Airport food

LAX Homeboy Cafe benefits gang intervention

Airports, Food, , ,

Cafe front

There are plenty of places to grab a to-go meal in any terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

But frequent traveler Sergio Coronado opts for a snack from the Homeboy Café and Bakery because he knows that buying lunch there helps former gang members stay out of jail.

“The food tastes great and I like that this gives something to the cause,” the 37-year-old Coronado told NBC News as he rushed off to make his flight.

Open since February, the Homeboy Café and Bakery at LAX has a prime spot along a busy corridor in American Airlines Terminal 4 and is affiliated with L.A.-based Homeboy Industries, founded in 1988 during a time of intense gang wars. The non-profit offers job training, tattoo removal and other support services to ex-gang members and men and women who have been incarcerated. It also operates a bakery, a silkscreen and embroidery business and several other social enterprises around town that provide jobs and training for participants and raise funds to support the programs.

The group also operates a diner at Los Angeles City Hall and sells branded Homeboy chips and salsa through Ralph’s grocery stores, but the airport cafe is the group’s first franchise arrangement.

It’s being operated in partnership with Areas USA, Inc., a Miami-based travel industry company that has developed locally-themed food and retail outlets at many airports.

“We thought there should be Homeboy Industries representation at LAX,” said Adam Fischer, general manager of Areas USA LAX, “And we knew we could generate a lot of money and visibility for the programs through a successful airport cafe.”

Homeboy Cafe mural courtesy LAX

Homeboy Cafe mural at LAX, courtesy LAX Airport

 

The colorful décor at the Homeboy Café at LAX includes a hand-painted mural by Homeboy Industries’ substance abuse counselor and resident artist, Fabian Debora. The group’s Latin-influenced recipes are reflected in the salads, sandwiches, pastries and wraps on the menu.

But none of the faces behind the counter belong to trainees or graduates of the Homeboy Industries programs.

That’s because in addition to the many barriers to employment many Homeboy Industries program participants face, if they have felony records – and most do – they are not eligible to work post-security at an airport.

A few Homeboy Industries trainees may soon be eligible to join the airport crew but, for now, all employees at the LAX Homeboy Cafe are Areas USA employees who have gone through a special day-long training program and can “speak our language,” said Tara Barrett, director of business development for Homeboy Industries. The mix-and-match recipe seems to be working. Travelers are lining up not only to buy the Homeboy Café food at the airport, but to purchase the T-shirts and other Homeboy Industries merchandise for sale.

It’s expanding word of our mission beyond Los Angeles,” said Barrett. “Next, we’d like to expand the airport cafe concept throughout the U.S.”

Homegirl Cafe -Roxanne Soto

Roxanne Soto – courtesy Homeboy Industries

 

If that happens, there may be more opportunities for people like 27-year-old Roxanne Soto to turn their lives around. Bald and boisterous, the former addict was ordered by the courts to participate in the Homeboy Industries program. She’s now a line cook at the busy Homegirl Café & Catering in Los Angles, where “homegirls serve tables instead of serving time.”

Before entering the program, Soto had hit bottom. “I was living in abandoned houses, stealing from stores and doing really bad things,” Soto told NBC News after one of her shifts. “Now I’m doing something real with my life.”

(My story about the Homeboy Cafe & Bakery at LAX first appeared on NBCNews.com)

 

Surprising best-sellers at airports

Airports, Food, Shopping, Souvenirs,

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

Although it’s been 20 years since the debut of the romantic comedy film Sleepless in Seattle, gray and pink nightshirts sporting the movie’s title are still among the bestsellers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), with 9,000 of the shirts sold last year.

“Some of us scratch our heads about its appeal,” said Randi Sibonga, who has been an airport retailer for over 25 years, a period she measures as “since the days when souvenir spoons were hot items.”

Beyond the night shirts, SEA concessions director Deanna Zachrisson reports that top sellers at the airport are boxes of smoked salmon (46,000 sold in 2012) and the best-selling, erotic novel Fifty Shades of Gray. “20,000 copies were sold at the airport last year, said Zachrisson. “The fact that the book is set in Seattle helps.”

