- June 22, 2026
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Being a destination airport, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport has something of a captive audience once inside the security checkpoints.
Whatever the dining and drinking options, then, hungry and thirsty passengers waiting to board their flights will consume on the fly whatever is available to them. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be really good, right?
Wrong, said SRQ President and CEO Paul Hoback, whose team coordinated with its two new master concessionaires — SSP America and Paradies Lagardére — on June 16 to showcase the new restaurant and bar offerings at both Concourses A and B to a gathering of invited Sarasota and Manatee county stakeholders.
Rather, Hoback said he believes a vacation should start when disembarking the plane, and it shouldn’t end immediately after walking through the TSA metal detectors.
“I think it's so important for us to offer that sense of place, that sense of community so that your vacation begins as soon as you walk off that airplane and you get to enjoy the sights and the sounds of the Sarasota-Bradenton region right here at the airport," Hoback said. "That's whether it's retail, whether it's food and beverage, whether it's our waterfall, the manatee, the Mote Aquarium, even a steel drum band."
To the latter, a steel drum musician backed by pre-recorded tracks supplied the holiday vibe from a corner of the entry lobby of the new Concourse A where the new vendors — joined by the venerable holdover Jimmy John’s — lined the walls with samples of some of their signature fare.
Among them was local favorite Mattison’s, with chef and owner Paul Mattison himself present. As per the standard business model, he doesn’t own the airport location. Instead the concessionaire operates the restaurant and bar under a licensing agreement.
“It's been a great partnership,” Mattison said. “It's my brand, it's my recipes, but it’s their execution. It’s their company that's running the operation, and I will say they run the operation as well or better than I do.”
Mattison’s is joined in the concourses by other local brands Anna Maria Oyster Bar and Patricks in Concourse A, and Motorworks Brewing in Concourse B. New national brands added to Concourse B are Wahlburgers and chicken tender purveyor Huey Magoo’s, joining holdovers Jimmy John’s and Starbucks. Also in Concourse B are The Salty Key Bar and The Shoppes at Siesta Key, the latter featuring packaged items from Morton’s Gourmet Market of Sarasota.
The initiative to upgrade the concessions at SRQ began under the leadership of retired SRQ President and CEO Rick Piccolo. Mattison recalls the previous offerings under former concessionaire Host Marriott as mundane, which left him skeptical when he was first approached by Paradies Lagardére.
“I couldn’t imagine coming into any airport, let alone that airport,” Mattison said. “There was that one restaurant at the top of the escalator. It's never been very good, and nobody ever eats there. There’s no way that's going to be profitable. But when I was approached by a concessionaire that does airports all over the world, and they invited me to partner with them. it was really an honor.
“They could have picked anyone in the community.”
Each contract with the two new concessionaires runs for 12 years. Airport officials had recognized the need to upgrade its offerings to match the rapid growth in passenger traffic since 2019 — it surpassed 4.5 million passengers in 2025 — before the new contracts were put out to bid.
The Host Marriott contract expiration coincided with the timing of opening Concourse A in January 2025, providing the opportunity to bring aboard two of the largest such operators in the world.
“The reason we go to master concessionaires is then we have one entity to deal with, and in this case, we have two,” Piccolo previously told the Observer. “If there's an issue, we only deal with the master concessionaire, not with every little entity, so it's much more efficient for us from that standpoint.”
Total investment in Concourse B and in the pre-security checkpoint on the second level, which features Suncoast Trading and Bar, was upwards of $16 million — all covered by the concessionaires.
Hoback said his team is now turning its attention toward enhancing the ambience of the airport with an emphasis on art and live entertainment. A fan of steel drum music, passengers may hear more of the genre in various locations of the terminal.
“We need more of that personality coming to life and bringing our terminal to life so that this is not just a point along someone's travel destination, but is a destination in and of itself,” Hoback said. “If you wait 10 or 15 minutes at baggage clam or at the security checkpoint, to be able to enjoy that this type of music can be a game changer for somebody.”
