Wanna open an airport restaurant ?

W

weilke

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
15,194
Display Name
Display name:
weilke
For the past 2 years, the airport commission at St Marys county airport in Maryland (2w6) is kicking around the idea of getting a food vendor to open a restaurant in the terminal building.

In a rainshower of state and federal money, and aiming for air service using EAS money, they build a snazzy terminal about 15 years ago. The airline service didn't come, so the terminal is not used in a very efficient manner. The Chamber of Commerce uses it as office space, there is a nice conference room used by all kinds of people and various airport users like the CAP use the building intermittently.

There is a baggage handling area for smalll 19-30 seat commuter planes. The county is thinking about putting a 'lunch-counter, sandwich-shop, short-order, bar with retail liquor license' type establishment in there. They would probably pay for the building upgrades (closing off the roll-up door to the ramp to keep the mice out, putting in a grease trap) and whoever runs the restaurant has to put in the kitchen equipment.

If that was to happen, the transient ramp would move from a current FBO hangar to the terminal and the pilots lounge would move into the terminal. The idea would be to :
- have an attraction at the airport to give transient pilots a reason to land there
- get lease revenue into the counties cashier
- increase fuel sales
- get a lunch place for the nearby college outreach campus and businesses located on and near the airport (like me ;) ).

I haven't seen an RFP yet, they are currently still in the exploration phase of this whole thing. If anyone has experience running that kind of lunch/destination food establishment and would be interested in this business opportunity, they could probably contact the chairman of the airport board and express their interest.

http://www.co.saint-marys.md.us/dpw/airportops.asp

(the commission minutes are on the site under the 'general information' tab, gives you an idea what their thought process is)

This is where an RFP would show up if they move forward on this project:

http://www.co.saint-marys.md.us/bids/openbids.asp
 
steingar said:
sounds suspiciously like really hard work.
Click to expand...

The restaurant business is. Can be quite rewarding if it works out.

An acquaintance of mine opened a coffee shop when his real estate business slowed and a suitable piece of property became available for little money. Coffee, panini type sandwiches and soup for lunch in combination with a restricted liquor license for beer and wine. He was called all kinds of things that are listed in the DSM for making that move. 5 years later he has added twice to the place and it runs with an employed manager and a revolving cast of high-school and college kids at the front desk. He shows up a couple of times a day, keeps an eye on the till and the stock-room and it has become somewhat of a hands-off business.

The reality is however that 3 out of 4 non-franchise startups fail within the first 2 years. So yes, this would be hard work and no guarantee to succeed. For someone with experience in this business, ideally someone who knows how to market to cheapskate pilots, it could be a worthwhile pursuit.
 
I've always had a lingering dream to open a rustic home-cookin' type of restaurant. And on the weekends, it would have live music - that I choose, of course - but the restaurant would be set up so that you wouldn't have to be swallowed by the music if you didn't want to - there would be a 'quiet' section that would be mostly shielded from the music.

Fall/winter Saturdays would be "Granny Jones's soup" day. In the spring/summer, it would be "pulled pork sandwich" Saturday. Friday would be "fried catfish Friday". Every other Thursday would be "baby back ribs" night.

Someday, when I win the lottery...
 
CJones said:
Someday, when I win the lottery...
Click to expand...

Restaurants and aviation businesses are well established methods to 'make a small fortune' by starting with a big one.

Now, a restaurant on an airport is basically the double-whammy.
 
My FIL had a restaurant. He worked like a frickin' dog. 12-14hr days 6 days a week and he barely made the rent on their rented townhouse.

The reason my wife worked her butt off in college and grad school was that she wanted to assure that she would never, ever, have to work in the restaurant business ever again. Mission accomplished.

You have to realllllllllllllllllllllly like cooking and serving to be successful owning a restaurant. It's a VERY hard way to make a living.
 
Psssssst! Wanna know how to make a small fortune in the restaurant business?










Start with a LARGE fortune! :wink2:

[ooops--I should've read the whole thread. My bon mot is old news. :redface:]
 
Last edited:
The only way to loose money quicker than aviation is in the restaurant business. Unless you're there everyday you'll be robbed into bankruptcy by your employees. I personally know a guy that turned a few hundred million into bankruptcy and working for a living again opening restaurants.
 
PittsDriver said:
The only way to loose money quicker than aviation is in the restaurant business. Unless you're there everyday you'll be robbed into bankruptcy by your employees. I personally know a guy that turned a few hundred million into bankruptcy and working for a living again opening restaurants.
Click to expand...