Bottled water, diet Coke and neck pillows are – no surprise – among the best selling items at most airports, but “although some have officially laid magazine sales to rest, hard copies of magazines are still a top seller at Hudson News,” said Hudson Group spokeswoman Laura Samuels.

Nashville Goo Goo sampling

Samuels confirms that around the country, many airport bestsellers are tied to local culture. For example, during 2012 Nashville International Airport stores sold over 67,000 Goo Goo Clusters, a locally-produced treat that doubles as an inexpensive souvenir. “Customers also snap up anything with the likeness of popular country singer Taylor Swift,” said Samuels.

Since 9/11, FDNY and PDNY souvenir apparel is a strong seller in the New York City airports and Samuels said sales of teddy bears from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company are so popular at the Burlington Airport that the Hudson Group will soon expand sales of the bears to airports around the country.
Hot in Cleveland – and Chicago, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh

At Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum Store sold more than 4,500 Rock Hall inductee t-shirts in 2012. With Heart, Donna Summer and Albert King among the 2013 inductees being honored on April 18th, sales should certainly remain steady.

CLEVELAND MUSTARD

Another CLE bestseller: Bertman Ball Park Mustard, a condiment served at Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. More than 1,500 containers of the locally-made mustard were sold at the airport last year.

CHICAGO STYLE HOT DOG

At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, two things that sell exceptionally well are Chicago Style Hot Dogs and Chicago-themed coffee mugs. According to Sarah Cody of the HMSHost Corporation, more than 500,000 Chicago Style Hot Dogs are sold annually at the various HMSHost venues throughout the airport and more than 50,000 Chicago-themed coffee mugs are sold in airport Starbucks stores each year.

BWI Obrycki's - Crab Cakes on the Fly

At BWI Airport, thousands of travelers stop by the airport branch of Obryki’s, a local favorite, just to get crabs. During the month of February 2013 alone, travelers bought more than 4,000 crab cakes and an equal number of deviled crab balls.

PHX_Petting cactus

Cactus is the big-seller at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), with over a million dollars worth of the plants and plant-related items sold each year. “Products include potted cactus gardens specifically boxed for the plane, live cactus refrigerator magnets and cactus candies made from the fruit of prickly pear cactus,” said airport spokeswoman Heather Lissner. “Some airport shops even sell what is called a Petting Cactus, which comes in a hand-painted terra cotta pot and is friendly to the touch.”

El PASO POPS ELP

Scorpion lollipops (hard candy with a scorpion in the center) are also popular at PHX and at El Paso International Airport. JoAnn Kirkland, general manager of the El Paso airport Paradies Shops says up to 300 scorpion and tequila worm suckers, priced at $3.99 each or 3 for $10, are sold each week.

Towels, t-shirts and brisket

PIT_Terrible towel

During 2012, Hudson News and Gift shops at Pittsburgh International Airport sold about 3,000 Pittsburgh Steelers souvenir “Terrible Towels” and earlier this month the PIT TGI Friday’s accommodated its largest group ever: on March 13th a group of 120 people stopped by for a sit-down breakfast.

Throughout the year, shops at Missouri’s Kansas City Airport (KCI) do a brisk business selling cow-tipping t-shirts and souvenirs relating to the Leavenworth penitentiary. The Kansas City, MO metro area includes parts of Kansas, so with opening of the new Disney Oz movie, sales of Wizard of Oz-related items such as Dear Dorothy t-shirts have spiked.

Austin_Keep Austin Weird

Down in Texas, more than 17,800 “Keep Austin Weird” t-shirts were sold at Austin Bergstrom International Airport last year while travelers tucked into more than 498,000 breakfast tacos and, at the airport’s Salt Lick Bar-B-Que, more than 54.5 tons of brisket in the form of tacos, platters, sandwiches, and whole frozen briskets to go.

At Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport (MSP) the popular dish at many restaurants is walleye, the state fish of Minnesota. At least two hundred walleye dishes are served throughout the airport each week, said Kate Dougherty, MSP concessions marketing manager, and stores report brisk sales of Minnesota-made items such as blueberry and chokeberry syrups and “anything with a moose on it.” During 2012, MSP airport shops also sold more than 22,500 packages of Pearson’s Nut Goodie, a candy that originated in Minnesota over 100 years ago.

“With the increasing popularity for the ‘local’ food movement, all of these items are quintessential Minnesota,” said Dougherty. And like the Goo Goo Clusters sold at the Nashville Airport, “the Nut Goodie, with its 100 year-history, is an ‘oldie but goodie.’ No pun intended.”

MSP_nut Goodie

(My story – Surprising best-sellers at airports – appeared as an “At the Airport” column on USAToday.com, with a lovely slide-show version of the images.

Best new airport amenities in 2012

Airport shops, Food, , , ,

 

Air travel may have gotten (even) more irritating during 2012, but on the ground, the scene at many airports has gotten mellower, healthier and a bit more connected.

It wasn’t all that long ago that free Wi-Fi and plentiful power outlets at an airport were newsworthy additions. But in a recent 2012 ACI-NA Passenger Services Survey, 88% of airports reported having electrical charging stations for passengers and 90% of the airports surveyed said they now offer travelers free Wi-Fi. That list includes Los Angeles International Airport and BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, which are among the larger U.S. airports that began offering complimentary Wi-Fi this year.

ACI-NA’s survey of U.S. and Canadian airports also found that almost half have children’s playrooms, 86% offer major local art displays, and that live music is a regular feature at 34 airports.

Massage and/or spa services, as well as hair and nail salons, are common sights now at airports as well, but during 2012 some new amenities were rolled out designed to make airport dwell time even more productive. Here are few you may have missed.

Yoga room

During 2012, San Francisco International Airport began playing music at the security checkpoints in the international terminal, installed a trio of free bicycle assembly stations and expanded the locations of the handy water hydration stations that allow a passenger to empty a water bottle before security, take it through and refill it for free on the post-security side. But the most novel amenity introduced by SFO this year was the first-of-its-kind airport Yoga Room (located post-security in Terminal 2), designed as “a space devoted to contemplation and self-reflection.” DFW airport followed suit four months later with a yoga ‘studio’ equipped with yoga mats and hand sanitizer located behind a partial privacy screen (Gate D40) near one end of the new Terminal D walking path.

Return of landlines

Remember landlines? In November, Denver International Airport installed more than two hundred landline phones throughout the terminal and the concourses offering passengers unlimited free domestic phone calls. International calls are free for the first ten minutes and, much like the “free” Wi-Fi service offered in many airports, the service is ad-supported: callers must listen to or watch a short ad before being connected.

Booze to go

Also in November, Las Vegas, McCarran International Airport, already home to amenities such as smoking lounges, an aviation museum and more than 1,600 gaming machines, became the first airport in the country to have a packaged liquor store in the baggage claim area. On the shelves at the Liquor Library: beer, wine, spirits, cigars, cigarettes, small packaged snacks, mixers, travel cups and glasses. In-store tasting events seem to be very popular.

Better food

Fast-food outlets at airports remain popular, but the number of healthy dining options for passengers continues to expand. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport introduced a Farmer’s Market Kiosk this year, selling healthy take-away food items, including fruits and vegetables, as well as packaged herbs that are being grown inside the airport at the aeroponic garden, which opened in 2011. Herbs from the garden are being used by many airport restaurants and honey from O’Hare’s on-airport apiary (the nation’s first) is being sold at the airport as well.

