Chickenburger officially opens Halifax airport location

Chickenburger owner and CEO Mickey MacDonald with his son and manager, Colin, Friday morning at the Chicken Burger’s Stanfield International Airport location official opening.

Music from the 1950s could be heard above the din of travelers in the main lobby at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Friday morning. The Chicken burger, an iconic ’50s-inspired Bedford diner that launched in 1940, officially opened its first franchise on Friday, several weeks after it began operating at the airport.

“We had ambitions for it, and it’s been even busier, keeping in mind that we have thousands of people who work here every day,” said Peter Spurway, the vice-president of concession development for the airport. “So it’s great that we have that offering for them, too.”

The opening was a long time coming. It was three years ago that Spurway first approached Chickenburger owner Mickey MacDonald with the idea of opening a franchise at the airport.

MacDonald said he was already considering expansion when he got the call from Spurway.

Negotiations ensued and a franchise agreement was eventually signed with HMSHost, the food and beverage concessionaire at the airport. “They wanted something at the airport that people travelling from around the world can come to and represents Halifax and I think that Chickenburger really does that,” said MacDonald, who bought the original Bedford diner in 2007. “People actually know the Chickenburger from all over the world; there are people that always come back to Chickenburger yearly, or whenever they’re in Halifax. They come in and say..... ‘Whenever I come back to Halifax, I always have to go to Chicken burger.’.”

The airport takes into account the variety of any potential new store’s offering and if the outlet would create a “Nova Scotia sense of place,” Spurway said. “We want people, when they land here, to know that they’re in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,” he said. “And we also want it to help reflect our community, and to do that through an iconic restaurant like the Chickenburger was a natural.” Spurway said two other local businesses — a retail outfit and a food and beverage company — could be coming to the airport soon. “We will continue to look for opportunities to reflect Halifax through the shops and through the restaurants as we go forward,” he said.

For MacDonald, opening the first Chickenburger franchise was particularly sweet, considering how close the legendary diner came to closing in 2007 before he bought it. “There were rumours around that there were people looking at it that were going to buy it, rip it down and put up a hotel there,” he recalled. “So I went after it and I wanted to keep it.” And now he wants to keep the momentum going — he’s looking at expanding further. “We’re working on another location down at Queen Street in Halifax, and then after that we’ll see how it goes.”

SOURCE: TheChronicleHerald.ca