The next worst ideas ever along these same lines: opening a bar thinking you'll make money and you and all your buddies get to drink for free! [we need a gun to the temple icon here] and . . . opening a skydiving dropzone. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Idea. :no:
 
Bravo3 said:
The next worst ideas ever along these same lines: opening a bar thinking you'll make money and you and all your buddies get to drink for free! [we need a gun to the temple icon here] and . . . opening a skydiving dropzone. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Idea. :no:
Click to expand...

Yet there are people in all those industries who have done allright.
 
weilke said:
Restaurants and aviation businesses are well established methods to 'make a small fortune' by starting with a big one.

Now, a restaurant on an airport is basically the double-whammy.
Click to expand...

Restaurants are a very, very hard way to make a living. Note that celebrity chefs make their money in ways other than cooking.
 
weilke said:
Yet there are people in all those industries who have done allright.
Click to expand...

And I know a few (emphasis on FEW) people who've hit a winner on the slots in Vegas. I wonder if the people who've done "alright" recognize their own children--at least the ones who haven't attached their spawn to the family millstone.

Life's too short, personally.
 
Years ago, my friend who got me into flying and I had the idea for a combination airport FBO & nudie bar. We figured nobody wants either one in their backyard, so zoning should be a snap! :rofl:
 
I think the key to succeeding in the restaurant business is to have experience in the restaurant business. A lot of failures come from people opening restaurants who really don't know that much about it, business people in other disciplines, or chefs who understand food better than business.

 
steingar said:
I think the key to succeeding in the restaurant business is to have experience in the restaurant business. A lot of failures come from people opening restaurants who really don't know that much about it, business people in other disciplines, or chefs who understand food better than business.
Click to expand...

The same can be said about aviation businesses.



This wouldn't be a fancy restaurant but more of a lunch-counter, coffee-shop type operation. A lot less overhead from kitchen operations. I know a couple of people who run those with good success but also two who lost their shirt on it (one due to an overpriced but questionable quality franchise, the other due to poor site selection combined with a natural disaster, both had no experience in the food business before they started which gets us back to your point).
 
My old man had an honest-to-Odin soda fountain in his drugstore. Last one operating for many, many miles. Didn't make any money, but didn't loose it, and boy did it bring customers into the store.
 
weilke said:
. 5 years later he has added twice to the place and it runs with an employed manager and a revolving cast of high-school and college kids at the front desk. He shows up a couple of times a day, keeps an eye on the till and the stock-room and it has become somewhat of a hands-off business.
Click to expand...

Blue Wind, down 235 by Checkers?
 
Just remember -- airport restaurants live and die by street trade, not air trade, and the aviation traffic is gravy, not meat/potatoes. Therefore, you have to make it attractive to nonaviation folks who live/work near the airport, and if there aren't people living/working near the airport, you'll die a quick death. It has to be easily accessible by road, and there has to be convenient parking. You need a great view of the airport in order to differentiate it from other eateries in the area (the Salisbury airport restaurant area looks over the parking log -- one of several reasons it's unoccupied after three failed attempts). Food has to be good, but need not be spectactular. Reasonable prices are important, and service has to be fast for the business lunch trade.
 
Last edited:
Ron Levy said:
Therefore, you have to make it attractive to nonaviation folks who live/work near the airport, and if there aren't people living/working near the airport, you'll die a quick death. It has to be easily accessible by road, and there has to be convenient parking.
Click to expand...


The terminal building is 1/2 mile down airport road off Rt 235, the main drag into the California/Lexington Park/Pax River retail and office corridor.

- The first picture is a googlemap aerial shot with annotations about the location.
- The second is a picture of the white elephant of a terminal building (off the county goverment website)
- The third picture is a layout of the terminal/FBO area.

And yes, the title of the thread could be: 'Wanna open a coffee-shop / lunch place next to an office park that happens to look out onto a runway with helicopters doing autorotations ?'
 

Attachments

  • Terminal_SMC_annotated.JPG
    Terminal_SMC_annotated.JPG
    147.7 KB · Views: 9
  • airportbldng.jpg
    airportbldng.jpg
    13.1 KB · Views: 10
  • airportmasterplanphotob.jpg
    airportmasterplanphotob.jpg
    278.7 KB · Views: 10
Last edited:
weilke said:
And yes, the title of the thread could be: 'Wanna open a coffee-shop / lunch place next to an office park that happens to look out onto a runway with helicopters doing autorotations ?'
Click to expand...
Keep the sticks and marshmellows handy.
 
Before I joined the army I worked in restaurants. First as a dish washer, then a fry cook. My last job was in a steak house as a set up man. (Boy)(..I was 17).

I swore then, to all the deities who would listen, I would never, ever, as long as I lived, ever own a f*cking restaurant. I have never owned or worked in a restaurant since. It is a horrible way to have to earn a living. No thanks.

John
 
I think a business like a restaurants is ok if you only need to launder small to modest quantities of money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top