The Opening
Gong cha is bringing its first U.S. airport location to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with an opening targeted before year-end 2026. The unit will be operated by Kind Hospitality, an airport concessions specialist led by President and CEO Nava Singam — a partnership structure that telegraphs exactly how Gong cha intends to scale beyond street-level retail without building a proprietary airport-operations capability from scratch.
The move lands as premium beverage concepts are increasingly competing for non-traditional real estate — airports, stadiums, transit hubs, college campuses — where captive, high-frequency traffic justifies a stripped-down footprint. Gong cha already operates more than 240 locations across 24 states and has publicly targeted 500 Americas locations by 2028. Airport and other non-traditional formats are now part of the calculus for hitting that number.
What the 2.0 Model Actually Does
The unit runs on Gong cha's 2.0 operating platform, introduced earlier in 2026, which is engineered around constraints that traditionally knock foodservice brands out of airport deals: limited square footage, no walk-in cooler space, restricted ventilation, compressed labor pools, and hard throughput requirements at peak intervals. The format supports footprints as small as 150 square feet, requires no ventilation hoods or walk-in infrastructure, and uses automation technology capable of producing a beverage in under one minute with one to two employees on shift.
For operators and franchisees evaluating non-traditional expansion, those specs matter more than the brand story. Airports, stadiums, and transportation hubs impose landlord requirements that eliminate most traditional QSR concepts before negotiations even begin. A concept that can run a profitable unit at 150 square feet with minimal back-of-house demands a fundamentally different operational design — and Gong cha is positioning 2.0 as that answer across multiple venue types simultaneously.
What This Signals for Operators and Vendors
The Phoenix deal is a proof-of-concept for concessionaire partners, not just a single-unit opening. Gong cha's vice president of U.S. non-traditional franchise development, Michael Nedelkovich, confirmed the brand is actively recruiting experienced operators and concessionaire partners for additional airport and non-traditional development nationwide. That language — concessionaire partners, not franchisees — opens a distinct recruitment channel aimed at airport hospitality groups, stadium food-and-beverage operators, and travel-hub specialists who already hold venue relationships.
For the broader beverage and foodservice franchise landscape, the signal is that premium customizable beverage — long dominated by coffee in airport retail — is now contested territory. Ranked number one in the tea category on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 for five consecutive years, Gong cha has the brand recognition to convert first-time travelers into repeat customers at street-level locations in their home markets. That conversion loop is the strategic upside airports are selling, not just the rent.
Vendors serving the non-traditional foodservice channel — compact equipment manufacturers, point-of-sale systems optimized for high-velocity single-SKU transactions, and packaging suppliers focused on spill-resistance for travel environments — should treat this opening as an early indicator of a category shift worth tracking into 2027 planning cycles.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
