Can you smell that? La Farm bakery is making bread and pastries inside RDU
Lionel Vatinet hopes someday you’ll be able to smell his new La Farm Bakery and Cafe even before you can see it, at the bottom of the escalators in Terminal 2 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
But for now the aroma of fresh bread and pastries must penetrate the masks that people are still required to wear in airports to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Vatinet sighs and acknowledges that people aren’t yet getting the full effect of his bakery’s ovens.
“When the masks come off, people will have more sense, wonderful sense of the smell,” the master baker said in the thick accent of his native French. “It’s going to be different.”
The masks are just one challenge that the COVID-19 pandemic posed to La Farm at RDU. The Cary bakery, known for its crusty bread and white chocolate mini baguettes, was scheduled to open a year ago, just as the pandemic decimated the airline industry and emptied airports.
Now with travelers coming back, La Farm opened last month, becoming what RDU president Michael Landguth calls the airport’s “flagship restaurant.” Landguth, Vatinet and dozens of others held a bread-cutting ceremony on Thursday to celebrate.
“As the Research Triangle community returns to air travel, we hope La Farm’s new presence is a welcome surprise for those who have not flown for some time,” Landguth said.
Mercedes Andreacchi of Fuquay-Varina was pleasantly surprised to see La Farm as she prepared to board a flight to Tampa on Thursday. Andreacchi is a regular at La Farm’s pop-up shop in Fuquay-Varina.
“I messaged my wife, and I was like, ‘They opened a place at the airport,’” she said. “We’re pretty devout. We go and get a loaf of bread every week.”
After sending the text, Andreacchi bought two of La Farm’s white chocolate baguettes to take to her parents in Florida.
RDU wants more local offerings
The opening of La Farm reflects a larger desire by RDU to feature local restaurants and retailers in its terminals. The bakery, which features locally grown and milled grains, replaces Brighton, a national boutique for women whose lease had expired.
But that effort was set back by the pandemic, which has left several dark and shuttered retail spaces in the terminals, including the former Bond Brothers Brewery, a restaurant that offered beer made by the Cary-based brewing company. The 42nd Street Oyster Bar, an RDU branch of the venerable downtown Raleigh restaurant, is expected to close soon as well.
Passenger traffic has rebounded faster than industry officials expected six months ago but remains below pre-pandemic levels. About 887,000 passengers flew in and out of RDU in June, about 33% fewer than the same month in 2019, Landguth said.
Labor is another challenge. Like retailers elsewhere, La Farm and its operating partner at RDU, the Mexico-based airport concession company MERA, have had trouble finding enough workers to staff the new airport cafe. Vatinet said he’d like the cafe to be open as long as flights are departing and arriving, but for now only has staff for 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Reduced staff and hours have also limited the menu initially. In addition to breads and pastries, La Farm is serving coffee, sandwiches and all-day breakfast items, including another signature dish, the Croque Madame, made with ham, gruyere and mozzarella on toasted sourdough bread topped with Mornay sauce and a fried egg.
In the coming months, as its hours expand, the cafe will introduce burgers and other bistro items and open La Farm’s first full-service bar. It will be called La Bar.
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
