (n=27). This process resulted in the final concept: Your Schiphol Mix.

The intervention combines three elements. First, Schiphol acts as a guiding selector, presenting a curated set of sandwiches as reliable travel-day options without emphasizing their plant-based nature. Second, a Mix & Match format allows passengers to combine two half sandwiches at no extra cost, lowering perceived risk and enabling imagination of taste. Third, a personalized hospitality interaction, where the employee writes the passenger’s name on the plate and wishes them a good flight, adds a meaningful human gesture to an otherwise anonymous environment (ACI, 2025).

A terminal test validated the Mix & Match format: the plant-based share increased from 16% to 21%, a 31% relative increase, representing roughly a 5% shift from animal-based purchases without explicitly promoting sustainability. Lifecycle assessment estimates suggest that this shift could reduce emissions by approximately 44,500 kg CO₂eq annually at Loaf alone (RIVM, 2024; The Big Climate Database, 2024).

The concept fits within the existing Schiphol–HMSHost partnership and shows potential for scaling across the airport. The project demonstrates that encouraging plant-based choices in airports does not require sustainability messaging, but rather a choice environment that helps passengers make a confident decision before boarding.