La Farm Bakery to open a cafe in Raleigh-Durham International Airport terminal
La Farm, the 20-year-old Cary bakery known for its crusty bread and white chocolate mini baguettes, will open a cafe in a prominent spot in Terminal 2 of Raleigh-Durham International Airport late this spring.
La Farm will operate a “pop-up” bakery at the bottom of the escalators used by all departing and arriving passengers starting in May. Behind the temporary counter and seating, workers will build a permanent restaurant, set to open next winter.
La Farm Bakery and Cafe will serve pastries, sandwiches, salads and coffee and have a full-service bar with beer, wine and spirits. It will be equipped with a hearth oven, visible from the walkway, where people will be able to see bread baking.
“The smell is very important to bring in the customers,” said Lionel Vatinet, the baker who runs La Farm with his wife Missy.
The signing of La Farm is part of a larger effort by RDU to feature local restaurants and retailers in its terminals. The airport expects to seek new vendors to fill as many as 19 spaces in Terminal 2 starting in 2021, and Airport Authority chairman John Kane said La Farm sets the tone for what the airport will be looking for.
“They’ll be the start of a new image for the terminals,” Kane said. “I think they’ll be something that can really be transformative.”
La Farm will replace Brighton, a national boutique for women whose lease had expired, said Diane Harris, RDU’s business manager.
Harris said the airport received three bids from companies looking to put restaurants in the space. In addition to La Farm, companies proposed a Dunkin Donuts and a Tupelo Honey, a branch of the Southern cafe that began in Asheville and is now found in 10 states, including Texas, Colorado and Idaho.
It came down to the two restaurants with North Carolina ties, Harris said, with La Farm just edging out Tupelo. Because every traveler in Terminal 2 will pass by the new restaurant, RDU considers it the cornerstone of its new concessions program, she said.
“We wanted something that’s kind of a wow factor, because it is such a high visibility area,” she said.
La Farm now has three Cary bakeries, including one inside the Whole Foods Market off N.C. 55, and also sells its bread through other Whole Foods and farmers markets and from its bread truck. Vatinet was born and trained in France and still speaks with a heavy French accent but identifies with the region where he has baked bread for the last 20 years.
In a written statement released after the RDU lease was announced, Vatinet said, “Now, it will be easier than ever for travelers to take a taste of the South with them when they depart.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 5:45 AM with the headline "La Farm Bakery to open a cafe in Raleigh-Durham International Airport terminal."