Brandon Cruz and his fiancée, Ashley Thomson, used to eat at the diner at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport. This spring they were parked at that same spot in their own breakfast truck, The Griddle Kings, finishing their first day of business. "It went pretty well," Cruz told Spectrum News in late May. "We got a good crowd in today."
That truck is part of The Hangar Food Truck Park, the outdoor court that replaced the airport's long-running café in 2026. If you've been, you know the setup: covered tables, a patio, a few trucks, and planes taking off in front of you. Here's the part that matters this month. The Hangar was approved as a year-round food court, but its first season has run entirely outdoors. Whether it keeps serving through a Sanford winter depends on an indoor room the operator has first claim to but doesn't lease yet.
How the airport went from a diner to a truck court
The airport didn't have a place to eat for most of last winter. Pilots Cove Café, which followed the earlier Cockpit Cafe, closed in November 2025. Its owner told Sanford Springvale News that an FAA crackdown banning live music at the airport made the business unworkable. Spectrum News reported that the closure left several hundred pilots, student pilots, and flight instructors with nowhere to eat on the airfield.
The city put the space out to bid. The winner was Parker Montano, a pilot whose company, Pine Tree Helicopters, has run tours and flight training at the airport for about five years. Montano told Spectrum News why he saw a business in it: "One thing everyone should know about pilots is they will fly wherever as long as they have a restaurant."
He also wanted to draw people from outside the airport. He pointed to Congdon's After Dark, the seasonal food truck park on Route 1 in Wells, as the kind of success he'd like to have in Sanford.
What the city actually signed off on
On March 17, 2026, the Sanford City Council unanimously approved a five-year lease for the court. Sanford Springvale News described the project as a year-round food truck court. Here's what the lease covers, according to that report:
- Space: the patio and pavilion, four food truck parking spaces, and a storage area
- Rent: a monthly payment to the city plus a small percentage of the operation's gross revenues
- Utilities: separate service for The Hangar, with 50-amp hookups for the trucks
- Restrooms: portable toilets for vendors and customers until an indoor expansion happens
- Room to grow: more trucks could be added if the airport stops using Gate 4
- Indoor space: right of first refusal on the former Pilots Cove Café room once it becomes available
At that same meeting, Airport Manager Allison Navia said the top priority was breakfast six days a week starting at 7 a.m., with lunch and dinner to follow. She also mentioned possible special events like movie nights, classic car roll-ins, and charity fundraisers, each needing prior approval. Treat those as March plans, not a confirmed schedule.
The court opened at the end of April, and the official grand opening came over Memorial Day weekend. The celebration on Saturday, May 23 ran from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a pilot fly-in and $30 helicopter rides on a first-come, first-served basis. "I was over the moon on Saturday," Montano told Spectrum News afterward.
Who's been cooking there
The Hangar rotates its trucks, so the lineup changes from week to week. These are the trucks with documented service at the court, either in news coverage or on the Maine Food Truck Tracker:
| Truck | What they serve | Who runs it | Documented at The Hangar |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Griddle Kings | Breakfast | Brandon Cruz and Ashley Thomson | First day in late May 2026 |
| Gotta Be Frank Gourmet | Hot dogs and cheeseburgers | Co-owner Margie Genereux | Memorial Day 2026; Friday, Oct. 2, 4 to 8 p.m. |
| Stop, Drop N' Roll | Egg rolls and fried ice cream | Co-owner Dave King | Saturday, Sept. 12, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| One Love Cuisine | Caribbean | Not listed | Sunday, Oct. 4, noon to 7 p.m.; scheduled Oct. 9 to 11 |
The truck owners have their own reasons for liking the spot. Genereux is a Sanford native and is in her ninth year running Gotta Be Frank, which often works out of Congdon's After Dark in Wells. On Memorial Day her truck was one of three at the court, and she said it got so busy that she and another truck ran out of food halfway through the day. "We've never had that happen before," she told Spectrum News. "It was nuts." She said she'd be back at the airport as often as possible.
King is Sanford-based and has sold egg rolls and fried ice cream around Maine for more than three years. He told Spectrum News in March that a Sanford permit costs less than a Portland one, and that trucks do better parked together. "It's always better for a food truck to be in a park, in my opinion, because there's other trucks there," he said.
Those comments help explain the rotation. Trucks come because the court is close to home, cheap to permit, and has built-in foot traffic. They also keep working their other stops, so the mix shifts often.
The winter question
Here's why October is an open question for The Hangar.
Back in March, Montano told Spectrum News he planned to rent the former café building this fall and add heated indoor seating so the court could run through the winter. "A lot of these food trucks want to operate year-round," he said. "They just don't have a place to do it."
But that room wasn't available when the lease was signed. Southern Maine Aviation was leasing the old Pilots Cove space while its own new building went up, and Montano's claim to it only kicks in once it frees up. The Airport Advisory Committee's agenda for Aug. 13 still listed the Southern Maine Aviation flight department under construction activity.
So far, public records don't show an indoor deal. The City Council's Sept. 15 minutes include no café or Hangar lease action, and the agenda for the Oct. 6 council meeting doesn't list one either. The only lease change on record is a committee-approved amendment that added outdoor space. The Airport Advisory Committee's next meeting is listed for Oct. 8.
How the court describes itself has also shifted since spring. The city's grand-opening announcement in May said organizers hope The Hangar becomes a regular destination "throughout the warmer months." The Maine Food Truck Tracker's park page calls it seasonal and says its seasons and hours shift from year to year. Neither source gives a closing date, and nobody has announced a winter schedule.
Here's what is known as of Oct. 4. Trucks are still serving at the runway, and One Love Cuisine is on the schedule for Oct. 9 through 11. Anything past mid-October hasn't been announced. Year-round service was the plan when the lease was signed, and it still depends on that indoor room.
Before you drive over
The Hangar is at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport, 199 Airport Road. The city's advice for updates is to check the airport sign on Route 109 and follow The Hangar on social media.
The court's own website, foodtruckhangar.com, isn't always current. As of early October, its calendar showed October with no trucks listed, and its upcoming-trucks page still had May entries. The Maine Food Truck Tracker page for The Hangar has had more recent listings, including the One Love Cuisine dates.
A few practical notes for a fall visit:
- Check the day's lineup before you leave. The court has four truck spaces, and turnout varies. Memorial Day had three trucks, and some recent days show just one.
- Dress for the weather. The seating is a covered pavilion and an open patio, with no indoor dining room yet.
- Restrooms are portable. Per the lease, that's the setup until an indoor expansion happens.
- Watch the airfield. The runway views are a big part of why people come, and pilots fly in for the food too.
If you're wondering what an airport food court could mean for the businesses and properties nearby, or you just want to swap notes on which truck is worth the drive, Heather Crosby grew up in Sanford and is happy to talk shop about how the city is changing. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
