Wichita restaurant owner planned to close if he didn’t find a buyer. Just in time, he did.
Back in May, Avivo Brick Oven Pizzeria owner David Hensley announced that, if he didn’t find a buyer for the NewMarket Square restaurant, he’d have to close it at summer’s end.
Now, summer is nearly over, and Hensley has some news to share. He has, in fact, found a new owner for the restaurant, and he took over on Sept. 1.
Avivo, which first opened at 2441 N. Maize Road, #101, in 2005, will continue on with the same name and the same menu.
The buyer is Cullen Elliott, who says he’s been a business investor on and off for about 14 years. He once served in the military as a medic and was stationed at Fort Riley in Junction City, where he later bought and ran a bar.
Most recently, Elliott was living in Albuquerque but always thought about how much he liked Kansas, he said. He was looking for a business investment near Kansas City or Topeka when he came across a broker’s listing for Avivo. (Todd Bailey of Transworld Business Advisors of Wichita brokered the sale.)
Elliott decided to purchase the restaurant, and along with Andrew Wright, who will work as the manager at Avivo, he moved to Wichita in June. The sale of the restaurant was official on Sunday.
“I don’t plan on changing anything in the functionality of the business — the pizza, the prices, none of that,” Elliott said. “What I plan on doing is expanding the hours and doing a lot more community outreach type things.”
As he worked to sell the restaurant, Hensley had shortened Avivo’s hours to 5-9 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Elliott said he’ll keep those hours for a couple of weeks then plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except on Wednesdays, when Avivo will be closed. Eventually, he’ll open the restaurant seven days a week, he said.
He’ll still welcome dine-in customers but also says he’ll try to put more focus more on takeout and delivery. Elliott says his 10-year-goal is to open more Avivo restaurants, first on the east side of Wichita and then in other cities in Kansas.
Wright, Elliott’s manager, will be his right-hand man, Elliott said. Previously, Wright was the head cook for a high-volume bar in Albuquerque.
Hensley, who bought Avivo three years ago, said his and his family’s priorities had changed and they wanted to move on from owning a restaurant. He said in May that if he didn’t find a buyer by Aug. 31, the day his lease was up, he’d have to close.
He’s relieved that won’t happen, Hensley said. Part of his agreement with Elliott is that he’ll stay around for a couple of weeks to help with training and the transition.
“There were a lot of things that were going on in our personal lives that really made it difficult for us to give Avivo 100% of our time and effort and energy,” Hensley said. “And now you have younger, more energetic and 100% hyper-focused owners coming in who are able to give Avivo the attention it deserves. And so everything’s just going to be elevated. And I think people are going to notice.”
Cullen and Wright both have made pizzas during their careers, they said. (Fans of “Breaking Bad:” I did ask whether they had anything to do with the pizza that Walter White flung onto the roof of his Albuquerque house. No such luck, though Elliott said his parents do live in that neighborhood.)
Elliott said he’s excited to get to know his new customers. He’ll keep the changes Hensley made a year ago when he switched the restaurant from full-service to quick-service — where customers order at the counter then pick up their pizzas themselves.
“It’s a very good product at a good price,” Elliott said. “It’s very quick, very efficient, in-and-out, and I don’t really see changing that too much.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 2:21 PM.
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