Malaysia Airports Kulinary Dining Discovery Is Back With More

SEPANG, 26 October 2017 – Malaysia Airports today launched its signature KULinary dining discovery campaign.  Following the success of last year’s campaign, KULinary is all geared up to entice visitors with yet another year of delightful dining experience with a wider range of delicious food from 25 participating restaurants. 

Visitors and foodies can make a date with participating KULinary restaurants to enjoy these dining discoveries and concoction of winning dishes, which are diverse, and for some, rich with culinary heritage. This year, Malaysia Airports also brings in more food category options ranging from affordable to premium, in line with Malaysia Airports vision – a good total airport experience. Review, inspection and judging of the dining experience was done together with FriedChillies Media Sdn Bhd (FriedChillies.com), the popular and notable website with 19 years of experience in food review. The term ‘discoveries’ was intentionally chosen by FriedChillies Media Sdn Bhd to highlight that there are many hidden ‘gems’ at the terminal for visitors to uncover. 

Malaysia Airports had facilitated FriedChillies Media Sdn Bhd’s efforts to ‘mystery shop’ anonymously, in order to evaluate not only the dishes served but also the total dining experience. The ‘Inspector’ went undercover as one of the visitors at the airports to identify their top food discoveries in KLIA and klia2 and the holistic experience in terms of the ambience and services in each restaurant. 

Nazli Aziz, Malaysia Airports senior general manager for Commercial Services said, "Food plays an important role in connecting and educating guests about the cultural richness of each community. Through this campaign, we saw great opportunity to connect with guests who may not be able to taste the diverse flavours intrinsic to both the local and international community. KULinary has raised the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) of Malaysia Airports as it shows the commitment of our retailers and outlets to not only provide top notch facilities but also the guests’ overall experience. In 2016, the campaign had boosted traffic and sales performance at KLIA by 46.5% and klia2 by 53.5%. It’s really exciting to see the friendly rivalry among the participating restaurants and their talented Chefs, supporting Malaysia Airports to collectively bring dining experience at the airports to another new level altogether.” 

KULinary aims to celebrate gastronomic excellence that will surprise and delight visitors with high-level culinary culture offering them a memorable dining experience at KLIA and klia2.This campaign complements Malaysia Airports’ efforts in engaging with culinary enthusiasts apart from showcasing its appreciation for culinary talents that they have at the airports. Malaysia Airports is also capitalizing on the campaign to showcase more than 1000 F&B options, ranging from everyday great value with meals below RM10, RM20 and RM30.

Fuelled by last year's highly successful campaign, Malaysia Airports is now on its way to becoming a recognised destination for dining excellence, an attraction not only for travellers, but for the surrounding communities too. It wants to embody the concept of Malaysian hospitality, always providing guests with a uniquely immersive and holistic memorable travelling experience. 

Apart from recognising the top 25 restaurants vying for the KULinary awards, Friedchillies.com has also listed the top 5 favourite dishes at both KLIA and klia2. 

At KLIA among the favourites are the Mellocino, a double shot latte with fluffy marshmallow on top from the Coffee Club; delicacies like the selection of scrumptious fresh japanese food at Fukuya; Grandmama's generous Nasi Ayam Istimewa that is tri-topped with fried egg served with tangy assam prawns, golden fried chicken and pulled beef rendang; the signature Rotisserie Chicken marinated in fresh herbs and local spices from Flight Club; and the tender lamb rack from Sama-sama Express.

Meanwhile, the traditional and international favourites at klia2 include Bumbu Desa with its heat-packing Nasi Ikan Taliwang; The loaf that offers enticing treats such as its novel 60 ° C Cube; The Green Market that specializes in Japanese and Korean cuisines; Bibik Heritage that is famous for its Sago Gula Melaka; and Sama-Sama Express with its Big Cheese pizza. Commenting on the affordability of the variety of meals at the airport, Nazli explained that Malaysia Airports strives to change the misconception of meals being affordable due to the sacrifice in quality and quantity greatly, to make up for the lower price range. “Our F&B category takes up 12% of the market share in comparison to other retail categories. Therefore, managing expectations of our guests is equally important. We may feel that we have delivered good service, but if expectations are not matched with the perceived value received, then customer satisfaction will be affected. With all our continuous innovative campaigns, we have seen a Year-on-Year (YoY) growth of 18% as at September 2017 in the F&B category. We want to continue bringing value to our guests by making shopping and dining at the airports not just an enjoyable experience, but more importantly, a truly worthwhile and rewarding affair as well,” said Nazli.

Nazli added that this year will also see more healthier options being put in place to cater to the increasing demand from customers who are on the constant lookout for food with high nutritional values. Apart from KULinary, Malaysia Airports has embarked on various promotional campaigns such as ‘Great Value Savers’, ‘Food Passport Promo’ and ‘Healthy Food Compilation’ to increase the awareness on the wide range of delicious delicacies with good nutrition and quality. 
Malaysia Airports also aims to turn KULinary as an annual event. It is hoped that it will serve as a catalyst for F&B operators in KLIA or klia2 to raise the bar not only in terms of food variety and quality, but also service level to ensure an enjoyable dining experience for visitors in line with Malaysia Airports’ mission to create joyful experiences for passengers. 

More information on KULinary dining discoveries and other campaigns by Malaysia Airports can be found at www.malaysiaairports.com.my