As Wichita’s latest Jimmy’s Egg opens, a look back at the chain’s unusual 16 years in town
Wichita’s newest Jimmy’s Egg restaurant opened Tuesday in a new strip center at 37th and Ridge. Its hours are 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
But when I went by the restaurant over the weekend to snap a photo, it got me thinking about the chain’s long and rather unusual history in Wichita.
I started writing about restaurants in Wichita in October 2000. Eight years later, the first Jimmy’s Egg opened at 7777 E. 21st St. — in a strip center near the southwest corner of 21st and Rock. I remember that Wichita was pretty excited about the interesting dishes on the restaurant’s menu, including piled-high concoctions like the “garbage” breakfast, made with hash browns and topped with bell pepper, crumbled sausage and two eggs.
Since then, Jimmy’s Egg — an Oklahoma-based chain — has had a rather interesting and unusual tenure in Wichita. I took a deep dive into the archives this morning and noticed that franchisee Wink Hartman Sr. has almost been playing a strategic game of chess with his locations over the years.
Since 2008, he’s opened 13 different Jimmy’s Egg restaurants in the Wichita area, which includes El Dorado and Derby.
Of those, seven are still operating, meaning six others have closed over the years. If a restaurant begins performing poorly for whatever reason — construction keeping people away, locations not drawing expected crowds — Hartman isn’t afraid to close it and find a new address.
Any given year, it feels like Wichita loses a Jimmy’s Egg then not long after learns it’s getting a new one. Just in the last five months, Hartman has closed one Jimmy’s Egg ( at 1725 E. Douglas) and opened two more (at 12938 E. 21st St. and Tuesday at 3801 N. Ridge Road.)
And he doesn’t plan to stop any time soon. He recently told my colleague Carrie Rengers that he’s eyeing both Hutchinson and Salina for new Jimmy’s Egg restaurants.
Here’s a look at Jimmy’s Egg’s Wichita-area activity over the past 16 years. The takeaway: If you like the Jimmy’s Egg in your neighborhood, you’d better support it, because Hartman might just move it somewhere else.
STILL OPEN: 7777 E. 21st St.: This was Wichita’s first Jimmy’s Egg. It opened on the southwest corner of 21st and Rock in November of 2008 and has remained in business for 16 years.
STILL OPEN: 8728 W. Central: Wichita’s second Jimmy’s Egg opened in an old Godfather’s Pizza space at Central and Tyler in March 2009. It’s also still open today.
CLOSED AFTER FIVE YEARS: 7906 E. Harry: Hartman’s third Jimmy’s Egg opened in this strip mall space at the northwest corner of Harry and Rock in 2009. But it was closed by 2014. Meddys has operated in the space ever since.
CLOSED AFTER NINE YEARS, 220 S. West St.: The fourth Jimmy’s Egg opened in August of 2009 in the space on West Street that’s now home to Rene’s Mexican Food. It closed in November of 2018. At the time, the owners blamed road construction that made the restaurant hard to reach.
CLOSED AFTER 11 MONTHS, 2315 W. 21st St.: This Jimmy’s Egg in the Clear Lakes center near 21st and Amidon opened in Sept. 2010 in the space that had recently been vacated by Clear Lakes Cafe. But it was closed 11 months later. Hartman said at the time that the closure came after his management team decided it was “going to take action to correct businesses that are not performing.” The space was home to a long string of restaurants after that. Its current tenant is Amore Italian Restaurant.
CLOSED AFTER 11 YEARS, 3801 E. Harry: This Jimmy’s Egg opened in late 2008 in a space near the Wichita Mall. It closed in February 2019, just a few months after the restaurant on West Street was shuttered. The restaurant on Harry, co-franchisee Morrie Sheets said at the time, was hurt by road construction that made its parking lot inaccessible for five months. The building is now home to Vietnamese restaurant Pho Ong 8.
CLOSED AFTER 11 YEARS, 1725 E. Douglas: The Jimmy’s Egg that was the closest to downtown Wichita opened in late 2014 in the same building that Tanya’s Soup Kitchen occupies. But Hartman closed it earlier this month. “We’ve expanded so fast, we’re just reallocating assets to different areas,” he said about the closing.
STILL OPEN, 550 N. Webb: In January 2017, Jimmy’s Egg took over a 3,750-square-foot building at Central and Webb where a gas station and nutrition business had recently operated. It’s still in business today.
STILL OPEN, 1320 W. Central, El Dorado: This restaurant opened in a former QuikTrip building in March of 2017. It’s still in operation.
CLOSED AFTER FIVE YEARS, 1210 W. Pawnee: Opened in September 2017, this Jimmy’s Egg closed in February 2022. At the time, managers said the restaurant was technically being relocated to Derby. The space eventually became home to Fonda La Chona, which closed late last year.
STILL OPEN, 317 N. Rock Road, Derby: The Derby restaurant opened in August 2022 and is still going.
RECENTLY OPENED, 12938 E. 21st St.: The second-newest Jimmy’s Egg opened in August in the Hawthorne Court shopping center at the northeast corner of 127th East and 21st streets.
JUST OPENED. 3801 N. Ridge Road: Tuesday was the opening day for the newest Jimmy’s Egg at 37th and Ridge.
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 2:43 PM.
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