Wondertree planted at Heathrow’s Terminal 2

Wondertree, a brand new casual all day dining concept, has today been announced as the latest appointment to Heathrow’s Terminal 2. Wondertree is a collaboration between The Restaurant Group plc (TRG) and Giraffe Concepts (Giraffe).

The largest restaurant in the brand new terminal due to open in June 2014, Wondertree will occupy over 5,000 sqft with 210 covers and has been designed to take advantage of the airfield views over the UK’s hub airport. The new terminal, to be known as ‘Terminal 2 : The Queen’s Terminal’, in honour of Her Majesty The Queen is the latest phase of the ten year, £11 billion transformation of Heathrow.

The Wondertree design responds to Heathrow’s new focus on flexible environments, giving passengers a choice between a self-service café or a more relaxed dining space. The design also incorporates the latest technology including tablet menu translations, contactless payment and plans to utilise device recognition mobile technology.

Food will be cooked to order from an open plan kitchen, freshly baked bread and world flavoured salads. Passengers will be able to choose from a quick coffee to a full family meal from a menu which includes stacked sandwiches, flatbread pizzas and global foods such as Los Cabos Chicken Tacos.

Nick Ayerst, Managing Director, TRG Concessions comments:

“When challenged by Heathrow to create an iconic restaurant for the new Terminal 2, we approached Russel Joffe to collaborate with us following our highly successful partnership with Giraffe in the airport. Wondertree embraces the new generation of eating and drinking and promises to provide a unique experience for Heathrow passengers.”

Russel Joffe, Managing Director, Giraffe Concepts comments:

“I am delighted to be working with TRG again and to be bringing a totally new and fresh all-day dining concept to the new Terminal 2. Having operated airport restaurants with TRG for over eight years, we understand the needs of both business and leisure travellers and Wondertree will deliver high quality and great value dishes in a unique environment morning, noon and night – it was amazing to work with a clean slate and create something new .”

Muriel-Zingraff Shariff, Heathrow’s retail director said:

‘This new concept is an exciting step forward in our ambition to create a terminal with restaurants and bars that cater to an international audience. We are delighted to be working with TRG and Russel again, Giraffe is one of our most successful restaurant concepts at Heathrow and we were keen to build upon their achievements for Terminal 2.’

Notes to Editors:

• TRG the UK’s leading operator of airport restaurants and bars, has been working with Heathrow for over 20 years
• TRG operates Giraffe restaurants in Heathrow Terminals 1 and 5
• Each unit at Terminal 2 received an average of five proposals, surpassing the tender process for Terminal 5
• Terminal 2 will have 67 outlets in total including shops, bars and restaurants
• The Queen’s Terminal, phase 1 is a £2.5bn development
• The terminal will eventually serve 20 million passengers a year and be home to 23 Star Alliance airlines, as well as Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic Little Red and germanwings carriers
• An average of 55,000 passengers will arrive and depart from the Terminal daily once in full operation
• Despite being built in the centre of the world’s busiest international airport, the construction project has not disrupted daily operations. The project is one of the largest privately funded construction projects in the UK and will have supported 35,000 jobs across the country by the time it opens
• The old Terminal 2 opened in 1955, shut after 54 years of service in 2009