Got two minutes? Five minutes? Ten minutes?
Silver Diner is angling to capture the business of airline travelers no matter how rushed they are on the way to catching a flight.
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The chain, headquartered in Rockville, is scheduled to open its first airport-based restaurant at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Thursday.
The restaurant will have three “to-go” options, according to Chief Executive Bob Giamo.
Travelers with two minutes can buy ready-made sandwiches and salads; those with five minutes can wait for a panini sandwich or a milkshake; and diners with more time can get sit-down service with a 10-minute guarantee.
The company is also experimenting with new technologies, such as letting customers place orders online before they arrive and touch-screen ordering stands.
It took three years to develop the business model, Giamo said. Silver Diner plans to take the concept nationally, with its next opening in Philadelphia next year.
Silver Diner previously ran into financial problems attempting expansion in the late 1990s.
Giamo said those hurdles had to do with taking the company public and investors’ expectations; the company is now private again.
“If we had kept growing at a rate a public company requires, we would have lost the brand identity,” Giamo said.
To keep that from happening again, the firm is committing $300,000 to employee training for the BWI location, he said, and will require similar investments from its franchising partner, Lansdowne, Va.-based Creative Host Services, which is opening the other locations.
Later, the restaurant plans to set up kiosks throughout the airport so passengers waiting at terminals can have food delivered to them, Giamo said.
Next year, Silver Diner is planning to open its first “fast casual” location, offering “comfort food with a healthy edge” in Fairfax, Giamo said.
Airports are offering a mix of upscale sit-down restaurants, many headlined by celebrity chefs, to appease customers facing airline delays, and “grab and go”-style takeout options, according to Elissa Elan, food service editor for Nation’s Restaurant News. Gourmet markets like Balducci’s also are gaining popularity, she said.
“Travelers are looking for any way to reduce their stress levels and don’t mind spending additional amounts of money to accomplish this task, as long as they feel they’ve received value for their purchases,” Elan said.
