The FAB Awards and FAB Superstars Awards are the most prestigious awards programme in the industry, attracting entries from airports, concessionaires, and brands around the world. Winning a FAB Award or a FAB Superstars Award is a mark of excellence that demonstrates your commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences.
All entries will be assessed by an independent panel of judages comprising industry experts and professionals. Shortlisted finalists will be notified in early May. Winners will be announced at the Awards Presentation Ceremony taking place during the Gala Dinner on 8 July 2026.
We invite you to submit your entry for consideration in one or more of the award categories. You can find the full list of categories and submission guidelines by clicking the buttons below.
FAB Awards Judges 2026
Jonathan Doughty
Jonathan Doughty has been in the foodservice industry for nearly 50 years, starting his career in a public house in Nottingham, England, aged 14. He was too young to serve drinks but earned his first wages sorting glass bottles. It was from this early age that he fell in love with food & beverage.
These first experiences in the restaurant and bar industry became a consuming passion and Jonathan went on to train as a chef and then a professional manager in hotels and restaurants, completing his craft qualifications, then a Diploma and finally a Bachelor of Science Degree in Foodservice Management.
Having worked for Imperial Inns and Taverns, Trusthouse Forte, Whitbread, Mars, Masterfoods and Marriot in operations, sales and new concept development and store openings, Jonathan embarked on his consulting career with a small London practice, working on the first UK food courts, transit catering and inflight foodservice. In 1993, Jonathan started Coverpoint, the foodservice consulting business.
Coverpoint expanded progressively over 26 years and in that time provided advice to over 250 of the world’s best owners, operators, landlords and developers with projects being delivered in over 50 countries across all types of commercial property and transit locations.
Over this time, Jonathan became known as a leading thinker in his industry, with knowledge and insight into the performance of assets, brands, consumers and locations. He remains connected at the highest level with foodservice leaders and businesses across the world and with airport owners and operators, and property owners and managers in many countries.
In 2014 Coverpoint was sold to JLL, the professional property services business listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2017 Jonathan joined ECE as Global Head of Foodservice. He is now an independent consultant, still working with ECE, as well as providing consulting services to a number of other companies and locations, including airports and transit locations. He is currently engaged at Vienna Airport, Austria, as the Food & Beverage consultant assisting with the Southern Extension development and tendering process. The project is due for completion in 2027.
Jonathan is also a speaker and panel member at many of the industry conferences, this year including ACI in Berlin and PTE World in London.
He is married to Misha and together they have two young children as well as a dog and they live in the New Forest, Hampshire, England, where Jonathan is also a local councillor.
Susan Gray
Susan Gray is a Managing Partner of airport commercial planning and strategy consultancy Concession Planning International (CPI). She has nearly 30 years’ experience in the airport industry, starting her career as an airport journalist, working for travel F&B operator SSP in global communications and business development roles, and for the past 17 years as a highly respected consultant to airports worldwide.
CPI are global experts in optimising commercial revenue for airports in existing terminals and new developments. On planning projects, they work with airport commercial teams, partners and stakeholders to identify optimal commercial space requirements, provide
optioneering on mix, layouts and flow, and develop valuations of the opportunities. They also provide strategic, tactical and practical support when taking opportunities to market, from developing the leasing strategy to support with documentation and evaluation.
CPI has worked on hundreds of airport projects worldwide, with clients including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Edinburgh, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Denver International Airport, Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport, the new Istanbul Airport, Manchester Airport Group, Keflavík Airport, Perth Airport, Wellington Airport and many more.
CPI also runs popular airport commercial development and management courses for airport management, providing intensive professional development opportunities in this highly specialised area.
Susan is based in Sydney, Australia.
Nick Goddard-Palmer
Nick Goddard-Palmer is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality, Co-Founder & Partner at Hunter Palmer – Global Retail Solutions, and currently Head of Hospitality and Special Projects with Qatar Airways.
An accomplished senior manager with 20 years’ commercial experience in the international airport retail and hospitality sector, Nick trained as a chef within the realms of Relais & Châteaux and Michelin before studying hotel management in England.
