Two Queens restaurant owners celebrated the fifth anniversary of their restaurant located at JFK Airport.
Michael Duncan and Annette Runice celebrated the anniversary of the J&P Runway Cafe during National Small Business Week on May 8th. They were joined by the Queens Borough President and other elected officials to mark the major milestone.
Duncan owns and operates the Jamaica Breeze restaurant chain, Queens-based self-serve buffet-style restaurants serving popular Jamaican breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes. Runice is the franchisee owner of a Golden Krust restaurant located in Queens Village and a standalone restaurant, Pa-Nash Restaurant in Rosedale.
Located in the on-site employee cafeteria inside JFK’s Building 14, J&P Runway Cafe caters to a large audience of airport workers. Cafe offerings include authentic Caribbean food, brick-oven pizza, pasta, and freshly grilled dishes.
The minority-and-woman-owned-business(MWBE) was chosen to operate the cafeteria in 2020 following a competitive concessions selection process led by the PANYJ. “Annette and her partner, Michael, really stood out,” said Hersh Parekh, deputy chief of intergovernmental affairs for PANYNJ. “They submitted the strongest bid. They had the best response, the best concept, the best venue, the best staffing plan, the best pricing, and so forth.”
Runice reflected on the past five years, saying that she and her business partner were proud of J&P Runway Cafe’s success despite the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duo had received news that they won the permit to operate the restaurant in early 2020, right before the pandemic started. Runice credits the survival of J&P Runway Cafe to the collaboration between her and Duncan. “ If it were just me alone, although I have prior businesses, I don’t think I would’ve been able to make it through. With this collaboration with Mike Duncan and his background and experience, both of us together, we were able to sail all the rough seas, and be here five years later,” she said.
One of the biggest hurdles the restaurant faced was the loss of customers, as nearly half of the 600-800 Port Authority workers who visited the cafe were no longer working in person during the height of the pandemic. Runice said she and her business partner leaned on their existing customer bases from their other restaurants to help get them through the unsteady time. “ So that’s why we have to celebrate five years. Just being able to stay alive and afloat was a challenge,” she said.
Runice said she was inspired to bid for the restaurant opportunity, to show other Southeast Queens business owners that they can successfully operate in JFK Airport.“ Both of us are immigrants from Jamaica, and we are now US citizens. We wanted to bring some diversity to the menu and it’s been well embraced,” she said. “They really love the Caribbean flavor, and we just have a diverse menu here,” she said. “ A lot of the workers are Caribbean. I would say you’re talking about maybe 70% of the workers…so I guess that’s why, you know, the sales of the Caribbean food are highest,” Runice added.
Parekh added that the success of J&P Runway Cafe is just one example of PANYNJ’s commitment to expanding the pool of qualified and capable MWBEs at JFK. He added that having businesses owned by Queens residents helps showcase the unique food culture of Queens and beyond.
”We want people to know that when you come to JFK, you’re in New York, you’re in Queens, you’re in Southeast Queens,” he said. “We have to make sure that the food that is served, the products that are sold, you know, at the administrative building, for example, or even at the terminals or elsewhere at the airport, we reflect that very unique New York sense of place.”
“ We encourage all businesses, large and small, to reach out to us, to work with us, and see how they can become part of the work we are doing across the region,” Parekh added.
