Pappas: 'Our team at Hobby is working extremely hard to close our restaurants properly'

Wednesday marks the last full day for Pappas Restaurants at William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) after a judge declined to grant the restaurant group a reprieve from eviction a second time, according to reports from Houston-based media outlets. 

Pappas relaunched its legal battle against the City of Houston to no avail, having been ordered to leave the Bayou City’s second major air gateway by Thursday.

The company was at odds with city hall after the latter terminated its professional relationship with the former in March and awarded a lucrative, yet controversial concessions contract for HOU to Miami-based Areas.

According to Houston Daily, the restaurant group, which has maintained four establishments at HOU since at least the last decade, pursued legal action on claims statutory procedures for competitive sealed proposals weren’t followed and the Texas Open Meetings Act was ignored by the city.

Shortly after Pappas initiated litigation, it temporarily rescinded its lawsuit because individuals it considered key witnesses weren’t present to give their testimonies.

Houston NPR affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM) reported that the company intends to heed Harris County Judge Tamika Craft-Demming’s ruling and the city’s directive to vacate HOU entirely.

Pappas chief executive officer (CEO) Chris Pappas implied that the case may be far from over though Pappas’ time at the airport is.

"Our legal team is focused on our next legal steps,” he said, per HPM. “Our team at Hobby is working extremely hard to close our restaurants properly."

Per the report, Houston City Attorney Arturo Michel said in a statement issued by the mayor, “Mayor Turner has reiterated his position since the beginning of this dispute that the procurement process was fair and equitable and maximized benefits to the residents of Houston and its visitors."

According to Houston NBC affiliate KPRC, Pappas said the irony of the situation at present was the Houston Airports System (HAS) recently recognized the company with many awards for the eateries at HOU that are required to be shuttered by the end of this week.

Pappas – during its unsuccessful push to remain at Hobby – asserted its establishments helped the airport earn international rating agency Skytrax’s first five-star rating for a North American airport last year.