The original Contrails Café is located in Roswell, New Mexico at the Roswell International Air Center. After securing the contract from the City Council of Roswell, this airport café’s doors were opened on March 1, 2007. Formerly Walker AFB, the RIAC has a rich and meaningful history. It was our goal to capture the essence of life in the 40’s in and around the airfield, and restore the glory that so few passionately try to preserve.

It is our hope to clone the operation in Roswell to other regional airports. The premise is simple. People can get burgers, fries and other fast foods anywhere. What we want to sell is an experience. A dining experience that cannot be reproduced anywhere else. An environment that enhances the customer’s enjoyment in such a way that they will never forget the café. And they will never forget the airport where that café was located. And they will never forget the city where that airport was located. This helps promote not just our operation, but the host airport and city as well.

Our goal is to not be simply a tenant, but rather to forge a partnership. To simultaneously brand the café, the airport, and the city. To evolve together in a symbiotic relationship that will generate new business for all while concurrently strengthening the loyalty of old business. To share a common vision of growth and expansion. To provide the foundation to solicit additional traffic and services to the airport.

The theme of Contrails Café is based on what Tom Brokaw referred to as “The Greatest Generation”. The presentation is subtle, as was the quiet resolve of those who served during the second World War. Our goal is to present this culture in a way that fosters respect, reflection, and pride. Attention to detail, accuracy and consistency are our goals.

What you won’t find in this café are pictures of gorgeous models eating foods they would likely never consume in real life. There will be no larger than life, perfectly photographed sandwiches hanging in the wall. No audacious, brightly colored banners announcing new additions to the menu. There will be no link to televised ad campaigns, annoying spokespeople, mascots or gimmicky slogans. Instead, you may see a tattered bomber jacket hanging on the wall. An actual “letter home” from Europe framed in glass. Posters and tin signs that haven’t served their purpose for nearly half a century. Perhaps, you might find some black and white photos of the host city, and its proud citizens wearing a derby hat or driving a Ford Fairlane. Or portraits of great leaders; military and political. Maybe even a random picture of a soldier or a pilot whom no one remembers, or can even identify. On one wall, a computer loops a PowerPoint slide show with hundreds of WW2 photos, posters and pictures of warbird nose art. In the background, the sound of Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra fill in the gaps of lunchtime conversation. If customers want to watch sitcoms, CNN Headline News or get the latest sports score, we recommend that they find a monitor elsewhere in the airport. What we want to offer is an escape.

When our customers walk through our door, we want them to get lost in the past. Traveling in this day and age is stressful and cumbersome. Tension, anxiety and frustration prevail in this once honored privilege. For a few brief moments, we want our customers to forget where they are, where they are going, and the hectic process to get there. We want to immerse them in a world and a lifestyle unknown to all but a handful of them. We don’t want Contrails Café to be a place that people stop at out of convenience, we want our café to be such a treat to the senses that customers will inconvenience themselves just to get back there again.

In all of our host cities, people have many choices for food. For the most part, the food is the same and only the paper hats and catch-phrases are different. We don’t want to sell food. We want to sell an image. A story. We want to sell history. And tradition. We want to remind people of an amazing era, and the brave, strong individuals that made us proud not only of our heritage, but also of our place in the world. We find patriotism in every market we land in, and do out best to foster and encourage it. We believe that a café like this would perfectly compliment the rich tradition that so many of these small Southwest markets started decades ago. We hope that many of these smaller communities, many of which are trying to break away from the identity of nearby major cities, will look to us as a way to add something unique and special to their own distinctiveness.