Southern Flyer Restaurant closed

J

Jester

Filing Flight Plan
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Jan 25, 2009
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Texas
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Display name:
Jester
The Southern Flyer Restaurant at Brenham, Tx (11R) closed as of yesterday. Depressed.This was one of my favorite haunts.
 
Dayum, I was there this past week. Got there at 2 and there were two other booths occupied. I figured that was good for after normal lunch hours. But I guess not good enough.

Such a shame when businesses fail and even worse when it relates to having a reason to fly.
 
I always hate hearing about airport restaurants shutting down. That said, there are a few thing to consider (not specific to this place, but in general): 1) All good things come to an end a some point and often owners will shut down rather than sell the business when they retire, 2) The restaurant industry is notorious for business turnover; most restaurants don't make five years, 3) No matter how good an airport restaurant is, if they can't bring out the non flyers they're doomed for failure.

Hopefully someone will take over the spot with another place. Fly-in restaurants are some of the best destinations and a great way to introduce folks to GA.
 
MadseasoN said:
Sad. It was always full of people when we visited.
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This is pretty surprising actually; on a nice weather weekend Fri-Sun the place would be mobbed. Ramp full of planes, parking lot full of cars and motorcycles, lotta locals in with the pilots. Maybe it's a temporary thing?

I gotta say I didn't actually stop in there all that often as the burgers were good, but rest of the menu was kinda "meh" to me. Seemed like they never changed it from when they opened in 2002...
 
Sometimes the owners tire of the grind or retire. Hopefully that's the case here and someone will replace them.
 
Darn! I had it listed in my website so I deleted it. If it reopens or if you know of any others please let me know, I am up to 135 airport cafe listings with the 1,725 cars available. (They still have a car at that location for use). I am only adding airport cafe's that are already listed in my site as also having a car, don't want to step on other peoples toes who have those exclusive listings. Glenn
 
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Dang!
That's a second one in 2 weeks.
The 50's Cafe in Cameron (T35) closed I think on 12/31.
I wonder if the bad weather played a role by not allowing good pilot attendance.

I too am hoping that somebody will pick it up. Great business opportunity (if you can keep the diner filled).
 
Wow that is a shock.
Every time I was there more than half the people were locals. I always had to wait for a table. Sorry to see it go.
 
BigBadLou said:
Dang!
That's a second one in 2 weeks.
The 50's Cafe in Cameron (T35) closed I think on 12/31.
I wonder if the bad weather played a role by not allowing good pilot attendance.

I too am hoping that somebody will pick it up. Great business opportunity (if you can keep the diner filled).
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Another casualty of the oil recession and the decline of GA.

We spoke with the owners in Brenham on several occasions, over the last 7 years. He and his wife were open 7 years before they turned a profit. That is PERSISTENCE.

Then, it was good for a few years, but the oil recession has hit everyone in Texas hard, with 100,000 guys out of work in an arc from Houston to Austin. If their fly-in business declined as much as ours has, there would be no way to keep that restaurant afloat. (Our saving grace at Amelia's Landing is that we have never relied on fly-in business for our survival.)

Its all so sad. We went to the Southern Flyer often, and always enjoyed it. The last few times we went midweek, however, we had the place to ourselves. We also noticed a change in demeanor of the owner. It was clear to us that she seemed tired of the whole affair.

So, we are now down to just three restaurants in South Texas: the new Hangar 6 in Uvalde, the Runway Cafe in Lake Jackson, and the Black Walnut in Conroe. Let's see if we can keep them in business!
 
Jay Honeck said:
So, we are now down to just three restaurants in South Texas: the new Hangar 6 in Uvalde, the Runway Cafe in Lake Jackson, and the Black Walnut in Conroe. Let's see if we can keep them in business!
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Did Stinson close (again)?
 
Bummer. Never been there. Not sure if I would ever have had a chance or reason to go. Still a loss to some of us is a loss to all of us. We need to do our best to support airport based businesses.
 
BigBadLou said:
The 50's Cafe in Cameron (T35) closed I think on 12/31.
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Already?? Yikes, that was quick.


Jay Honeck said:
So, we are now down to just three restaurants in South Texas: the new Hangar 6 in Uvalde, the Runway Cafe in Lake Jackson, and the Black Walnut in Conroe. Let's see if we can keep them in business!
Click to expand...

It's not really S Texas, more like SE TX, but Lufkin (LFK) still has a little diner in the terminal; it's not fancy, but the burgers are decent, plus open for breakfast most days. I wouldn't say it's worth a trip from Mustang Island though... but at least it's an option.
 
jbDC9 said:
Already?? Yikes, that was quick.
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A lot of people who live in Cameron drive to Austin to work. It's a small town, so not much of a local crowd. They had good food, but not the curb appeal of Brenham. A couple of Elvis posters framed was the extent of the 50's decor!

jbDC9 said:
It's not really S Texas, more like SE TX, but Lufkin (LFK) still has a little diner in the terminal; it's not fancy, but the burgers are decent, plus open for breakfast most days. I wouldn't say it's worth a trip from Mustang Island though... but at least it's an option.
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I like Lufkin, just remember they're closed on Sundays. We flew in once to find it closed, but took the courtesy car into town to get some BBQ.
 
