Dining With Denise Neil

Wichita chicken restaurant that opened a little more than a year has permanently closed

Wichita’s Sticky Bird restaurant opened in August 2023.
Wichita’s Sticky Bird restaurant opened in August 2023. Courtesy photo

On Friday, Wichita’s Sticky Bird chicken restaurant at 616 S. Tyler announced that it was “currently closed.”

It turns out that the closure is permanent, not temporary.

On Sunday, I reached out to Jeff and Jay Miller, the franchisees for the restaurant, which opened in August of 2023. They said that the closing was permanent.

“It was a difficult decision, but we were not able to continue operating and be profitable due to circumstances out of our control,” Jay Miller said.

The Miller brothers also are the franchisees of Wichita’s three Five Guys Burgers & Fries restaurants.

Sticky Bird is a chain based in Farmington, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. It serves chicken fingers, both fried and grilled, plus chicken wings, chicken po boy sandwiches and chicken tacos.

Sticky Bird at 616 S. Tyler has permanently closed.
Sticky Bird at 616 S. Tyler has permanently closed. Courtesy photo

The restaurant operated out of a pre-built structure that was placed in July 2023 on the lot previously occupied by Walt’s Klassics. That restaurant, which also operated out of a prefab building, closed in March of 2022 after 25 years.

The Walt’s building was then purchased by Station 8 BBQ owner Alex Eftekhar, who moved it across from his restaurant at Second and Wabash and plans to open it as a diner sometime next year.

This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 5:03 AM.

Denise Neil
The Wichita Eagle
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.
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