Dan Stratman, the former Air Force captain behind the AirportLife app is pleased that there are healthier dining options such as Shoyu, a modern Japanese restaurant and sushi bar, among the dozen or so new restaurants and markets rolled out recently in Delta’s Concourse G at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Many of those restaurants are associated with local and national name-brand chefs, a trend that Gate Guru’s Zachary Einzig was tracking during 2012. “Popular new places include Lemonade at LAX, Lorena Garcia Tapas Bar at ATL, Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar at CLT airport, and the Food Network Kitchen at Fort Lauderdale International Airport,” he said.

Loyalty programs

Airport loyalty programs gained momentum this year, most notably the Thanks Again program that gives travelers points and miles for money spent at restaurants, shops and parking garages at airports. The program began in 2009 (at Anchorage Airport) but took off significantly in 2012. As of mid-December, the program has presence in 170 airports and facility-wide participation in 40 airports. Marc Ellis, Thanks Again co-founder and CEO, is pleased that the most recent airport to join the program is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, which is located about 35 miles from the company’s headquarters in Tyrone, Georgia.

Shopping

During 2012, many airports welcomed new shops featuring popular local and national brands and on December, 13, just in time for the holiday season – and all that holiday eating – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport becomes the first airport retail location for shapewear phenomenon SPANX.

TSA PreCheck

Joe Brancatelli, editor of the business travel newsletter Joe Sent Me, thinks the best innovation this year is TSA’s PreCheck program. “As much as it is easy to criticize TSA and the pace at which it implements change, the spreading of PreCheck to dozens of airports is a game changer for frequent travelers,” he said. The program, which initially rolled out in October, 2011, is now at 33 airports, with Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport the most recent airport to join the program, on December 4. The TSA website offers a full list of airports with TSA PreCheck.

In May 2012, the TSA also extended to passengers age 75 and older, the modified screening procedures the agency put in place for children age 12 and under the year before. The program does not require older passengers to remove their shoes or light jackets at the checkpoints and allows them an additional pass-through (or “do-over”) through the screening machines to resolve any anomalies detected.

Looking forward to 2013, Brancatelli would like to see “more public-access lounges where travelers can go during disruptions or delays– or just to wait and work before flights.” And Raymond Kollau of Airlinetrends.com hopes to see more U.S. airports following the lead of European and Canadian airports that have introduced amenities such as libraries, book-swapping programs and wireless charging for gadgets.

I’m holding out for the opportunity to use my airport dwell time to take short classes in cooking, packing, dancing or Spanish and would like to see a vending machine installed at my home airport’s parking garage and/or light-rail station that will sell me a quart of fresh milk when I’m heading home from a long trip.

What new airport airport amenities were you pleased to see during 2012? And what amenity do you hope to see up at your airport during 2013?

 

(Best new airport amenities from 2012 first appeared in my At the Airport column on USA TODAY)

Restaurant Week – in an airport

Food, ,

Many cities host a Restaurant Week or two during the year when special two or three course menus are offered for a set price at a wide variety of dining venues throughout town. It’s a great opportunity to test out a restaurant that may be out of your price range the rest of the year and a great excuse to go ahead and eat that dessert because, well, it’s included…

The Philadelphia Marketplace at Philadelphia International Airport has embraced the concept and is hosting its 2nd annual Restaurant Week at the airport October 22 – 29th.

During Restaurant Week at PHL, you’ll be able to have a pre-selected, three-course menus for $20 per person at one of these (and perhaps some other) airport restaurants:

· Cantina Laredo (Terminal E)

· Chickie’s and Pete’s (Terminal A West & Terminals C, D & E)

· Cibo Bistro & Wine Bar (Terminals A West & B)

· Jack Duggan’s Bar (Terminal A East)

· Jet Rock Bar & Grill (Terminals B & D)

· Legal Sea Foods (B/C Connector)

· Sky Asian Bistro (Terminal C)

· Vino Volo (Terminal A West and B/C & D/E Connectors)

Some of the menus are listed on the PHL Markeplace website (look under promotions).

