Dabiz Muñoz flies abroad with Hungry Club

“This is a project that won’t be limited to Spain. We definitely have three more to open in the short term, although it’s not about ramping up wildly without control. To maintain quality, the idea is not to rush, but we don’t set limits or boundaries for ourselves.” With these words, Dabiz Muñoz reveals Hungry Club’s flight plans.

This is the name given to the bars that are already located in Terminal 4, the Satellite Terminal and Terminal 1 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, as well as in Barcelona and Malaga.

The chef of DiverXO and Avolta, a world leader in travel retail, have joined forces through a joint venture to create the brand, an alliance with which they intend to revolutionize the way people eat at airports. From the very day of its opening last September, the project was born to break the rules of what we understand as "eating at an airport." They have practically opened a new bar every month: "It's a super important project for us," acknowledges the chef: "From the beginning, we understood that we had a big challenge ahead of us, because airports have always offered a very homogenized selection. That's why we wanted to be a bit disruptive."

Hungry Club has been nominated for best airport restaurant by Bloomberg, and at the Hip conference it was recognized as the best restaurant model in airports: "Having a restaurant in a place like this, and even more so inside a store, is unusual." He emphasizes this because in Terminal 4 it's located inside the Duty Free: "It's a space without a smoke vent, which is why it was a challenge."

It took us a year to understand what we could and couldn't do. It's true that all the know-how surrounding Avolta and Autogrill was incredibly useful and a huge learning experience, but what we were very clear about was that we had to create something that embodied the values ​​of the XO Universe and allowed travelers to experience a different kind of dining. In other words, to offer bites with unique flavors and excellent quality,” continues the chef, who defines it as “a very urban, modern, vibrant, and daring concept, but above all, it incorporates the codes and techniques of haute cuisine. Over the years, we've been able to apply all our haute cuisine expertise to different projects.”

It's a destination designed for hedonists, explorers, restless and nonconformist people who want to enjoy good food anywhere in the world, and why not at an airport too? One of the main keys is that Muñoz reinvents and revolutionizes the concept of airport food, both for its dynamic offerings and its high quality, which is enhanced by working with local and nearby suppliers.

What to eat? The average price is around 20 euros. The classic truffle bikini club, spicy grilled chicken, or barbecue ribs. Why not a slice of Spanish omelet? A bowl of ramen? And, of course, Pedroche's cheesecake.

This isn't the first time the XO Group has ventured beyond our borders. They went all in with StreetXO in London, but the pandemic got in the way.