Three new food and beverage concepts opened this month at John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 5, as OTG continues to stack its airport portfolio with brands that reflect New York City's dining culture. Mozz Lab, Serafina, and Starbucks are now live in the JetBlue-anchored terminal, adding Italian-leaning dining and a quick-service coffee option to a concessions lineup that has grown steadily throughout 2026.
The New Concepts
Mozz Lab, a Brooklyn-based Italian cheese and specialty shop, brings housemade mozzarella and fresh deli fare — including hot and cold paninis — to Terminal 5. The concept blends traditional cheesemaking with modern production techniques, giving travelers a specialty food experience that is difficult to replicate in a standard airport environment.
Serafina, the Manhattan dining institution founded on the Upper East Side in 1995 by Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato, occupies a plaza space immediately past security, in a room designed by David Rockwell and Rockwell Group. The brand, which has since expanded across three continents, offers its signature wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and imported Italian ingredients in a format built for the pace of air travel — full sit-down service, grab-and-go, and everything in between. Starbucks rounds out the trio, giving time-pressed travelers a mobile-order-friendly option for coffee and snacks before boarding.
Earlier in 2026, OTG also opened Nom Wah, The Halal Guys, and Melt Shop at Terminal 5, signaling a deliberate strategy of layering recognizable local and national brands to serve both first-time visitors and frequent New York flyers.
Why It Matters for Operators
The openings are part of a broader, $19 billion transformation of JFK Airport led by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — a capital cycle that is reshaping airport foodservice and hospitality across the entire campus. Terminal 5's refresh, developed in partnership with Fraport USA Inc., is designed to position the terminal as a dining destination in its own right, with locally owned and locally recognized brands at the center of the concessions strategy.
For foodservice operators watching the airport segment, the Terminal 5 build-out is a signal of where the category is headed: away from generic quick-service clusters and toward curated, street-level brand experiences that command higher check averages and stronger passenger engagement. OTG's model — pairing tech-enabled operations with chef-driven and culturally rooted concepts — has become a reference point in airport restaurant development nationwide.
"Whether you're visiting New York for the first time, heading home, or just passing through on a layover, we want our guests' time at JFK to offer a taste of what makes this city so special," said Matt King, CEO of OTG, noting that the Italian concepts bring "authentic, craveable" flavors alongside the familiarity of Starbucks.
Jose Cuevas, VP of Fraport New York, LLC, described the openings as "another exciting chapter in the transformation of JFK Terminal 5," adding that the goal is for travelers to experience "the flavors, creativity, and character of New York before they even leave the airport." JetBlue SVP of marketing and brand Stephanie Evans Greene echoed that framing, emphasizing the terminal's role as the starting point of the customer journey.
For operators and brand developers tracking the airport concessions space, Terminal 5's evolution is worth watching closely — the partnership structure between OTG, Fraport USA, JetBlue, and the Port Authority represents a model increasingly common in major hub redevelopments, where aligned incentives between landlord, airline, and operator drive faster, higher-quality rollouts.
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.
