A breakfast restaurant promised for this Wichita spot never materialized. What happened?

Back in September 2019, when sports bar Tight Ends opened in the south end of a new strip center at the corner of Kellogg and Seneca, developers said that a Huddle House restaurant would follow in a couple of months on the north end.

More than a year later, that space still sits vacant, even though the exterior was built with the same profile as the Huddle House that opened at Twin Lakes in late 2018.

Lately, Delano residents have been wondering if the deal is off.

The answer: Most likely.

Tariq Azmi, who runs the Twin Lakes Huddle House, says that COVID-19 has likely derailed plans to open a second Huddle House in Wichita. Huddle House, an Atlanta-based chain, serves diner-style breakfast and lunch dishes, and breakfast is available anytime.

The last time Azmi provided an update on the project was late 2019, when he said the restaurant was on track to open in March or April of 2020. But then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and he and his corporate Huddle House contacts decided it would be best to pause the plans until the pandemic was under control and vaccines were being distributed.

But that conversation still hasn’t resumed, he said, and the chain has put its focus on opening other restaurants across the country.

Now, he said, he’s in a wait-and-see pattern. Though he’s still open to adding a Huddle House in the space, it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. And if another tenant comes along in the meantime, he said, he’d be willing to consider leasing the space.

So far, only the outside construction is complete, he said. The inside has yet to be finished.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The other Huddle House at 1735 W. 21st St., though, is doing well, Azmi said. The restaurant happened to sign up to work with DoorDash just a month before the pandemic hit and was able to keep business going throughout shutdowns.

“I’d say we’re now back to the business we had before COVID,” he said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 2:22 PM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.