In case you missed it: Original Wichita location of this restaurant has closed
I was out estate sale-ing on Saturday and had an occasion to drive west on 21st Street from Rock Road.
Something I saw out of the corner of my eye almost made me slam on my brakes. (Instead, I performed a safe turnaround.)
The sign for the Jimmy’s Egg at 7777 E. 21st St. — which was Wichita’s very first Jimmy’s Egg when it opened in November 2008 — was gone. Posted on the door was a sign that said the restaurant had been closed since June 8.
The sign encouraged customers to instead visit the restaurant at the Hawthorne Court shopping center, 12938 E. 21st St., that opened a year ago.
Apparently, I need to visit the east side more often because this was the first I’d heard of the 21st and Rock restaurant closing.
Contacted this week, owner Wink Hartman Sr. said that he decided to close the restaurant because it needed to be remodeled. But the lease was set to expire in November.
“To put more money into it didn’t make sense,” he said, adding that sales at that location had slowly decreased through the years. His six remaining Jimmy’s Egg restaurants, which are part of an Oklahoma-based chain, are doing well, he said, and are not in danger of closing. They are at 12938 E. 21st St., 3801 N. Ridge Road, 550 N. Webb, 8728 W. Central, 317 N. Rock Road in Derby and 1320 W. Central in El Dorado.
Hartman said he does not have plans to open another Jimmy’s Egg in the 21st and Rock Road area, though. In general, he said, these days he’s “just trying to figure out how to make another dollar.” Hartman said it’s hard to bring deals to fruition due to “ridiculously high” interest rates.
“This day and age, it takes forever to put a deal together,” he said.
Since opening that first Jimmy’s Egg franchise 17 years ago, Hartman has opened 13 different Jimmy’s Egg restaurants in the area. Of those, six are still operating, meaning he closed seven others 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.
In January, Hartman closed the Jimmy’s Egg at 1725 E. Douglas. The two most recent restaurants he’s added are the ones at 127th and East 21st streets, which opened in mid-2024, and the one at 3801 N. Ridge Road, which opened in January.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM.
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