SELF – the first airport restaurant of its kind – is a 137m2 space in the commercial area at Barcelona’s Terminal 1, by gate B24. Its offering focuses on coffees, premium sandwiches, juices, pastries, salads and pokes, desserts and soft drinks, all prepared daily.
The new facility was developed for Areas by IJRRobótica and AEV, in collaboration with tech partners such as MasterCard, AEV, Kuka, ICG; with FMCG brands including Mahou San Miguel, Coca-Cola, Frit Ravich, Lavazza, Montaraz, Gufresco, Danone, Evian, García de Pou. Design and architecture experts such as GAC 3000 and Espluga + associates also participated.
Designed to offer travellers a new experience, SELF uses a robotic arm with a claw and five tactile fingers to manage and deliver orders. When the customer gets to the restaurant, they select their products and pay, and are issued a ticket with a number and QR code. SELF prepares and organises orders in trays to speed up delivery, notifying the customer on screen when their order is ready for collection. It can handle up to six orders at the same time.
SELF was also designed to manage inventory and procurement, operating autonomously but in close collaboration with restaurant staff. It is equipped with advanced AI and a machine vision camera, which learns and makes optimal decisions in real time, enabling it to “see” and adapt to the environment to improve service quality and speed.
Sergio Rodríguez, CEO of Areas Iberia, described the project as marking ‘a milestone in food and beverage and travel retail’, adding that it reaffirms the company’s ‘entrepreneurial spirit, capacity for innovation and transformational vocation to lead new trends in the industry’.
Areas has also implemented initiatives at the facility in line with its "Areas for Change" strategy, which reinforce its firm commitment to sustainability. The main actions include the adoption of highly energy-efficient systems such as the installation of LED technology, the use of packaging made from 100% recyclable FSC-certified paper, and a collaboration with Clothink to design uniforms that use garments made from organic cotton.