O’Hare Airport gets very fresh with passengers

Food, ,

This is definitely the airport amenity of the week:

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport now has a farmer’s market selling basil, cilantro, thyme and other fresh herbs grown inside the airport’s aeroponic garden, fresh fruit from a local produce vendor, healthy snacks and to-go meals and, soon, products made with honey harvested from the airport’s apiary.

No more whining about fresh food at ORD. (Photo courtesy HMSHost)

Until now, most all the produce grown in O’Hare’s aeroponic garden was used exclusively by some of the HMSHost airport restaurants, including Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless, Blackhawks Restaurant, Wicker Park Seafood and Sushi, and Tuscany. Now passengers can take home some of the surplus herbs, which are packaged in nice to-go containers.

The O’Hare farmers market is located in Terminal 3, right below the O’Hare Urban Garden in the rotunda area near the entrance to Concourse G.

Given how green and sustainable O’Hare has become, I wouldn’t be surprised to soon see eggs for sale at the airport laid fresh that morning by a free-range flock of airport chickens.

The O’Hare Farmers Market is also stocking a wide variety of packaged snacks and meals. Photo courtesy HMSHost

Chicago airports celebrate “Taste of Chicago”

Food, , ,

Chicago’s yummy summer event, a “Taste of Chicago,” kicks off Wednesday, July 11 and even if you just have a stopover at O’Hare or Midway International airports, you can do some nibbling.

From Wednesday through Sunday, many restaurants and retail stores at both airports will be offering “Taste” specials to travelers.

At O’Hare, Macaroni Grill (Terminal 3, H/K Concourse) and Eli’s Cheesecake Cafe (Terminal 1, Concourse B) are among the participants. At Midway, a taste-special tiramisu at Luigi Stefani’s is among the offerings.

How will you know which restaurants are participating? Look for the sign posted above.

Talking about airports

Air Travel, Airport shops, Airports, Food, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, , ,

I spend a lot of my time interviewing other people for the stories I write for various outlets and it always feels a bit strange when people turn the tables and ask to interview me.

But probably because this is the hectic holiday travel season, I’ve answered questions posed by Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome, Travergence, Rudy Maxa’s radio show (the podcast should be posted shortly) and, now, the Moodie Report’s Foodie Report. (Go to pages 24 & 25 to hear the audio clips, or read the story below.)

Where to eat locally when you are stuck at the airport

Airport shops, Airports, Food, , , , ,

Brisket sandwich available at Austin-Bergstrom Int'l Airport

Gastronomic guru Anthony Bourdain’s new Travel Channel show, “The Layover,” offers viewers tips on how and where to fill up on local fare if you have just a 48-hour layover in a city.

But what if your layover is much shorter and you’re stuck at the airport looking for a tasty local meal to tide you over?

Not a problem.

It’s getting easier to eat well — and to eat local — at an increasing number of airports where branches of hometown restaurants and gift shops serve signature dishes and locally made foods.

For a story on msnbc.com, I asked around for some tips.

Marcos Martinez, executive director of Entre Hermanos in Seattle, is partial to the breakfast tacos and fish ‘n’ chips served at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport outpost of Anthony’s, a popular chain of local seafood restaurants. Nancy DeWitt, historian at the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks, Alaska, says the blackened halibut tacos served at the Sea-Tac Anthony’s are a “don’t miss” for many of her friends and colleagues.

Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com, looks forward to having crawfish etouffee at Pappadeaux at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (IAH). And recently, Las Vegas resident Chris Jones was pleased to see that the popular local company that operates Pappadeaux at IAH also has outlets at Houston’s Hobby Airport.

“I flew into Hobby in mid-November and was elated to see this company had — by my count — three concessions in Hobby Airport,” said Jones. “I got a milkshake at the burger concept on my way into town and enjoyed some amazing enchiladas and rice and beans before I flew home.”

There’s a branch of New York City’s infamous Grand Central Oyster Bar at Newark Liberty International Airport, and at JFK airport’s Terminal 8, outposts of Bobby Van’s Steakhouse & Grill and Brooklyn National Deli. For many travelers, getting a bowl of Gold Star Chili at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is a sure sign that they’ve been through town.

