Silver Diner accuses BWI concessions manager of trying to ‘stifle free speech’

As Silver Diner fights to keep its prime location at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the locally based restaurant says its landlord is attempting to “stifle free speech” and hamper its grassroots campaign.

In a news release Wednesday, Silver Diner leaders said Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide executives ordered the restaurant to remove tabletop cards urging customers to “help save Silver Diner” by contacting the Maryland Aviation Administration, or risk a fine of $250 a day.

The warning followed an unannounced visit by a senior executive with the Germany-based concessions management company to the restaurant on Oct. 2, Silver Diner officials said.

The message on the tabletop cards read, “Our future at BWI is at risk as our airport landlord is threatening to replace us with a multi-national airport concessionaire which results in higher pricing to travelers.”

The cards display a QR code that takes customers to Silver Diner’s website, which provides an automated way to email state and BWI officials. The company says more than 2,000 people have emailed the state to show support.

Robert Giaimo, the chairman and cofounder of Silver Diner, said Fraport’s demand violates the First Amendment.

“We see this as an attempt to muzzle citizens and muzzle Silver Diner,” Giaimo said, according to the release. “Fraport could not silence us in the courts and is, therefore, attempting to silence us on our tabletops.”

The censorship accusation is the latest in a battle between Silver Diner, a regional restaurant chain that was launched in 1989, and Fraport, which has worked with BWI since 2004 and recently won a bid to manage retail concessions at the airport for the next 23 years.

Silver Diner sued Fraport in September, accusing the company of breach of contract and negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation of agreements. It asked a judge in Anne Arundel County to uphold a previously agreed-upon plan for a $1.5 million renovation, bar Fraport from seeking another tenant for its space amid the court fight and pay compensatory damages.

Silver Diner executives said in a news release that Fraport told them they’d need to gut and rebuild their restaurant at BWI, which they’ve operated since 2007, at a cost of $8-10 million. That condition, Silver Diner said, was invented by Fraport but blamed on the state. State officials, the news release said, denied making the demand.

Such a project would shut down the restaurant for a year, according to Silver Diner, and result in the loss of more than 120 jobs.

Representatives from BWI and the Maryland Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

A Fraport spokesperson recently told The Banner that the company “categorically rejects the claims asserted in the pending litigation as unfounded and without merit.” The company said it acted in good faith and vowed to fight Silver Diner’s claims in court.

Fraport did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about the latest claim of censorship.

“We are not going away,” Giaimo said. “We will continue to fight for this space, for independent restaurants and for the interests of our employees.”