Pangborn prepares to seek new airport café operator

EAST WENATCHEE — Pangborn Memorial Airport is preparing to seek a new operator for its terminal café after the current tenant decided not to renew its lease, with the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority also setting aside money for potential kitchen equipment upgrades.

Economic Development Director Stacie de Mestre told Port commissioners Aug. 25 that she and airport staff have been working on a solicitation to find a replacement tenant.

As part of that process, the Port reviewed the equipment it owns in the café and found much of it dates to 1992 and 2009.

In the past, de Mestre said, the café has essentially been marketed with the existing equipment as-is, with the tenant responsible for maintaining it. Discussions with the current operator, however, identified equipment that is no longer functioning.

That raised a question for the Port: what should it replace before knowing what kind of food a future operator intends to serve?

“We don't know what type of tenant,” de Mestre said. “Does it make sense to replace an oven or a fryer if we have a tenant doing cold sandwiches?”

Rather than make those decisions before selecting a new operator, the Port has included a $50,000 allowance for restaurant equipment in its proposed supplemental budget.

De Mestre described the amount as a placeholder rather than a planned $50,000 expenditure.

The Port intends to solicit proposals first, then negotiate equipment repairs or replacements as part of the eventual lease based on the needs of the selected operator.

“Our approach is to solicit and set aside an allowance to put toward some repairs of that equipment,” de Mestre said. “We'll negotiate it through the lease.”

The approach could allow the Port to tailor improvements to the concept ultimately selected for the airport rather than spend money replacing equipment a new operator may not need.

The café is located inside the Pangborn terminal, serving passengers and other airport visitors. A timeline for selecting a new operator was not specified during the Aug. 25 discussion.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media