All the food outlets in the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport are branches of popular local restaurants, and the recently opened Central Terminal B at Sacramento International Airport boasts branches of Dos Coyotes, Jacks Urban Eats and other restaurants found in town.

“Airports aren’t just a way station for passengers anymore, but a shopping and dining experience,” said Jean-Pierre Turgot, general manager for Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality services, one of several national companies operating restaurants and shops in many airports. Turgot oversees Chef Allen’s Burger Bar at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where passengers can purchase the local chef’s signature sauces and catch an occasional cooking demonstration.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, “pre-packaged, specially wrapped BBQ brisket from the Salt Lick BBQ is a big seller,” said Terry Mahlum, regional director for Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services. The recipe for the BBQ sauce dates back to the 1800s. “We have regular customers who stop in our airport location just to get a to-go brisket for the holiday meal,” Mahlum said.

And it’s not just locally themed meals that travelers lap up during layovers. At shops throughout Nashville International Airport, Chattanooga-made, marshmallow-filled Moon Pies, in a wide variety of flavors, can be purchased individually or by the box.

Joe Brancatelli, publisher of the business traveler website JoeSentMe.com, is a big fan of eating locally on the road and puts together an annual guide to some of his favorite places to eat in — and nearby — many airports. (This year’s edition, which he says will include new options in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Charlotte airports, will be ready by Christmas.) He’s found, though, that in some airports “the master franchisees at the airport license the name to a local place or pub and then run it … so the local operator known for the great steak or burger at their downtown institution is not actually running the airport branch.”

So while certainly providing travelers more interesting fare than that offered by the standard national franchises found in most airports, Brancatelli warns that a “local” airport eatery may sometimes be local in name only.

Airport amenity of the week: free cookie kiosk

Food, Free Stuff, , ,

The first time I flew into Fort Wayne International Airport I thought my fellow passengers were kidding me when they said: “Make sure you get a free cookie when you get off the plane.”

 

But they weren’t joking: as I entered the terminal there was indeed someone standing there greeting everyone getting off the plane and handing out free cookies from a little wicker basket.

Turns out they’ve been doing this for more than 10 years. And, so far, volunteers at the airport have handed out more than a million complimentary, locally-baked cookies.

Those volunteers need some off. So most days there’s been no one on duty handing out cookies after 8:30 pm.

Until now.

Airport officials were getting complaints from cookie-loving passengers who arrived at the airport too late to get a snack. So to make sure no one leaves the airport hungry and disappointed, the airport now has a self-serve cookie kiosk.

Practice pizza at Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B

Food, Free Stuff, , , ,



Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B officially opens to the flying public on Thursday. But while workers were still putting finishing touches on the building and shop and restaurant owners were scrambling to stock their shelves and set their tables, I had a chance to walk through the facility.

And even though no passengers were around, I found the crew at the Famous Famiglia Pizzeria stand busy making and cutting up pizzas.

Curious – and a little hungry – I stopped to find out what they were up to. I ended up talking to John Kolaj, the company co-founder, who had come to town to make sure everyone and everything was just right for opening day. He told me, for example, that water from New York is flown to each pizzeria so that the dough will always come out just right. And he made the newly-hired employees gather together for a ‘family picture.’

Kolaj is the guy with the black shirt there in the middle. (He said some people might recognize him from an episode of Celebrity Apprentice). The young man in the orange shirt to the left of Kolaj in the picture is 19 year-old Brandon Avelar.

When I asked the crew cutting up pizzas how long they’d been at it, Avelar said he was learning this skill for the first time. “In fact,” he said proudly, “This is my first job!”

Avelar said he’d learned about some job openings at the airport and gotten a call that he was hired just a few hours after his interview. He chatted for a bit longer, but then turned his attention back to work, which involved serving up the pizza, garlic knots and stromboli – for free – to the “practice customers” (hungry construction workers) lined up at the counter.

More photos to follow…