His extensive experience in leading commercial strategy projects is evident in his key roles, including driving the successful F&B programme at Hamad International Airport, serving as CEO of DDFS at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, and managing projects for Aer Rianta International – Middle East. More recently, Nick has focused on developing a non-aeronautical business strategy and commercial model, identifying revenue opportunities in the rapidly expanding eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) and vertiport sector.
With over 25 years of international experience, he has a comprehensive knowledge of retail and hospitality management, specialising in effective project management, opening and operating award-winning businesses across diverse international environments.
Nick has a wealth of experience gained in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He is well versed in commercial concessionaire portfolio management, contract negotiation, project and change management, business analysis and application of business strategies and solutions.
Nick Inkster
Nick Inkster spent his entire career in hospitality. The last 26 years of that career were in
various senior positions with SSP, where he was a member of the group’s Executive Committee for 16 years, responsible for businesses across the globe.
Instrumental in helping plan the first-ever FAB awards in 2011, he has been an active supporter ever since. In 2019 he retired, and received a FAB award himself for his outstanding career contribution to airport F&B. Since then he has acted as a judge of the awards, and he retains a close interest in travel retail.
“FAB grows in scope and quality every year.” he says. “The entries at Barcelona last year were simply outstanding and I anticipate we will see more innovative, creative and inspiring entries this year across all categories.”
Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is that rarest of species – a flying Kiwi. The New Zealand-born writer, editor and commentator has spent much of the past 37 years in the sky or in airports, researching, reporting and commentating on the travel retail sector that he loves.
After emigrating to the UK in 1987 (he still can’t fathom why), Martin stumbled into the drinks and duty free industry at US publication Impact International before playing a key role in developing Duty-Free News International through the 1990s, where he became Editor and later Managing Director.
In 2002, convinced of the future of digital publishing, he made the fateful decision to go it alone and launched a humble 7-page pdf newsletter called The Moodie Report. The company’s ‘Worldwide Headquarters’ was his garden shed in London, his only staff four goldfish referred to as his Finnish team members.
The rest is history. Within three years The Moodie Report (now The Moodie Davitt Report) was the market leader ahead of stiff multi-national competition and both it and he haven’t looked back since.
A lover of good wine (particularly from his homeland), the All Blacks, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash, John Steinbeck and F.Scott Fitzgerald, he plays the piano shockingly, listens to music incessantly, works around the clock and never admits to defeat. 68 going on 12, he now lives in Hong Kong, China, overlooking the South China sea.
His planned epitaph is ‘Free of duty at last’.
FAB Superstars Judges 2026
Nick Inkster
Nick Inkster spent his entire career in hospitality. The last 26 years of that career were in
various senior positions with SSP, where he was a member of the group’s Executive Committee for 16 years, responsible for businesses across the globe.
Instrumental in helping plan the first-ever FAB awards in 2011, he has been an active supporter ever since. In 2019 he retired, and received a FAB award himself for his outstanding career contribution to airport F&B. Since then he has acted as a judge of the awards, and he retains a close interest in travel retail.
“FAB grows in scope and quality every year.” he says. “The entries at Barcelona last year were simply outstanding and I anticipate we will see more innovative, creative and inspiring entries this year across all categories.”
Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is that rarest of species – a flying Kiwi. The New Zealand-born writer, editor and commentator has spent much of the past 37 years in the sky or in airports, researching, reporting and commentating on the travel retail sector that he loves.
After emigrating to the UK in 1987 (he still can’t fathom why), Martin stumbled into the drinks and duty free industry at US publication Impact International before playing a key role in developing Duty-Free News International through the 1990s, where he became Editor and later Managing Director.
In 2002, convinced of the future of digital publishing, he made the fateful decision to go it alone and launched a humble 7-page pdf newsletter called The Moodie Report. The company’s ‘Worldwide Headquarters’ was his garden shed in London, his only staff four goldfish referred to as his Finnish team members.
The rest is history. Within three years The Moodie Report (now The Moodie Davitt Report) was the market leader ahead of stiff multi-national competition and both it and he haven’t looked back since.
A lover of good wine (particularly from his homeland), the All Blacks, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash, John Steinbeck and F.Scott Fitzgerald, he plays the piano shockingly, listens to music incessantly, works around the clock and never admits to defeat. 68 going on 12, he now lives in Hong Kong, China, overlooking the South China sea.
His planned epitaph is ‘Free of duty at last’.
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