United Airlines and OTG unveil more details of a lavish (and hi-tech) food bazaar at Newark Liberty

Even as United Airlines today was moving to reveal a significantly-upgraded food offering in its global network of United Club lounges, the extent of the Terminal C food and bar revamp at one of United's principal hubs, Newark Liberty International Airportin Newark, N.J., is coming into much sharper focus.

Yesterday, the Chicago-based airline, in conjunction with OTG, a New York-based airport concessions management firm,unveiled more than 60 detailed renderingsof the planned world dining bazaar that will unfold over the next 18 months in United's 100,000-square-foot Terminal C at Newark Liberty at an expected cost of around $120 million. An OTG spokesman said the monies for United's Terminal C project are coming entirely from private investors — not United or government subsidies.

OTG has established itself over the past 20 years as one of the most forward-thinking airport concessions management firms in the country. Its previous projects include the widely-lauded revamp of the Delta Air Lines terminal at LaGuardia Airport and theJetBlue terminal concessions area at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "We're became an overnight success that was actually years in the making," explained the OTG spokesman.

OTG's previous projects also include two very limited efforts at O'Hare International Airport that involved the addition of Cibo Express Gourmet Market outlets in Terminals 2 and 3.

But at Newark Liberty, as the newly-unveiled design renderings make clear, the goal is to create a much more diverse and visually-exciting experience for passengers.

Both the bar and restaurant spaces are being completely redone to appeal to the eye with clever and elaborate design flourishes and to offer an unusually wide array of dining options. Altogether 55 new dining venues at all price points will be part of the finished layout. Some of the restaurants will actually change both their look and the menus as the day progresses, an OTG spokesman said.

Architect and designer David Rockwell and his New York-based Rockwell Group have been heavily involved in concepting United's new food bazaar at Newark Liberty. Rockwell and his European design arm, Rockwell Group Europe, also were tapped to design the Virgin Hotel Chicago that opened in January. In addition, Rockwell has numerous live theater design credits on Broadway.

Beyond the eye-catching design motifs and the food choices, however, the United food and bar experience at Newark is being transformed via the deployment of some 6,000 iPads that will allow travelers to order food, pay for it with credit card or United MileagePlus miles, check on the status of their flights and even order food at the departure gate.

The entire process of creating the new look for the food and bar concessions at Newark began two months ago with the creation of temporary food outlets while the major overhaul is done. Altogether the project is expected to take 18 months to complete, with the first new restaurant and bar spaces expected to open this summer, the OTG spokesman said.

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