Former CVG bagel standby now replaced by Sambazon
Great American Bagel used to sit airside in CVG’s Main concourse as the primary grab-and-go bagel spot, but airport redevelopment brought in a Sambazon açaí-bowl concept in its place. If you see older guides mentioning Great American Bagel at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, they are referring to a location that is no longer operating.
The original stand served basic bagels with cream cheese, breakfast sandwiches, and drip coffee at typical airport pricing, roughly in the $4–$9 range for food and a few dollars more for coffee drinks. Those options are now gone from that concourse location and replaced by smoothie and açaí-bowl offerings, which target lighter, fruit-forward meals instead of carb-heavy bagel breakfasts.
Most listings that still show Great American Bagel at CVG date from before the 2023–2024 concession refresh described by local outlet CityBeat. That article noted seven new food and beverage concepts for the concourses, including Sambazon, which took over the footprint where travelers previously lined up for bagels in the early morning hours before 7 a.m. departures.
If you are flying out of the Main terminal today and want something similar to the old Great American Bagel menu, plan on hunting down breakfast sandwiches or plain bagels at other vendors in the concourse. Expect price points to remain in that same $5–$10 range, but with branding that matches CVG’s newer concession mix rather than the legacy Great American Bagel name you might remember from pre-refresh days.
Practical tip: if your trip notes or an older blog tell you to “grab a bagel at Great American Bagel in CVG’s Main concourse,” mentally swap that plan for Sambazon and confirm current options on the airport’s official dining list before you head through security.