Former NFL star will be able to reopen his tax-troubled Wichita restaurants

The tax debt is paid, and now NFL star and Wichita native Kamerion Wimbley is about to reopen his two Wings & Things restaurants, which were seized by the state almost three weeks ago for non-payment of taxes.

Yun Rae Kim, who is the new COO of Wimbley's KW Growth Holdings LLC, said that both restaurants will be open to the public on March 23. The day before, on March 22, the restaurants will do a soft opening with a limited menu and will donate proceeds to charity.

"We actually have already gotten the keys back," she said. "We're just taking the opportunity in the downtime to really look at customer service and retraining the staff."

Kim described the tax problems, which resulted in the restaurant owing state sales tax and withholding tax totaling $82,329.50, as an issue that resulted from a transition in management. The company has paid the debt, she said.

Rachel Whitten, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Revenue, confirmed that the tax issue had been handled.

"The business has entered into an acceptable agreement with the Department of Revenue and was allowed to open back up," she said.

The original Wings & Things, which Wimbley opened in 2013 at 2800 E. Central, and the second restaurant, which has been operating at 2624 E. 21st Street since 2016, have been closed since Feb. 21.

Kim, who said she'll now be serving as general manager of the restaurants, said that much of the staff was rehired and that management took the opportunity to do some cleaning, reorganizing and retraining.

The menu will be mostly the same with some additions, she said. The hours will be the same as before: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.

This story was originally published March 13, 2018 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Former NFL star will be able to reopen his tax-troubled Wichita restaurants."