A new app -- the Uber of airport food -- connects you to carry-aboard meals you might actually like

Don’t want to wait in line at airport restaurants to order your next carry-on meal? Enter AirGrub, a new mobile app that allows you to order, pay and pick up your food before you board.

AirGrub, a Silicon Valley company, already has a presence at airports in San Francisco, Boston and New York City.

And AirGrub may be heading to Los Angeles International Airport. It’s very preliminary, but co-founder and Chief Executive Surya Panditi says he has talked with some LAX restaurants about partnering up.

The idea is simple: It’s designed to more easily link passengers with fresh food options instead of defaulting to boxed lunches some airlines sell on board.

Using the app provides an Uber-style transaction: Download it for free and enter your airport and the airline you’ll be flying. You’ll see a list of restaurants with menus pop up. Make your order and pay, and then flash a boarding pass to pick it up.

AirGrub makes money by charging restaurants a percentage of the business it brings in.

Right now San Francisco International Airport (SFO) fliers can order freshly made meals at Perry’s (and Perry’s Grab and Go) in Terminal 1, Napa Farms Market (which touts “farm to flight” food) in Terminal 2, Andale Mexican Restaurant and Yankee Pier Restaurant in Terminal 3 and the international terminal, and Klein’s Deli in Terminal 3.

At Boston’s Logan International Airport, you can order at Friendly’s, Harpoon Brewery and Fresh City in Terminal A Satellite; at JFK, it’s Bar Veloce at JFK’s Terminal 5. AirGrub also plans to partner with Bobby Van’s Steakhouse at Terminal 8 too.

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