Students who passed through Hancock International Airport to travel home for Spring Break a few weeks ago had the opportunity to grab a cup of Café Kubal coffee after passing through security.

But last week, less than a year after it opened, the airport location closed and has been replaced by Dunkin’ Donuts.

Matt Godard, Café Kubal’s owner, said Delaware North, the company that had been handling concessions at the airport, notified Godard the cafe would be moving out of its airport location, which was situated right after the security checkpoint.

“The information we received was only from Delaware North and nobody told us we were going to be out from the Airport Authority,” Godard said.

He said the airport location was set up like a franchise location where the cafe sold coffee to Delaware North, who used the Café Kubal brand, signage and recipes.

Delaware North had to move everything out of the airport cafe since they purchased all the equipment, Godard said, adding that replacing Café Kubal with Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t align with what the Airport Authority seemed to support.

“It’s disappointing because the Airport Authority seemed to want to encourage our local business in Syracuse,” he said. “To replace the kiosk with a non-local brand seemed to go against what they said.”

A secretary for the Syracuse Commissioner of Aviation Christina Callahan said the office was “not doing anymore interviews on that topic.”

Now, Godard said two of the new locations in the airport are before entering security and one is near the Jet Blue concourse. The locations will start operating soon, he said.

“It’s a significant downgrade because we’re out of that prime location,” Godard said.

Despite the setback, Godard said there has been a strong outpouring of support from customers and the community. As a result, he said there will be three kiosks where customers can get self-serve coffee made with the same equipment as at other Café Kubal locations.

Students who frequented the airport location said they were disappointed that Café Kubal was being replaced.

“I’m from California so I fly in and out pretty often and I never got coffee at the airport until there was a Kubal there,” said Maya Kramer, a senior political science major.

Phil Porter, a freshman international relations major, added that he stopped by the airport location every time he was traveling there and liked the cafe’s central location. He said he was disappointed Dunkin’ Donuts was replacing Café Kubal because he believes Café Kubal makes a better cup of coffee.

The widespread support for Café Kubal was evident outside the airport as well after the Hancock location shut down.

“(Monday) we actually had our busiest day at our downtown cafe since we opened,” Godard said.

Godard called the support “really strong” and “unbelievable,” and added that the business has a few projects on the horizon for the future, including launching a new shopping site that will eventually include the ability to subscribe for coffee delivery, as well as looking into one or two locations in Syracuse to expand into.

Regardless of future plans, Godard said he appreciates all the encouragement community members have shown the cafe.

“I just think it says a lot about the quality of people when they stood by us and supported us in our awkward moment,” he said. “The support has been just very heartwarming as a business person in the area.”

Published on April 2, 2014 at 1:59 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27