While seeing a Chili’s Grill & Bar in an airport is as common as a line at the Starbucks, it’s nice to see a local restaurant on a local concourse.
A fresh, new face appears in Terminal 2 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport this afternoon at 2 p.m. (three of them, actually), the visages of the “kings” of Three Kings Public House—Elvis, Henry VIII, and King Kong—which have become a focal point at all four Three Kings locations (including University City, Des Peres, and South County).
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Should that mural somehow elude, travelers will likely notice the array of curved stainless steel tubes that look like something out of The Fifth Element. (They are, in fact, the supply lines for the draft beer program, another hallmark of Three Kings.) And there’s no way to miss the long, pale brick wall which doubles as a backdrop for 18 prime people-watching seats.
For practical reasons, the airport location is a slimmer, trimmer version of the other three—12 draft lines instead of 30, for example, and 25 menu items instead of 60-plus. “Speed is the driver at an airport restaurant,” explains co-owner Derek Deaver. “In this type of setting, food can never come too soon. Having fewer menu items is the starting point.”
On the advice of HMSHost, the company that operates a whopping 83 percent of the concessions in U.S. airports (including Lambert), Deaver and partner Ryan Pinkerson chose existing Three Kings menu items that were both popular and easy to produce.
Since the concessionaire controls both the operation and its employees, Deaver plans to spend “as much time as it takes” to make sure the restaurant’s recipes are being followed. “That’s the biggest challenge for an independent restaurant with a scratch kitchen,” he says.
HMSHost anticipates that, as with other Lambert airport restaurants, 30 percent of Three Kings’ sales will come at breakfast. During the rest of the day, 25 percent of customers tend to order a burger, and 85 percent order sandwiches and burgers. Three Kings’ airport menu (pictured above) reflects those tendencies.
Deaver adds that the airport location is the only place in town to get 4 Hands Brewing Co.‘s City Wide APA on tap. In addition, the local brewery has produced a proprietary beer for Three Kings—4 Hands Three Kings Dry Hopped Blonde Ale—that, according to Deaver, is “a year-round, broad spectrum beer…as close to a lager as it is to an ale.”
Between the mainstream offerings and conversation brews, Deaver anticipates brisk volume and interest.
Airport restaurants can be highly profitable. Although costs and fees are high, so is the volume. Such operations appeal to restaurateurs who see the value in the axiom “making a fast nickel rather than a slow dime.” In addition, with 45,000 people traveling the concourse every day (61 percent of Lambert’s total traffic), the marketing implications for Three Kings are substantial and could influence future growth.
