Owner explains why he closed two Wichita seafood restaurants, never opened third
Both Wichita locations of Sam’s Southern Eatery have been closed for the past couple of weeks, but the reason why is a bit complex.
Emanuel Ashiedu, who also works as a software engineer in Salina, last year opened Wichita’s two restaurants as a franchisee for the Louisiana-based Sam’s Southern Eatery chain. One was in the old Defazio’s space at 2706 N. Amidon, and the other was at 6600 W. Central. (At the time, he was already operating Sam’s Southern Eatery restaurants in Salina and Hutchinson.)
All four of those restaurants, though, are now closed as Ashiedu works through the process of separating himself from the Sam’s Southern Eatery chain. But he plans to reopen the restaurants as Scotty’s Seafood Kitchen, serving the same type of dishes the restaurants had before — things like fried catfish, jumbo fried shrimp and po boy sandwiches— but with the addition of cocktails and other alcoholic beverages.
Here’s the twist: Because of his contract with the Sam’s Southern Eatery chain, he won’t be able to reopen the Wichita restaurants at their current addresses. He said he’s already identified two new spots and is working out the leases. They should be open within a month or two and will both have drive throughs. They’ll be sit-down restaurants, just like they were at the previous addresses.
In Salina, he’ll be able to reopen as Scotty’s in a couple of weeks at the same address where Sam’s has been operating: 1211 W. Crawford St. He’ll have more information about the Hutchinson restaurant soon.
Ashiedu said he couldn’t get into the specific reasons he’d decided to part ways with Sam’s Southern Eatery chain. But he will be the owner of Scotty’s.
“We’re trying to rebrand and restructure,” he said. “It’s still the same management, and it’s still almost going to be the same food, the same taste,” he said.
He does plan to reduce the menu a bit at Scotty’s Seafood Kitchen, and he wants to make service more efficient, he said.
In February, Ashiedu said he was going to open a third Wichita location of Sam’s Southern Eatery in the building at 6121 E. 21st St. that was built as a Long John Silver’s restaurant in the 1980s but had more recently been home to Clouds — a daiquiri lounge that transitioned into a Mediterranean restaurant.
The deal for that space fell through, though, when Ashiedu decided to start his own concept. The Nelson’s Kitchen took over the East 21st Street spot and just opened it as its second Wichita location.
Ashiedu promised to share the addresses for his two new Wichita spots as soon as he could.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM.
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