Tennis star Serena Williams ate breakfast in Wichita on Tuesday, and no one noticed
Harrison Ford, it appears, could take some lessons on stealth from a famous tennis star.
On Tuesday morning, Serena Wiliams stopped into the HomeGrown restaurant in downtown Wichita for breakfast — and nobody noticed. The star posted from the restaurant on her Instagram stories and could be heard debating her morning meal options as she filmed the menu.
“When life gives you unexpected lemons, you make lemonade,” she says. “So I’m thinking about getting the Iron Man so I can stay healthy. Yes, not the sweet potato pancakes.”
Then, Williams appears to have a change of heart.
“Okay, I’m gonna get those.”
Brian Donnelly, director of operations for Thrive Restaurant Group, said restaurant employees didn’t know Williams had been there until she was long gone.
“The server didn’t recognize her,” he said. “Customers at one of the tables nearby did but didn’t say anything.”
Williams and her friends — who actually ordered both the Iron Man and the pancakes — were seated at a secluded table in the back of the restaurant. When another customer alerted management that Williams had posted from HomeGrown in Wichita, they watched and noticed that the menu she filmed touted Yoder meats, which are offered only in Wichita and not in the chain’s Kansas City restaurant.
They put out a call to managers and deduced that Williams had dined at the downtown Homegrown. (The locally owned chain also has restaurants on the east and west sides of town.)
There’s no word on what brought Williams to Wichita.
Either way, Ford — another frequent Homegrown customer who visits Wichita at least once a year — could probably use a few pointers from Williams on how to slip in and out of Wichita restaurants without notice, something he never manages to do.
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 1:11 PM.
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