Longtime server buys iconic Greeley restaurant at Greeley-Weld County Airport

GREELEY — For more than 30 years, Jim and Linda Belleau served pilots of all kinds and longtime Greeley area regulars at the Barnstormer restaurant.

There, customers could enjoy their favorite breakfast or lunch while they watched planes take off and land from the Greeley-Weld County Airport. Pilots flew in from all over the country to stop and have a bite. That all ended Dec. 31.

But not for long. In the time since, the Belleaus sold the restaurant to their former server, Kathy Bauer, who was joined by her fellow server from a different restaurant, Rebecca Reyes, a former general manager of a barbecue restaurant. Another server, who would fill coffee mugs on the weekends at the Barnstormer, helped the two buy the restaurant.

Pilots came in to help paint the walls, replace ceiling tiles and put new tops on the tables, and the Greeley-Weld County Airport put in some new carpet to freshen the look of the new restaurant now being called Captains Table. Pilots even helped raise some money to help pay for the renovations.

The restaurant officially opened for daily business this week, with only slight changes to the menu — Bauer knows what the customers there like, and kept them on the menu. But Reyes ushered in some technology, which means customers will have to get used to a new computer system when paying. So far, they don’t seem to mind.

Bauer worked for the Belleaus from 2008 to 2021, serving seven days a week. A lot of her regulars followed her to other restaurants she worked at, and now they’re back as a big part of her family.

“I told Rebecca, working here is like no other place in the world,” Bauer said. “(The customers) have become like family.”

The restaurant had a long reputation for being the place to stop and have a bite on cross-country trips, said Cooper Anderson, executive director of the Greeley-Weld County Airport.

“It’s been received very well,” Anderson said. “The pilot community around the state is super excited. Around Colorado, it is a very popular option. Everyone knows Kathy, and she somehow remembers all of her customers and their orders. I am amazed.

“Having a restaurant gives pilots an excuse to come to Greeley. For those folks who are flying around for leisure, they can fly into Greeley, stop in and get their $100 hamburger — that’s the price of a trip’s gas.”

Bauer said her customers do keep her on her toes on how they order.

“They test me, and say, ‘What do I eat?’ I have to think about it, but I’ll get it. I tend to mess up once in a while but they always forgive me,” Bauer said.

On her second full day of operation, Jan. 22, customers bustled in all morning. Bauer wasn’t expecting it, but the smile remained as the day wound down to closing time at 2 p.m.

The only change she’s truly going to make is hiring more staff so she can be able to take a day off once in a while, and spend time with her six grandkids.

Captains Table will have a grand-opening celebration from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 1. There will be a live band, T-shirt giveaways, airplane ride giveaways and more.

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