Flights Restaurant takes off on Burlingame Ave

The small plates-meets-comfort-food eatery has proven overwhelmingly popular in Los Gatos and Campbell.

While the theme is aviation — at the Burlingame location, an actual airplane is suspended from the ceiling — the concept is based on the traditional notion of flights at a wine tasting — that is, a varied selection of wines served at once.

The highly approachable menu — half of which is suitable for vegetarians — features familiar favorites, from mac and cheese to tacos, and hummus to empanadas.

Each plate includes three versions of a single dish. An order of empanadas, for example, features al pastor, truffle, and ground beef-filled versions on a single plate.

A drink order similarly includes three variations of a cocktail. Offering each menu item in multiple incarnations is at the heart of the Flights restaurant concept and drives its popularity. As diners enjoy varied versions of each dish, they not only share the experience together at the table, but are compelled to spread the word.

“It's very shareable,” says owner Alex Hult. “And also you get really great value. You get three drinks for the price of $15 to $18. (Food items are similarly priced.) So people feel like they get a lot for their money, and they keep coming back, and they tell their friends.” And that adds up to success. Flights offers something for everyone, according to Hult.

“We have kids, we have couples, we have old people, we have everything,” he enthuses, “Because the menu is very approachable. It's not sous-vide cooked this and fancy that. It's hot dogs. It's French fries. It's just presented very nicely and tastes really good. So it's kind of like a fine dining version of bar food.”

Still, the restaurant’s core demographic proved something of a surprise.

“When we first opened, we thought our demographic was going to be 21 to 35, a very young crowd. Very quickly, we saw that that's not at all our core demographic. Our biggest right now is women 40 to 60. Girls’ night out is by far our biggest revenue source.”

Flights’ familiar food and beverage options also attract large companies.

“We do a lot of corporate happy hours, and we also do a lot of off-sites, where we go to them. It’s very affordable. We're ranging like $30 to $40 per person.”

Remarkably, the original Campbell location drew a jaw-dropping 1,300 diners at its debut and has remained a crowd pleaser ever since, according to Hult. The Los Gatos restaurant has proved similarly popular.

How did Hult learn to please the customer so well?

“My mom opened six restaurants in Sweden. So in the summer, when all the other kids were on vacation, I was doing dishes or bartending or cooking to try to help her out. I learned a lot about customer experience and customer service – what you should do and what you shouldn't do – very early on.”

As a business, Flights is expanding rapidly, with a Mountain View location expected to open late this summer. Hult credits the swift progress to lessons he learned as a pro hockey player.

“If I've become pretty successful pretty quick in this business, it's because I’ve got a lot of determination and grit, if you will. We've been through some major setbacks. We had all kinds of issue, and I think a lot of people would just have given up. But there was no way I was going to give up.”

Some of his employees have been inspired by him from the beginning.

“They saw that leadership, and they decided to follow along, and now a lot of them are still with us. And now everyone is making good money, and it's a very successful company and growing really fast. It's super exciting to see the results!”

Not content to expand locally, Flights is at a junction as a business. In January, heavy-hitting tech executives joined the management team. In the works are plans for a site in Las Vegas as well as the prospect of franchising the concept. “We are working on streamlining everything and we will start probably doing some franchising next year.” Hult’s relocating to the Bay Area, it seems, was meant to be. As a young hockey hotshot in Sweden, he was recruited by the Sharks to play in San Jose. But fate intervened: Injury prevented him from accepting the offer. Fast forward 10+ years. Hult was living in Las Vegas and fell in love with a gorgeous beauty queen.

“She kept saying I'm from the Bay Area, I'm from the Bay Area,” but was never more specific. They decided to make a life together and relocate to her hometown. On the drive there, as they were approaching their exit, he noticed a sign that read “San Jose.” “Is this, like, the same San Jose that has the San Jose Sharks?” he asked, stunned.

What's more, a pageant colleague of his wife is the daughter of team general manager Doug Wilson, the very man who drafted him all those years ago.

Now cozy with the team and its management, Hult counts a handful of Sharks players among Flights’ business partners.

The decor at Flights Burlingame is just as inviting as the food. It features deep chocolate wood tones, accented by brushed aluminum details and spectacular tiered-glass lighting fixtures. The effect is polished and modern, yet homey. Outdoor seating is artfully arranged to afford diners a view of passers-by.

Overall, the experience, food, and drink at Flights restaurant is first class all the way.