Three weeks into coronavirus turmoil, Wichita restaurants flip back and forth on being open
If your favorite Wichita restaurant temporarily shut down over the past couple of weeks, don’t give up hope.
On that same note, if your favorite Wichita restaurant has stubbornly held on throughout the coronavirus pandemic and is continuing to offer food to-go, don’t get too comfortable.
It’s been nearly three weeks since the coronavirus pandemic first started to affect the local restaurant industry. Some shut their doors right away in an abundance of caution. Others held on, changing their practices as dining room crowds were limited first to 50, then to 10, then to zero once Sedgwick County’s stay-at-home order took effect.
And during that short amount of time — which for most restaurateurs has felt like an eternity — many owners have gone back and forth on their decisions. Some of the early closers have cautiously reopened this week, deciding to bring back a few of the employees they laid off and see how to-go business treats them.
Others who stuck it out early have decided for various reasons over the past week to shut down for both business and health reasons, deciding it wasn’t really worth it.
Among the once-closed restaurants that are now back in business are the two Felipe’s Mexican Restaurant locations owned by Felipe Lujano Jr. and his brother, Poncho — the ones at 3434 W. Central and at 119th and Maple.
The owners, both sons of the Felipe’s founder, hung in at first but on March 22 announced plans to close both restaurants, citing concern for the safety of their families, employees and customers.
But a week and a half later, said Felipe Lujano Jr., he and his brother started to have second thoughts. They started hearing from customers who said they missed the food.
“I feel like we almost jumped the gun a little bit closing originally,” Felipe Lujano Jr. said on Thursday. “But it was kind of a scary time with all this information coming in, and there was a bit confusion for all of us.”
The Lujano brothers are re-opening their two restaurants for carry out only starting today (Thursday, April 2), though they’ll have a limited menu and limited hours — 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, noon to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays. They’ll be offering call ahead curbside pickup and delivery via Grubhub.
Felipe Lujano Jr. said he’s been able to bring back 12 employees, who were all appreciative to be back at work. It helped, he said, that he and his brother were able to work out a deal to defer their restaurants’ mortgage payments.
He said he hopes he doesn’t have to change course again, but who knows?
“The situation might get grimmer in the next three or four weeks,” he said. “We kind of have to play it by ear.”
Alex Harb was one of the first Wichita restaurateurs to voluntarily close his places, and he shut down all three of his Wichita Meddys on March 16., laying off 100 employees.
He’s spent the weeks since organizing and executing his Together We are Greater Than a Pandemic project, which has brought Wichita restaurants together to feed local children while schools are shut down.
But this week, he also decided to reopen one of his Meddys. He resumed business at his Greenwich location on Wednesday and now is offering curbside to-go orders from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. He’s encouraging customers to place orders using the Meddys app.
Harb also wanted to put people back to work and has been able to rehire 16 of his employees, he said.
But another part of his motivation is a desire to be ready for whatever comes after the coronavirus threat has passed.
“I believe that there’s going to be a new normal, and I’m trying to figure out what that new normal is going to be and see if my operation is going to adjust,” he said. “We don’t know exactly how it’s going to be, but we know things are going to be different.”
Closing time
A few other restaurant owners in town decided this week to change what they were doing, too, but they’re finally closing rather than reopening.
Linda and Jack Davidson and their son, Joe, who own Wichita’s two Jimmie’s Diner restaurants, had been able to stay open throughout all the changes. But they finally decided it wasn’t working and temporarily closed their restaurants at the end of business on Monday.
They tried everything, Linda said, including adding delivery via Uber Eats. But business just kept declining. Sales had dropped more than 60 percent since March 11, so they finally had to make a tough decision and lay off 90 employees.
They’re now focusing on how they’ll handle eventually reopening.
“Our customer base is in dine-in,” she said. “Simply put, we are a family sit-down, dine-in restaurant, not a fast food drive through.”
Cliff Bragg also decided to close his Milkfloat restaurant at 535 W. Douglas on Monday of this week, despite staying open through the initial wave of closings.
His curbside-to-go business was going pretty well, considering, but was still only bringing in about 20 percent of his usual revenue. But the fact that it popular, he decided, was sort of a problem. His employees were being exposed to too many people.
Bragg’s wife, Dee Ann Bragg, is a doctor working with coronavirus patients, he said, and he’s been alarmed by expert projections that the rate of infection is going to escalate in April.
He decided it wasn’t worth it for now. He’s also closed his two Gladspoon edible cookie dough and ice cream restaurants.
“We decided it was best to close for the safety of our staff and customers, and to do our part to flatten the curve,” he said. “We want this to resolve as soon as possible, so we need to commit now to this sacrifice — as others have — so that we can come through it together eventually.”
Harb said he anticipates many restaurateurs in town will change their minds, too, and might change them back again before it’s all over.
“This is something that we cannot open the playbook and see how we’ve dealt with it before,” he said. “It’s something new to all of us... By nature, we’re self-preserving people, and we’re trying to adjust, and it’s all just changing so fast.”
Keep up with Wichita restaurant openings, closings
Dining with Denise is still maintaining a list of Wichita restaurant’s that are open and closed, which she started back on March 17. It’s not complete but she’s constantly making additions and changes, and it can help you decide where to eat.
You can find the link pinned to the top of her Dining with Denise Facebook page.
If you know of a restaurant that needs to be added or a change that needs to be made, email dneil@wichitaeagle.com.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 2:18 PM.
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