Lying dormant and without an owner for seven months, the café at Broken Hill Airport is finally back in business! Christy-Lee Kooyman officially opened The Landing Zone just over two weeks ago and is already benefiting from the patronage of locals and travellers alike.
Having been in the industry for most of her life, the born-and-bred local is no stranger to the trade, even spending 10 years working in hospitality in Adelaide. Through always having a thing for food, her motto for purchasing the space and opening The Landing Zone was ‘why not?’.
“It has been really good, it really has. We’ve had a lot of locals come out already, which is good. Obviously, we get the flights. Some days are busier than others, but everyone seems positive about us being open out here, which is good,” she told the Barrier Truth.
“You’ve got the staff, you’ve got RFDS, you’ve got Clive Bishop, so it’s not only [the locals], but you’ve also got all those workers as well. I think that’s a big thing for them too. They love that they can just come out here now and grab something to eat, they don’t have to drive all the way back into town to grab stuff, which is probably a good thing.
“[But] it is good for the locals. They love coming for a drive out here to sit and have a coffee and something to eat. It’s good for people that live out in the South too. And with a few other businesses shutting, I think it’s handy to have somewhere else open now. I think it was important to have something out here.”
Offering made-to-order breakfast and lunch, as well as coffees, cakes, donuts, and a cabinet full of sandwiches, Turkish rolls, wraps, pies, and sausage rolls, The Landing Zone is open Monday-Friday from 7am-3pm.