I always loved Brenham. It's one of the closest fly-in diners to my location, so it was always good for an easy trip.

We'll fly a little further than some people just to get lunch, but there are quite a few we love to go to. Llano, Stephenville, Fredericksburg, Cameron (still has Mexican food), Sulphur Springs, Cedar Mills (long trip), and even my home base of Taylor has a pretty good Mexican food place across the street. I could go on and on if you're just willing to grab a courtesy car. I know Brenham was crowded on the weekends, but it seemed to be more Harley riders than pilots. I think it's hard to lure people out of town on a regular basis. I think they'd have more chance of surviving if the airport was in town or on a major highway.

Here's a pic of my old 140 with a couple of Brenham waitresses. This photo helped sell the plane!
8198907146_a09520c431_b.jpg
 
mscard88 said:
Nah. YOU know what I meant. ;)

Not that I wasn't thinking what you meant.
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I have no idea what you meant. Why are you interested in carnal knowledge of the radios? That's a little past kinky dude.
 
Lowflynjack said:
I always loved Brenham. It's one of the closest fly-in diners to my location, so it was always good for an easy trip.

We'll fly a little further than some people just to get lunch, but there are quite a few we love to go to. Llano, Stephenville, Fredericksburg, Cameron (still has Mexican food), Sulphur Springs, Cedar Mills (long trip), and even my home base of Taylor has a pretty good Mexican food place across the street. I could go on and on if you're just willing to grab a courtesy car. I know Brenham was crowded on the weekends, but it seemed to be more Harley riders than pilots. I think it's hard to lure people out of town on a regular basis. I think they'd have more chance of surviving if the airport was in town or on a major highway.

Here's a pic of my old 140 with a couple of Brenham waitresses. This photo helped sell the plane!
8198907146_a09520c431_b.jpg
Click to expand...
Jack, sent you a IM. Glenn
 
Clark1961 said:
mscard88 said:
Screw the radios if they did! :D
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Slight confusion here maybe?
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Maybe he meant "tune the radios"? I would love to try on Com1!! :D


Back on topic: I know T82 is not considered SE TX but it is still open. I wonder for how long. Let's hope we don't lose that one too! Gotta go give them business this weekend for sure.
Anybody up for a big PoA brunch fly-in?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Another casualty of the oil recession and the decline of GA.

We spoke with the owners in Brenham on several occasions, over the last 7 years. He and his wife were open 7 years before they turned a profit. That is PERSISTENCE.

Then, it was good for a few years, but the oil recession has hit everyone in Texas hard, with 100,000 guys out of work in an arc from Houston to Austin. If their fly-in business declined as much as ours has, there would be no way to keep that restaurant afloat. (Our saving grace at Amelia's Landing is that we have never relied on fly-in business for our survival.)

Its all so sad. We went to the Southern Flyer often, and always enjoyed it. The last few times we went midweek, however, we had the place to ourselves. We also noticed a change in demeanor of the owner. It was clear to us that she seemed tired of the whole affair.

So, we are now down to just three restaurants in South Texas: the new Hangar 6 in Uvalde, the Runway Cafe in Lake Jackson, and the Black Walnut in Conroe. Let's see if we can keep them in business!
Click to expand...
Also in the Dallas area there are great restaurants at Grand Prairie airport and Redbird airport. Easy in and out!
 
Also in the Dallas area there are great restaurants at Grand Prairie airport and Redbird airport. Easy in and out!
Click to expand...
We should do a PoA TX fly-in one weekend when the weather finally stops sucking. OVC003 one day and 28G40 the next definitely destroys any flying plans for the whole weekend.
 
Saturday was great weather after the fog went away around noon. We flew a couple of planes over to Smithville, grabbed the courtesy car and went into town for lunch. It wasn't Brenham, but we still had fun.

I never understood the design of some of the diners at airports. Brenham had a great theme, but if you were inside, you could barely see the tarmac from the two small windows, and if you were on the patio you could see planes if they were landing from the South. Why they designed it where we faced the drainage pond I'll never know.

In Fredericksburg, they made the diner look like a railcar diner inside, which is a cool theme, but there's almost always a wait for a table and no good place to stand while waiting. It does face the runway and planes though, which is nice.
 
I've got a cool hat from the Brenham FBO, black with a white 16 in front, dotted line to a 34 in back.
 
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