You won't believe how much dough airport eateries earn

• Harry %26 Izzy%27s is the top-selling local eatery at the airport%2C with %242.9 million last year.
• Shapiro%27s sells 200 pounds of meat a day at its airport restaurant.
• Myriad airport rules make partnerships with experts necessary.

Top concessions at Indianapolis International Airport

1. Champps Americana

2014 $3,214,672 2013 3,168,361

2. Harry & Izzy's

2014 $2,920,391 2013 $2,585,756

3. Wolfgang Puck

2014 $2,548,853 2013 $1,926,433

4. McDonald's

2014 $1,899,858 2013 $2,016,269

5. CNBC(Concourse A)

2014 $1,551,383 2013 $1,421,529

6. Granite City

2014 $1,721,292 2013 $1,668,145

7. Starbucks(Concourse B)

2014 $1,329,079 2013 $1,072,717

8. Shapiro's

2014 $1,242,230 2013 $900,811

9. Qdoba

2014 $1,214,089 2013 $1,222,380

10. CNBC(Concourse A)

2014 $1,209,565 2013 $811,012

11. Starbucks(Concourse A)

2014 $1,099,186 2013 $999,451

Money to be made at the airport

Shapiro's pastrami at Indianapolis International Airport needs to pass more than just the taste test.

Each day, in an underground tunnel, it also gets the eye test from the Transportation Security Administration.

Only then can the carts with 200 pounds of deli meat be wheeled from the main airport plaza to the delicatessen behind security in Concourse B.

It's just one of several differences to which airport restaurant operators have to adapt.

Not that anyone's complaining; there's too much money to be made for that.

Food sales are booming at the airport, generating 62 percent of its $40 million in concessions sales last year. Many of the top-selling restaurants increased sales by more than 10 percent over the previous year. Nationwide, travelers spend about $500 million on food at airport and $1.5 billion on all concessions, according to the Airports Council International–North America.

And the food isn't the nameless, faceless, hospital-type fare of years past. Almost every vendor in airports now is a national franchise or, increasingly, a favorite of the local city.

That's especially true in Indianapolis.

"Our goal, and you're going to see more of this in the future, is that when you are in Indianapolis you have a sense of place, you know where you are," said Mario Rodriguez, executive director of the Indianapolis airport. "Having local restaurants is integral."

Of the airport's 19 food vendors, seven are locally owned and two of those are among the top-selling concessions at the airport.

Harry & Izzy's grossed $2.9 million dollars in 2014 and was the second-highest-grossing concession. Shapiro's collected $1.2 million and was ranked eighth.

The top-selling restaurant was Champps Americana, with $3.2 million in sales in 2014.

And before one gets the idea that those revenues were boosted by exorbitant airport pricing, they should know that the Indianapolis airport prevents restaurants from charging more than their street-side locations.

Small spaces, smaller menus

The restaurants that make the most sales are those with sit-down food and liquor, though most are scaled-down versions of their city locations.

Harry & Izzy's has a a cozy airport spot with a full-service bar, about 15 tables and large windows views onto the airfield at the end of Concourse A.

Chris Clifford, vice president of operations for St. Elmo's and Harry & Izzy's, said everything is smaller at the airport and the restaurant needs to adjust accordingly.

"The kitchen is about 20 percent of the size of our downtown location," Clifford said. "We are limited to what we can sell."

That means the big steak entrees, like the 20 oz. rib eye, are out, replaced by lunch portions and smaller plates, like the 6 oz. filet mignon. Pizza choices and salads are limited because there isn't the counter or storage space for the ingredients needed for a wider selection.

It also means sliders and steak burgers are king — along with the world-famous shrimp cocktail in horseradish sauce.

"Our best sellers," Clifford said.

It's not just the menu that's different, the expectations of the customers also are. Cooks at airport restaurants are usually trained to get an entree out of the kitchen in 10 to 12 minutes.

"Someone could have 20 minutes before their flight boards or they can have a four-hour layover," Clifford said. "The first thing our hosts do is ask everyone their time situation."

