Philadelphia International Airport’s B/C connector has a new Creole restaurant: Lafayette's Creole Kitchen & Bar, a 44-seat operation from Washington, D.C., food entrepreneur Toyin Alli and her husband, Reginald Johnson. It occupies the space formerly used by Vino Volo Wine Bar and serves gumbo, shrimp étouffée and brown butter bourbon bread pudding.
Alli began selling gumbo and bread pudding at Eastern Market on Capitol Hill in 2010, while still working at Amtrak's Office of Inspector General, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The menu idea came from her mother, who suggested bread pudding and gumbo when Alli asked what she should sell. Alli eventually left her government job, expanding her food operation to more than 14 farmers markets and food trucks before opening a permanent stall at Washington's Union Market in 2014 under the name Puddin'. Her parent company sources sustainable regional seafood, including wild blue catfish from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Rappahannock oysters, a culinary standard documented by CanvasRebel Magazine.
Alli, who holds a master's degree in public administration from New York University, eventually bought two warehouses in Capitol Heights, Maryland, for food production. Her choice of Cajun and Creole cuisine wasn't incidental; as District Fray Magazine has reported, Alli saw the cuisine's blend of West African, French and Native American traditions as a reflection of her own heritage, with a Nigerian father and an African American mother whose family has roots in Lafayette, Louisiana — the city that lends the restaurant its name.
From Pandemic Pivot to Airport Pitch
The airport opportunity followed pandemic-era discussions about finding a steadier customer base. Johnson, a retired Army Green Beret who served six tours in Afghanistan, urged the couple to consider airports, the Inquirer reported. They enrolled in the Philadelphia Airport Concessions Academy, which trains small, regional and minority-owned businesses on leasing requirements, cash-flow modeling, distribution logistics and proposal preparation, according to PHL.org.
Alli told the Inquirer that the academy began with roughly 40 to 50 participants and had about nine by the final presentations. She and Johnson submitted a proposal for an available concession and won it. Alli has noted that a large company or prime operator could have been selected instead, illustrating the competition independent operators face.
Lafayette's isn't the academy's first success story. Silvia Lucci, founder of Hatboro-based LUHV FOOD, completed the inaugural cohort before expanding her plant-based, kosher meals into multiple PHL terminals and Hudson News outlets in late 2025, according to Airport X. At Lafayette's, Alli now oversees operations and culinary direction while Johnson handles finance, logistics and business strategy. The airport location combines a bar and indoor seating with tables that open onto the concourse, a layout Alli has compared to Times Square given the volume of foot traffic passing by.
What's on the Menu at PHL's New Creole Spot
The food leans hard into Southern and Creole comfort cooking: gumbo, shrimp étouffée, red beans and rice, shrimp and grits, po'boys, chicken and waffles, and that brown butter bourbon bread pudding. Breakfast brings its own twist, with a breakfast po'boy and shrimp and waffles on offer, backed by a full bar serving cocktails, beer, wine and nonalcoholic drinks.
Oyster House and Federal Donuts & Chicken opened nearby in the same connector corridor in mid-2025, with Jackmont Hospitality involved in bringing the brands to PHL, per PHL.org. MarketPlace PHL's broader “Founded in Philly” concessions strategy has included local-brand additions ahead of anticipated travel for the Semiquincentennial, FIFA World Cup matches and the MLB All-Star Game in 2026, as outlined by MarketPlace PHL. That push has already brought brands like Elixr Coffee and Middle Child into the terminals.
Food Is Only One Part of Airport Satisfaction
The timing lines up with an uncomfortable statistic for PHL leadership: in September, the airport ranked last among 24 large North American airports for the sixth consecutive year in J.D. Power's passenger satisfaction study, scoring 596 out of 1,000, according to Forbes.
How Concessions and Satisfaction Are Assessed
PHL says its Small Business Enterprise and Airport Concessions Small Business Enterprise programs aim to increase small-business participation and reduce barriers to competition. That policy description does not establish that Lafayette's was certified or won its concession under either program; the available information here does not spell out the award mechanics for this specific opportunity, according to Philadelphia International Airport. J.D. Power’s 2025 North America Airport Satisfaction Study measured seven dimensions, including food, beverage and retail, as well as ease of travel, trust, terminal facilities and airport staff, according to J.D. Power. Those study details describe what was measured but do not establish PHL’s comparative result.
Concessions developer MarketPlace PHL, a partnership between Boston-based MarketPlace Development and Philadelphia-based LeJeune & Associates, now oversees more than 170 retail and dining locations across the airport. Hoodline previously covered Paris Baguette's opening at the airport earlier this year.
