Surdyk's Flights landing at MSP Airport

Shea has designed the interior of the space, as well as aided owner Jim Surdyk in working with the various regulatory bodies involved in bringing this concept to life. Twin Cities Business writer Christa Meland looks further in-depth on the groundbreaking new business.

First Wine Bar to Land at Mpls.-St. Paul Airport

"Surdyk's Flights" will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it will sell wine by the glass and by the bottle.

January 2010 by Christa Meland

A wine bar will soon land at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Called “Surdyk’s Flights,” the airport’s first-ever wine bar is scheduled to open its doors to customers in May, although construction will begin next month, said Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) spokesman Patrick Hogan.

The establishment will occupy a 955-square-foot space now occupied by Let’s Play at the north end of the airport mall near the second security checkpoint; an additional 300 square feet of seating space will accommodate customers in the mall area directly outside the wine bar.

“People can sit out in the middle of the mall as they get a bite to eat and do some people watching,” Hogan said.

The wine bar will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it will sell wine by the glass and by the bottle. Because it’s located inside of the airport’s security checkpoints, customers will be able to bring their wine on the plane.

With more than 34 million passengers per year, the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is one of the nation’s busiest. Hogan said that MAC—which serves as a landlord for all airport tenants—has been interested in adding a wine bar there for some time.

“There are wine bars in a few other airports and they’ve done quite well,” Hogan explained. He said that MAC looked at both national and local wine companies as potential tenants before deciding on Surdyk’s, which made the most sense for two reasons—it gives a feel that’s unique to the Twin Cities and it offered the best deal financially.

Surdyk’s will pay MAC $120,000 per year in rent plus 12 percent of its annual sales.

Surdyk’s Liquor Store and Gourmet Cheese Shop, in business since 1934, operates a large store at the intersection of East Hennepin Avenue and University Avenue Southeast.