The Riverton City Council approved a lease agreement this week for a new restaurant at Central Wyoming Regional Airport.
The Rise and Shine Airport Café will occupy restaurant space at the airport that “has been sitting unoccupied since 2020,” staff said in a memo to the council this week.
“It has been sitting vacant for several years,” Airport Division Manager Bruce Ransom said. “So we’re really excited to be able to get that back open. … It’s definitely needed, and I think the travelers would really appreciate it.”
Staff said local resident Teresa Cross, who will be the owner of the Rise and Shine Café, contacted them in March about the possibility of leasing the airport restaurant area to operate “a family style diner and gourmet coffee shop.”
“Teresa Cross has decades of experience in the restaurant business as an owner and trainer for local establishments,” staff said. “With that experience and connections in the industry (she) has a firm foundation on what it takes to establish this business.”
Cross said she plans to sell “American cuisine” at the restaurant, including bacon, eggs, hash browns, corned beef hash, chicken fried steaks and “giant cinnamon rolls.”
“We’re going to have a lot of fun,” she told the council this week. “We’re really excited. (We’ll) try to take it back to what it used to be when I was younger.”
Mayor Tim Hancock said he remembered the era she was referring to, when the airport café was “famous” for its cinnamon rolls.
“I think it’s going to be famous for the cinnamon rolls again,” Cross said. “We have huge ones.”
The Rise and Shine Airport Café will be open 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, the staff memo states.
Cross will also operate a mobile serving cart in the post-screening area of the airport that will offer a “limited variety” of pre-prepared hot items, baked goods, and specialty drinks, staff said, noting that “the ability to be able to provide hot food items pre- and post-screening will provide a greatly increased customer experience for the traveling public.”
“This will be particularly impactful when the flights are delayed for hours with no food options,” staff said. “In addition, the restaurant will be a valuable option to the community at large with adding more dining choices for the city and thus more sales tax revenue.”
For more information, call the City of Riverton at 856-2227.