The hours are also usually different because the biggest rush is early morning when travelers are hopping flights so Harry & Izzy's introduced a breakfast menu with fruit cups, a steak and egg wrap, sausage, egg and cheese sliders, and roasted potatoes.

'Everyone's in a hurry'

Brian Shapiro, owner of Shapiro's Delicatessen, said many restaurants use a large, common kitchen in the main plaza to cook, then roll the prepared food through security. Though the food goes through the secret tunnel, the cooks have to go through another entrance

"It's not ideal to be moving the food, but that's the way it's done," Shapiro said.

Shapiro's airport space is 750 square feet, a fraction of his sprawling deli on McCarty Street, and his sandwiches are limited to corned beef, pastrami, turkey and tuna salad.

He said he sells about 600 sandwiches a day, about 10 percent of what he does downtown and a lot of his sandwiches are to go.

"Everybody's in a hurry," said Shapiro, whose busiest rush is from 5:30 to 8 a.m. "A lot of people are taking sandwiches on the flights and making the whole plane smell like a deli. Which is all right with me. Other people who are returning to Indianapolis will buy a sandwich to have for dinner when they get home because they don't want to go out or stop somewhere"

Shapiro said though the deli is profitable, he also benefits from increased name recognition. After all, 7 million passengers pass through the airport every year and many of them see his shop.

"It definitely pays off," he said. "I've had people come downtown because they said they found out about me at the airport and wanted to try some of the other things we have on the full menu."

Landside vs. Airside

The business strategy for airport restaurants has changed dramatically since security was tightened in the wake of of Sept. 11, 2001, changed not only air travel but also strategy for airport restaurants.

Passengers often have more time to wait at the airport after clearing security. Consequently, a lot of restaurants wanted to move from airport plaza areas (known as "landside") to the concourses behind the security checkpoints ("airside") because that's where the passengers were stuck.

"Generally, the first thing passengers started doing was going straight to security to get through that and get it over with," said Frank Sicklesmith, a vice president for HMSHost, a concession firm that partners with businesses at airports. "Then they find their gate and explore backward from there."

As a result, the most lucrative sports are airside. In Indianapolis, only two of the top 10 concessions are in the Civic Plaza — McDonalds, at No.4, and Qdoba, at No. 9.

"You'll find most of the people who eat landside are airport employees and 'meeters and greeters' who are seeing off friends or family or waiting for them to arrive," Sicklesmith said.

Another shift in retail practices came after two dozen terrorism suspects were arrested in 2006 in an alleged plot to blow up airplanes with smuggled liquid explosives.

Airline security officials began limiting liquids that could be brought past security to 3.4 ounces. Passengers now have to buy bottled water or soda after they pass the security checkpoint. That has sent beverage sales post-security, soaring.

"Airports now have these self-serve kiosks for beverages and some of them bring in $2 to $3 million a year," Sicklesmith said.

Navigating the system

Sicklesmith's company HMSHost and others like it play an integral role in airport concessions. They are the fixer or the middleman any business owner would be lost without. They usually go into 50-50 partnerships with the businesses and provide all the employees, who are trained by the restaurants.

The airport charges the restaurants a flat lease fee and collects that or a percent of the profits at the end of the year, whichever is greater.

"It's a lot more complicated to do business at an airport than it is on the street," Sicklesmith said. "There are fees, and logistics and federal regulations, hiring requirements and an expansive union environment that these owners aren't used to."

At Indianapolis HMSHost is in partnership locally with King David Dogs, 96th Street Steakburgers, and also with Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express and two Starbucks, nationally.

Sicklesmith said airports are a "a great billboard" for businesses. "It can be a great place to get a brand started," he said.

For example, his company partnered with Starbucks in 1991 to open the coffee house's first airport shop, in Seattle. Starbucks had 116 stores then. Five years later it had 1,115 and now is in 75 airports.

Phil Wright, 48, and Miguel Ibanez, 49, both live and work outside Atlanta, Ga., but come to Indianapolis often for business. Harry & Izzy's is near their gate and they seldom fail to stop there.

Ibanez, eating a burger, said the pair sometimes comes to the airport early to give themselves time to eat.

"We don't get a lot of time to see Indianapolis when we are here working, so this is it," Ibanez said.

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.