TV Restaurants

What Happened to Runway Cafe After Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Runway Cafe has closed — confirmed via yahoo.com, May 26, 2025.

Primary source
yahoo.com ·
Secondary source
Google ·

Last verified

What the source shows: A named news outlet reported the airport commission did not renew the cafe's lease and it closed in May 2025, and Google Places also marks the business permanently closed.

  • Season / episode Season 22, Episode 9
  • Original air date
  • Address 21 Airport Rd Ext, Greenville, SC 29607

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Runway Cafe operated inside the terminal building at Greenville Downtown Airport in Greenville, South Carolina, under owners Mike Bliss and Lem Winesett. Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) featured the business in the episode "Stalled on the Runway," which aired 2023-02-23, with filming in October 2022. According to a Fox Carolina report on the episode's announcement, the cafe had served the airport and surrounding community for more than a decade under its original owners before the show's involvement.

Coverage of the episode said Mike and Lem believed a nearby playground drawing large numbers of children was pulling customers away from the cafe. Robert Irvine, tasting several dishes on camera, criticized the food's quality and pushed for changes to the menu and kitchen execution as part of the show's standard renovation and relaunch process.

After the episode aired, the owners disagreed about the cafe's direction: Mike wanted to sell his stake in the business, while Lem wanted to keep running it, according to a Yahoo News report on the cafe's later closure. Lem ultimately bought out his partner and became sole owner of Runway Cafe.

Yahoo News reported that the Greenville Airport Commission chose not to renew the cafe's lease despite its fifteen years of operation, and that owner Lem Winesett submitted a bid to keep the lease but was not selected. Winesett was quoted saying, "We tried hard to renew our lease." The cafe served its final lunch shift on 2025-05-26, with the lease running through 2025-05-31, Yahoo News reported. The airport said it planned to run food trucks from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily in the space the cafe had occupied, without naming a new tenant for the space.

Google Places marked the Runway Cafe listing at 21 Airport Road Extension as permanently closed. The cafe's former website, runwaycafegmu.com, returned a security-block page from the visitor's own internet provider rather than restaurant content when checked on 2026-09-08, which is unrelated to the business's own status.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 22, Episode 9
Original air date
Episode title
Stalled on the Runway
What was featured
owners disagreed over food quality and a nearby playground driving customers away
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Runway Cafe

Frequently asked questions

Is Runway Cafe still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Runway Cafe has closed — confirmed via yahoo.com, May 26, 2025.

What happened to Runway Cafe after Restaurant: Impossible?

Runway Cafe operated inside the terminal building at Greenville Downtown Airport in Greenville, South Carolina, under owners Mike Bliss and Lem Winesett. As of September 2026, Runway Cafe has closed — confirmed via yahoo.com, May 26, 2025.

Is Runway Cafe permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Runway Cafe has closed — confirmed via yahoo.com, May 26, 2025. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Runway Cafe located?

21 Airport Rd Ext, Greenville, SC 29607. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Runway Cafe?

Season 22, Episode 9 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired February 23, 2023. The episode is titled “Stalled on the Runway”.

Did the makeover last at Runway Cafe?

The episode first aired February 23, 2023. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 3 years later —: As of September 2026, Runway Cafe has closed — confirmed via yahoo.com, May 26, 2025.

Is Runway Cafe still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

Robert Irvine, tasting several dishes on camera, criticized the food's quality and pushed for changes to the menu and kitchen execution as part of the show's standard renovation and relaunch process. Anything newer than our last check on September 7, 2026 may not be reflected here.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Nearest tracked restaurants

Visit info

Address
21 Airport Rd Ext, Greenville, SC 29607
Venue type
cafe
Official website
runwaycafegmu.com

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • yahoo.com — https://www.yahoo.com/news/popular-south-carolina-airport-restaurant-164315963.html
  • foxcarolina.com — https://www.foxcarolina.com/2023/01/20/runway-caf-announces-episode-air-date-food-network-show/
  • Google — https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Runway+Cafe+at+GMU%2C+21+Airport+Rd+Ext%2C+Greenville%2C+SC+29607

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