Hi, I am Jason Johnson, the founder and CEO of Flytes— we transform previously single-purpose airport spaces into multi-brand dining hubs. Hosting some of the biggest names in our industry:

As a former chef and restaurant operator, it was hard to ignore how awful the airport dining experience has become for travelers. So I used my expertise to fix it.

The Problem: brands struggle in airports, and customers feel it

Airport vendors are struggling under economic pressure and sacrificing the customer experience to keep up. Inflation and supply-chain friction have caused restaurants to reduce their menu offerings drastically. Furthermore, labor shortages have made it difficult to keep enough staff on-site to operate.

The result is what travelers feel today: long lines, unsatisfactory service, and uninspiring menu variety.

Solution:

By combining multiple brands into one kitchen, Flytes is able to provide the customer with variety and access to the brands they know and love. We are able to train one kitchen staff to support the trade expertise of up to 16 brands simultaneously. The result is an expansive menu, all in one place.

Our operations are powered by technology, helping us handle a higher volume of customers, faster. 

1. Order via kiosk or on your phone, View Menu (food & drink options dynamically change based on time of day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner options) Open 4am EST to 30 minutes after last departure, but feel free to explore.
2. Peruse the airport at your leisure: You receive a text when you order is ready.
3. Pick up your freshly prepared order from a secure locker using the code sent to your cell.

Let me have Bobby Flay show you how this works at our getReef proof of concept location in RDU International Airport.

• Kiosk OR Mobile ordering: Customers can discover as they pass by, or can pre-order through our web app. 
• Kitchens: Different foods, require different preparation times. To keep food fresh and finishing around the same time, the software tells the cooking team when to start prep for the various multiple food & drink brand options in the same order so the food & drink comes out fresh ex. French fries, burger, pizza, dumplings, and smoothie in the same order will all finish around the same time to keep food & drink fresh 
• Service: Locker system enabling one process for both mobile and kiosk orders. 

While technology is a necessary component of streamlining our operations, we still leverage third-party hardware and software. This is a strategic move as:

1. Point of Sale and operational software is somewhat commoditized and thus developing it ourselves would not contribute to “building a moat.”
2. We have an exclusive agreement with the largest ghost kitchen operator in the world. They provided us an exclusive over airports so no other party can use their technology to serve more than 1 brand in 1 space with their tech.

Traction:

We currently have one profitable location in Raleigh- Durham International airport. This funding round will go towards our expansion into Cincinnati (CVG) which is targeted to open in 2025. We also have secured term sheets for 2 locations in Nashville (BNA) (which are on track to open in 2025), the Pentagon, and 30th Street Train Station in Philly.

There are several others in the pipeline.

However, acquiring airport real estate is no easy task. Luckily, we have two advantages: our Local Business program and being an ACDBE-certified business. 

1 - Our local businesses program is simple: we commit 20-30% of our menu to local businesses.

Airports love this.

It’s also one of the primary requirements in every proposal we’ve been invited to submit. Our ability to put a local brand side by side with a national brand not only brings tremendous exposure and credibility to the local brand, it’s also a key for why we’re winning proposals from airports. I love it, because elevating up and coming local brands on a national and global scale was a core pillar of why I originally started HUBB Kitchens which led to Flytes.

2- ACDBE (Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise), is a program run by the Department of Transportation, where participation qualifies the airport for critical federal funding opportunities. Our ACDBE certification means that 100% of our revenue contributes to an airport’s revenue quota as a qualifying KPI for the program.  

And our food halls produce a lot of revenue. 

Most restaurant investors will be familiar with the 30-30-30-10 breakup: 30% for labor costs, 30% for food costs, 30% for overhead, and 10% for Net Profit.

However, we’ve been able to increase our Net Profit in Raleigh-Durham International Airport to an average of 21% since Jan 2024, as opposed to the industry standard of 10%. This is in part due to the following factors:

• airport rent is priced as a revenue-share variable, as opposed to a fixed monthly number, and we were able to negotiate our rate down, and
• we require less staff on average than a similar kitchen for a single brand operation.

Market

The global airport food and beverage is a massive market:

• $552B spent annually by airline passengers on food and beverage
• Average annual travel spend/person: $146
• $106M = average airport annual food, beverage, and retail sales

A significant aspect of this market is that the audience is captive. Because of this, we are able to charge, on average, 15% more than outside of the airport for the same items. 

While airports love this, at the end of the day, growing nationally and globally depends on food/beverage brands and the end customers (passengers) loving us. Here's what a couple had to say.

And we're great for local brands.

Local brands menu items are placed side by side with national brands which increases the likelihood local will be purchased. Twenty to 30% of the number of brands in our hubs are local. This has 3 major impacts:

1. It keeps money in the local economy, benefitting those business owners, their employees, and their community.
2. Many travelers want to experience local. The majority of the airport bids we've won and are bidding on require local as part of the proposal. Due to our model, we're easily able to license local brand menus requested.
3. It also provides local brands a chance for growth they wouldn't have access to on their own. In addition to being featured in the airport, we're already seeing this growth opportunity play out for one local brand in particular we placed in RDU International. That brand was requested to be part of another airport's bid --- effectively growing them from a local to regional brand.

Feeding those most underserved

Lastly, we (JJ&Co) are already feeding high quality food to 10's of thousands of less fortunate men, women, and children in Wake County through the non-profit, Now Serving. We plan to expand this fundamental part of our business model as we grow.

When passengers purchase select menu items, we'll contribute a portion of top line revenue to Now Serving and similar groups in the different airports we're winning. With millions of passengers ordering from Flytes yearly, imagine the direct impact of feeding those in need in each of those locations!

When you eat at Flytes, you enable someone else to eat. It's that simple.

This is more than charity for me. Based on where I grew up and the system I was born into, I've been malnourished for long periods before. I've had to dumpster dive for food in my past. No child should have to ever experience that in one of the most prosperous countries on the planet.

So by intrinsically binding 1. our commitment to local and 2. give back to those feeding the hungry into our model, as we grow, we have a scaling impact on local communities from the most in need, to the growing small business owner --- all starting with the busy traveler who just wants a high quality meal where they don't have to wait in a line.

Org investment structure + Ask

J. Johnson & Company L.L.C. is the parent company which owns the Flytes name, trademark, and technology exclusive rights. (Note: Paperwork has been filed to elect C-Corp tax filing status in 2024 and it's our plan to convert to a C-Corp as well). 

We plan to continue to set up subsidiaries for each location for liability protection. We also plan for these future locations beyond CVG to be owned by the joint venture we have with Jeffery Keys and Adrian Beard’s companies who collectively have 32 years of airport concessions experience under their belts.

While this seems like a move that reduces our profit split on the food / beverage sales side of our businesses, this path allows us to keep a consistent team, maintain quality across all operations, and move more quickly versus if we had to find & hire different operational partners for each location.

Note: Even with this, you are investing in J. Johnson & Company L.L.C. which owns the rights to Flytes name, trademark, and other IP and licenses it to the joint venture.