Owner of Mac's Smokehouse closes airport restaurant

Planes can fuel up but people can't at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

City officials are looking to change that. They won't disclose a name, but negotiations began this week on a restaurant lease agreement that could be finalized by the city council next month, airport manager Bruce Loy said Monday.

"We have every intention of somebody new going in there," Loy said. "Hopefully, we'll have somebody in there by Thanksgiving."

Mac's Smokehouse restaurant shut down at the airport on Sept. 13 after five years of operation, consolidating operations at the Silver Springs Road location in Cape Girardeau. Owner Dave McAllister plans to auction off tables, chairs, and cooking equipment at the airport restaurant on Monday.

Tightened airport security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and construction work at the Diversion Channel on Interstate 55 near the airport kept customers away, he said.

Federal security measures prevented parking in the regular airport terminal lot for six weeks, he said. Then, construction on a new diversion channel bridge closed a lane of southbound Interstate 55 for about seven months, leading to traffic delays.

"We lost our customer base," said McAllister. "I had to hustle to keep it open."

In January, he opened Mac's Smokehouse Barbecue at 525 N. Silver Springs Road. McAllister said that restaurant has done well, aided by a growing catering business.

Meanwhile, McAllister continues to make $350 a month lease payments as well as pay off past utility charges incurred in operating the airport restaurant. Loy said the 66-month lease expires on March 31, 2004. But McAllister said he expects to quit making lease payments once the city enters into a lease agreement with a new restaurant operator.

Over the years, the city has struggled to keep a restaurant at the airport.

The city operated one there from July 1994 to October 1995. Net sales were $22,980, but operating costs were $40,838.

Succession of operators

After that, the airport had a succession of restaurant operators who went out of business.

Loy said part of his task when he was hired as airport manager in April 1997 "was to get the restaurant opened again."

A restaurant at the airport helps draw pilots who fuel up their planes, he said.

Loy and Gerry Keene, chairman of the airport board, said the airport has seen fewer military planes land and refuel since the restaurant closed last month.

Keene said the city tries to help airport restaurants to be successful.

The city, he said, isn't leasing out the space to make money, but to provide a restaurant in the terminal for the convenience of air travelers.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123