A life-sized interactive hologram of country artist Dierks Bentley has been deployed at Nashville International Airport (BNA) to direct travelers toward sampling opportunities and drink specials at The Pharmacy Burger Parlor, an outpost operated by travel restaurateur HMSHost inside the airport's A/B Rotunda. The installation, tied to Bentley's ROW 94 Whiskey brand, runs from June 2 through July 31, 2026.
For foodservice operators and equipment specifiers working in airport and travel-plaza environments, the activation illustrates a growing trend: beverage brands using point-of-presence technology — rather than traditional signage or print — to convert passing foot traffic into bar-rail and sampling revenue. The hologram kiosk occupies concourse floor space without requiring a dedicated service counter buildout, a consideration relevant to consultants working within the tight square-footage constraints typical of airport rotunda layouts.
HMSHost, one of the largest travel hospitality operators in North America, continues to expand its portfolio of locally rooted restaurant concepts inside major hub airports. The Pharmacy Burger Parlor is an established Nashville name, and its BNA presence reflects a broader operator strategy of importing regional brand equity into captive-audience venues — a model that places specific demands on compact bar equipment, draft and spirits dispensing systems, and high-throughput warewashing capable of handling rapid seat turns between flight waves. Operators specifying these environments should account for energy-efficient warewashing solutions that can sustain throughput during peak boarding windows.
The beverage-forward nature of the ROW 94 partnership also highlights how spirits brands are increasingly funding experiential buildouts inside licensed airport venues, effectively subsidizing operator marketing budgets in exchange for pour exclusivity or sampling rights. For dealers and consultants serving the travel-hospitality segment, these brand-driven activations can trigger bar equipment refresh cycles — back-bar refrigeration, undercounter ice, and glassware handling — as operators align their physical service infrastructure with new beverage programs. Tracking ice-and-beverage equipment trends remains critical for specifiers supporting high-volume concourse accounts.
Food & Beverage Magazine (fb101.com) has covered the broader rise of celebrity-backed spirits brands entering captive-venue foodservice, a trend that continues to reshape how airport operators program their beverage menus and source supporting equipment.
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.
