Locally owned restaurant serving both pizza, chicken tenders has opened in west Wichita
The building at 8977 W. Central in Wichita had been home to Pizza Hut since at least the mid-1970s. But about six months ago, that Pizza Hut moved to a strip center at 737 N. Maize Road.
Now, there’s a new pizza tenant in the building near Central and Tyler that’s sandwiched by Starbucks on one side and Taco Bell on the other. But it serves more than just pizza.
Last week, Joseph Fowler and his wife, Jacqueline, opened a new location of their Electric Pizzeria in the space. And although they’re still selling the pizzas their customers have been ordering since the couple opened their first pizza restaurant in Derby in 2018, the new location is doubling as a place to get fried chicken tenders and sandwiches.
The Fowlers, who also still have the Electric Pizzeria they opened at 240 S. West St. in February 2019, have a unique new setup in the former Pizza Hut space, which has a drive-through window and a hood in the kitchen, which allows them to also serve fried foods.
Not only can customers at the new restaurant order pizzas, which have a New York-style crust that’s thin in the middle with a thick edge, but they can also now order chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, tater tots and fries. Joseph Fowler has a name for the chicken side of the business, too: Slappn’ Tenders.
Customers can order from both the chicken and pizza menus for carryout, dine-in or delivery anytime the restaurant is open. They can also get the chicken menu at the drive-through window anytime. And the Fowlers are also offering four hot-and-ready styles of pizzas at the drive-through window between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 4 and 8 p.m. daily. Those don’t need to be ordered in advance, and drive-through customers can choose from cheese, pepperoni, a MOB pizza (mushroom, onions and black olives) or a MOB pizza with homemade Italian sausage.
For now, the Fowlers’ original Wichita restaurant at the West Street address (the front door actually faces Maple) is offering only carryout pizzas. Their deliveries will be based out of the new Central and Tyler store, and they’ll deliver anywhere within six miles of that address.
They decided to take over the old Pizza Hut space, Joseph Fowler said, after they noticed that 80% of their delivery orders on West Street were coming from zip codes to the west of their restaurant.
“Positioning ourselves over here makes a lot more sense,” he said.
The couple no longer has their Derby restaurant, which closed after a fire in 2019.
The hours for the new restaurant at Central and Tyler are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.
To order delivery or carryout from the new Electric Pizzeria at Central and Tyler, call 316-260-2244. To order carryout from the store at West and Maple, call 316-977-7823.
This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 2:41 PM.
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