Old Scooter’s space downtown gets new tenant whose specialty is a Wichita favorite
The old Scooter’s space at Douglas and Rock Island in downtown Wichita has a new tenant.
Last week, Wichita Cheesecake Company — the sweet business that Mark and Grace Daniels opened in one of the Union Station food kiosks in April of 2019 — completed its move to the space, which has been vacant since Scooter’s closed in the spring. The new spot will allow the Daniels to offer seating and expand its menu to include not only cheesecake but also a breakfast and lunch menu.
The owners quietly opened in the new space on Aug. 6, and since then, they’ve been offering a menu of just cheesecake and coffee, the same as before they moved.
But next week, they’ll add a food menu that includes things like muffins, bagels, cinnamon rolls and breakfast sandwiches in the morning and soup and sandwiches over the lunch hour. In addition to a dining room, the new space also has a larger kitchen that will allow the owners to offer more than they were before, Mark Daniels said.
And that’s not the only advantage the new space has over the old, which really had room just for ovens and a counter.
“It’s air conditioned,” Daniels said of the new space. “It has 1,500 square feet, and there are tables for people to come in and sit if they just wanted to enjoy the cheesecake or bring their laptops.”
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The Daniels’ homemade cheesecakes will remain a focus, he said, and people will be able to order cakes whole or by the slice. There will always be eight to 10 varieties ready to serve, and flavors will rotate out monthly. The opening menu includes New York style, caramel apple, key lime, triple chocolate, cookies and cream, Snickers and peanut butter. Those who want whole custom cakes have 33 options to choose from.
The shop also will sell drip coffee supplied by Reverie Coffee Roasters. But if people start asking for things like frappes and espresso drinks, the owners might consider expanding their coffee offerings, Daniels said.
The hours at the new shop, whose address is 801 E. Douglas, are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Both the old space and the new are Occidental Management property.
The Daniels started Wichita Cheesecake Company as a cheesecake business that would occasionally serve at events around town. The company was initially born out of Grace’s love for cheesecake, which she said she first tasted as a 13-year-old girl at a family dinner. She loved it so much, she learned how to make cheesecake, and as an adult, she would serve her cakes at family functions and for special occasions. Her family encouraged her to consider opening a cheesecake business.
When they decided to expand their bakery into a restaurant, they said that they hoped to provide a “viable alternative” to Wichita’s much-desired but never-achieved Cheesecake Factory.
“What I can say is that Wichita has really responded well,” Daniels said. “I know a lot of people were still clamoring for the Cheesecake Factory, which was part of our growth strategy, too, knowing we would eventually bring food in.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 5:01 AM.
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