Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear has gone without a cafe since March, and the Town of Harrietstown wants that fixed. Officials have issued a request for proposals seeking a new food-and-beverage operator to run coffee, baked goods, grab-and-go items, light meals and aircraft catering out of a renovated space with a bigger kitchen and far more storage than before.
The search follows the closure of CAVU Cafe, which served travelers and locals out of the Harrietstown-owned airport for more than a decade before shutting down in March, according to The Daily Gazette. Proposals from qualified operators are due Dec. 4 at 11 a.m., with questions to the airport due by Nov. 18, and the town expects to award the cafe contract by Dec. 30.
What the Town Wants in a New Operator
The RFP calls for an operator who can provide strong customer service, use local products when feasible and collaborate closely with the airport, per the same report. Whoever takes over will also need to be ready for short-notice private aircraft catering requests, sometimes for high-quality or unusual items that go well beyond a standard coffee counter.
Cafe hours are expected to align with Cape Air's flight schedule, which currently includes three daily flights between New York City and Boston, the station's report notes. The airline carried 9,080 passengers through the airport from January through October of 2025, an average of 14.5 enplanements a day, according to an earlier Daily Gazette report on the cafe's closing.
Lease Terms Start Low and Climb
The lease structure is designed to ease a new business into the space: $500 a month for the first six months, $600 a month for the following six months, then $650 a month through the second year, per the RFP details reported by The Daily Gazette. The cafe operator will cover propane and electricity, while the airport will provide heat for the space. The operator must also supply the remaining equipment and supplies not already built into the kitchen.
A Bigger Kitchen and a Wider Apron
The new cafe space comes in at 1,420 square feet, about 400 square feet larger than the old CAVU footprint, the outlet reports. The kitchen itself will include a propane stove, oven, fryer, griddle, walk-in cooler, stand-up fridge, stand-up freezer, ice maker, refrigerated prep station, dishwasher and toaster, while the dining area is set to include tables and chairs for travelers waiting on flights.
The cafe sits near snowmobile trails and the Adirondack Rail Trail, just outside Saranac Lake, an area where morning food options are described as scarce. Airport officials also plan to expand the plane apron in front of the cafe, a move tied to the fact that private planes using the facility are getting bigger, and one that should improve the view of Cape Air planes from cafe tables once finished.
Part of a Larger Renovation Push
The cafe search is only one piece of a broader, multi-phase renovation at the airport. That project, backed by $8.5 million in state funding, has already brought solar panels to the roof along with upgrades to the central receiving area, furniture, lighting, ventilation, the water well and air conditioning, according to Sun Community News. The Adirondack Regional Airport project was part of a wider $54.5 million state investment that also touched Watertown International Airport and Ogdensburg International Airport, and was estimated to create more than 90 jobs, per Adirondack Explorer. That regional improvement effort had been expected to wrap by winter 2025, the outlet reported.
For now, Adirondack Regional Airport is left without a sit-down coffee stop while the paperwork plays out, but the renovated kitchen and expanded apron suggest the next operator will have more room to work with than CAVU ever had. Whoever submits a winning proposal by the Dec. 4 deadline will inherit not just a kitchen, but a community still waiting for its morning coffee run back.
