The Opportunity
Airports as Untapped Experience Platforms
OTG had a bold vision: elevate airport hospitality by bringing world-class dining, intuitive digital ordering, and locally relevant design to every traveler. But to make this vision real across dozens of terminals required more than retail renovation—it called for an entirely new operating system for hospitality in high-traffic, security-restricted, and time-sensitive environments.
Our Role
Strategy, Service Design, and End-to-End Technology Integration
Working as lead consultants and embedded design partners, our team helped shape and scale OTG’s transformation. Key contributions included:
- Experience Strategy
Conducted passenger research, journey mapping, and service blueprinting to understand airport user needs and moments of friction. We developed principles and playbooks to guide consistent experience design across multiple terminals.
- Platform and Product Definition
Led the design of OTG’s iPad-based ordering system, now a hallmark of their brand. Defined the product vision, interface, and operational logic behind self-ordering, mobile integration, and staff tools.
- Operational Transformation
Translated design into scalable systems. Worked hand-in-hand with OTG’s culinary, operations, and tech teams to define workflows, train staff, and establish a new service model grounded in hospitality and speed.
- Technology Implementation Oversight
Acted as product and tech advisors across procurement, integration, and deployment—aligning OTG’s ambitions with viable hardware, enterprise software, and real-time analytics tools.
Results
- A Digital Hospitality Platform at Scale
OTG now operates across more than 350 restaurants and retail locations in North America, powered by a proprietary technology ecosystem that we helped define and deliver.
- An Industry Shift
Our work helped OTG become a category-defining leader in airport experience design, influencing airport authorities and other operators to rethink how technology can elevate service in non-traditional retail environments.
- Repeatable Innovation Model
The systems we created enabled OTG to adapt and scale its concepts across terminals with different stakeholders, design languages, and operational constraints—while maintaining a signature user experience.
Why It Matters
Our partnership with OTG exemplifies how design-led thinking and service innovation can redefine an entire category. From interface to kitchen, from procurement to passenger flow, we helped build the connective tissue between vision and reality—creating a model for what digitally native hospitality can look like in public infrastructure.
This work continues to inform our practice at Noble. Today, we bring similar methods to stadiums, transit hubs, cultural destinations, and smart buildings—wherever great service depends on human-centered technology.
