Dublin Airport are trusting customers to pay for food and drinks as they trial a new cashless, staffless fridge.

Dublin Airport are to team up with Marqette to install a new 'honesty-based' food and drinks fridge within Terminal 1. The fridge unit, which will have a range of up to 73 different food and drink products, will not be staffed. It will be stocked with a selection of sandwiches, wraps, salads, pastries, snacks and drinks. Instead, customers will be trusted to pay for the products at a cashless, self-service checkout using either their bank card or mobile phones. “We are constantly seeking to improve the passenger experience at Dublin Airport and are delighted to be working with Marqette to trial the new Honest Eats concept,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison. “Honest Eats has the potential to work really well in an airport setting where passengers in a hurry want to grab high quality food and drink on the go,” said Marqette owner Michael J Wright. “We’re really excited to be working with Dublin Airport to test this new concept.” The initial trial is expected to last for about four weeks. Dublin Airport has operated an honesty payment system for its Plane Water brand since 2014 and has honesty water stations in several airside locations across both terminals. The Plane Water honesty payment initiative was an instant success and has since been copied by several other airports. Typically, about 92% of passengers pay the €1 charge for a 500-ml bottle of water. The initial trial Honest Eats outlet will be placed beside Marqette’s existing café in T1, but the longer-term plan is that small Honest Eats units could be located across Dublin Airport in areas that need a quality food and beverage offer but don’t have the space for a full café. “We’re effectively testing a minimum viable version of the Honest Eats concept and we hope that data from the trial, coupled with the collective brain power of InspireFest attendees, will allow Dublin Airport and Marqette to develop this idea into a fully developed proposition that could be used both here in Dublin and potentially at other airports globally,” Harrison added.