LAKELAND, Fla. — Blindsided. That's how Lakeland Linder International Airport describes a sudden and unexpected departure of the only restaurant in its main terminal.
What's worse, it comes just weeks before the airport is supposed to start up its well-publicized commercial airline service with low-cost carrier Avelo.
“We were caught off guard,” Lakeland International Airport Director Kris Hallstrand said.
With just weeks to go before starting up commercial airline service, the airport’s one and only restaurant vendor, Waco Kitchen, told them it was closing its doors. The closure, say signs throughout the terminal building, is temporary but indefinite.
Hallstrand says they must have a food vendor when Avelo starts service on June 13th.
“We are in need of having some sort of food and beverage service for folks to either get ready for their flight and relax and having a meal or once they get off their flight, if they would like to enjoy a good meal before they head out on the road to wherever destination they’re headed,” Hallstrand said.
Hallstrand says the restaurant’s parent company recently went through a corporate restructuring which led to questions about just who actually owns Waco Kitchen. Until that's sorted out, they’re in an unsettling holding pattern.
Hovver Sanchez, who works for another airport vendor, says the restaurant is often packed, so he didn’t think it was a lack of business. With Avelo starting service soon, he figured it all but guaranteed even more customers.
“All of a sudden, Monday some of the employees were like saying goodbye. We're no longer in business,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes it was getting crowded over the weekend somebody was celebrating a birthday. All of a sudden, that's what I'm saying when they came in Monday and we're saying goodbye, I was in shock.”
Airport administrators say their contract with Waco Kitchen dictates that they serve at least one meal six days a week.
So, by Tuesday, they said they were already in violation of the contract. That same agreement gives the restaurant 10 days to try to get things back up and running. If that date passes, the airport says it will begin looking for a new vendor for at least that space immediately.
“It is important to us to get a restaurant up and running. It is a tight timeline,” Hallstrand said. “We will see what we can pull off, but we are looking at options at this time as to how this is all going to play out.”