A northeast Wichita restaurant will absorb the space next door, double its seating
A local restaurant chain that over the past 11 years has expanded across four states is about to add on to one of its early Wichita addresses.
Meddys owner Alex Harb said that he recently took over the space directly to the north of his restaurant at The Village at Greenwich, 21st and Greenwich, that until about a month ago was occupied by Edible Arrangements.
That business has since moved around the corner to 11310 E. 21st St., suite G. It’s still in The Village at Greenwich development, but the new Edible Arrangements spot faces 21st St. and is in the same strip center as Dunkin’.
He plans to move the Meddys kitchen to the new space then use the former kitchen space for more seating. The project will add about 80 seats to the restaurant, he said.
“We’ve been running out of seats for the last couple of years,” he said. “We’re constantly running out of seats.”
Harb said that he’ll start construction on the new kitchen in about a week. When it’s done, he’ll have to close the restaurant for about two weeks to finish the new seating area. During that time, he also plans to remodel the entire restaurant and give it the updated look that he’s using in the new Meddys restaurants he’s been opening across the region.
The new look includes a big indoor tree as a centerpiece, modern tiles, and updated tables, chairs and booths: (The downtown Meddys at 120 N. Washington was retrofitted with the new look earlier this year.)
Harb said he estimates he’ll close the 21st and Greenwich restaurant for the remodel in mid-October, but he plans to have construction crews work night and day so that he can get everything done in two weeks.
Sometime next year, he said, he’ll also update the look of the Meddys at 560 S. Ridge Road. Eventually, he’ll update all of the Wichita restaurants.
The 21st and Greenwich Meddys was Harb’s second Wichita restaurant when it opened in 2016, and it’s already had one update. Back in 2019, he shut it down for about a week to update its look and add a bar.
He started the Meddys chain, a fast-casual concept that serves hummus, falafel, pita sandwiches and other Mediterranean specialties, in 2014 with a restaurant at 7906 E. Harry. Today, he has five Meddys in Wichita, and in 2022, he started adding restaurants outside of the city.
The first opened in December of 2022 in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village. Harb now also has Meddys in Lenexa; Prairie Village; Liberty, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri’s, Brookside neighborhood; as well as in Salina, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Omaha.
Harb said he’s about to open a Meddys in Moore, Oklahoma, and will then start construction on new restaurants in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. When those are complete, he will have 16 Meddys restaurants in four states. He has said he plans to have 25 open by sometime next year.
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