Two Downstairs Eateries Pitched at D/FW Airport
By David Wethe, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Oct. 2–The successful Pappas restaurant family of Houston is gambling that its good name will draw hungry travelers downstairs to a couple of unusual locations at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Today, the airport board’s finance committee will hear a proposal to convert two former TrAAin stations in the A and C terminals into upscale seafood restaurants with the Pappadeaux name.
In all, the chain that also hatched such brands as Pappasito’s, Pappas B-B-Q and Pappas Burger is looking to build three restaurants in A and C terminals.
The TrAAin carried American Airlines passengers and stopped running two years ago when it was replaced by the faster Skylink train, which has a different track and stations.
The Skylink stations, above the main concourse levels, are more open and brightly lit than the TrAAin stations, which sit one level below the main concourse level without as much natural light. The TrAAin stations are essentially on the same level as the ramp, where airplanes park at the gate.
All that makes for a unique and challenging restaurant environment, the airport acknowledges.
For the Pappadeaux sites, the airport is asking for a minimum annual rent of $144,000 or 9 percent of annual gross revenue, whichever is greater, according to the airport board’s latest meeting documents. When sales exceed $6 million a year, rent would go up to 10 percent of gross revenue, or $600,000.
“Proposed rents are lower due to the ramp locations and associated risk,” according to the documents.
If the finance committee approves the deal, it would go to a full vote of the airport board Thursday.
The financial risk is more with the concessionaire than the airport.
The cost to refurbish the space would be borne by the concessionaire, said Johnnie King, president of The King Group, a Dallas-based airport concessionaire that is a part owner in the three proposed restaurants. The King Group would own 35 percent of the restaurants while The Pappas Group would own the majority, King said.
In addition to the two Pappadeaux restaurants in former TrAAin stations near gates A25 and C27, a Pappasito’s Mexican restaurant near gate A28 is also being considered. The Pappasito’s would be in a more traditional concessionaire location, on the main concourse level with all the other restaurants in that terminal.
The proposed rent for Pappasito’s is $200,000 a year or 12 percent of annual gross revenue, whichever is greater.
Because of its out-of-the-way locations, the Pappadeaux restaurants would likely have their own arrival and departure monitors.
If approved, the restaurants would likely open by the middle of next year, King said.
These would not be the first airport locations for the Pappas family.
Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport is home to a Pappadeaux and a Pappasito’s, while the smaller Houston Hobby Airport has a Pappas Burger and a Pappasito’s.
D/FW Airport has been looking for all kinds of ways to decrease its direct dependency on the turbulent airline industry and boost its revenue from other sources. Drawing on a recent lengthy survey of passengers by Fort Worth-based retail consultant Buxton Co., the airport has been rolling out new retail and restaurant names that travelers wanted to see.
The airport board documents say that Pappadeaux and Pappasito’s also rank high in traveler preferences.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines had to give its blessing for the new restaurants because the TrAAin stations are in space controlled by the carrier and not the airport, said Tim Smith, an airline spokesman.
“We’re very comfortable with the idea of additional concessions, which serve our customers,” he said. “There is the potential for additional revenue that the airport gets from that, and we have the potential to see some of that revenue as well.”
Pauline Armbrust, publisher of the trade magazine Airport Revenue News, said the Pappadeaux concept sounds a little risky but could work well.
“Whenever you do anything that’s pioneering like that, you take a risk,” she said. “The atmosphere sounds very interesting. A lot of people like to have that kind of different experience.”
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dwethe@star-telegram.com David Wethe, 817-685-3803
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