One of Pennsylvania’s most prominent brands now has a branded restaurant at Harrisburg International Airport.
The Yuengling 1829 Bar & Grill has opened at the airport in Lower Swatara Township. The restaurant opened this summer, and on Friday afternoon, airport officials held a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The restaurant’s menu includes burgers, chicken sandwiches, a grilled cheese sandwich, salads, wings, salmon, and steak, among other items. The restaurant’s breakfast menu includes omelettes and a couple of other options. Breakfast is available until 9:30 a.m.
The bar also offers a selection of beer, cocktails, mocktails, and wine.
Beer on tap selections include Yuengling Traditional Lager, Yuengling Light Lager, Flight by Yuengling, Yuengling Golden Pilsner and Yuengling Black & Tan, among other options. The bar also offers a Yuengling limited-release beer daily.
The name of the restaurant includes the year, 1829, which is the year Yuengling was founded.
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, which is home to the beer company, is written prominently on a brick wall inside the restaurant below pictures of Yuengling beer. The location has a bar as well as restaurant seating.
On one side of the restaurant is a window looking out on the TSA checkpoint, which every customer must go through before entering the restaurant.
That’s because the restaurant is located right past the secure checkpoint, meaning only ticketed passengers can eat at the bar.
The fact that the restaurant is on the secure side of the airport is strategic.
Scott Miller, deputy director of marketing and public relations at HIA, says that when people travel, they want to get to the airport and hurry through security. At that point, after they have made it into the airport, checked in their bags, and gone through security, they have time to eat.
Miller said when the building opened several years ago, the original concept was opened on the public side. After the previous concept, Philips Seafood opened, the location was switched to the secure side.
“We were watching patterns and realized people weren’t eating,” he said. “We closed off [the public] side. That’s when sales tripled.”
Miller said that when the airport announced on social media in July that the Yuengling concept was coming to the HIA, it was its second most popular post ever, following the Blue Angels airshow it hosted earlier this year.
Timothy Edwards, executive director of Harrisburg International Airport, said the response has been overwhelming.
“We’ve been excited about today for a very long time,” he said.
The concept has been an idea for several years. Pete Moquin, a sales director for Yuengling, said he first got a call about the idea about four years ago. He said he brought the idea to the Yuengling family.
“They were excited to have something so close to the brewery in Pottsville,” he said.
Pottsville is about 60 miles from HIA.
HMSHost, which owns about 1,000 restaurants at around 80 airports in the United States and Canada, is the owner and operator of Yuengling 1829 Bar & Grill. HMSHost has an agreement with Yuengling to use the brand name.
Brett Kelly called the partnership with Yuengling “a no-brainer.”
“We’re always on the lookout for local brands that we can put in airports because they’re incredibly productive and they bring something special, and that’s what we’re after. This came about because we’re constantly on that search,” he said.
Yuengling gifts are also available for sale at the bar. Items include t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, 16-ounce glasses, and Kanga Coolers.
In addition to Yuengling 1829 Bar & Grill, the airport also owns and operates four other restaurants at HIA, including Crafted, Starbucks, Great American Bagel, and Capital Café, which is closed for renovations and will reopen next month.