Kansas restaurant known for its weekend German buffet is closing after 41 years
A Newton restaurant that’s been open for 41 years and has become known for its traditional German Mennonite buffet and bakery items will close by the end of the year.
Chad Lehman, who owns The Breadbasket at 219 N. Main in Newton, said the restaurant will serve its final German buffet the weekend of Dec. 19-20 and its final Sunday buffet on Dec. 21. The rest of the menu will continue through Dec. 24. After that, the restaurant will keep serving whatever it has left until the kitchen is cleaned out.
He estimates that The Breadbasket’s final day in business will be Dec. 31.
Lehman said he and his father had been trying to sell the business and the building it occupies for at least two years. They received a couple of offers, but they were nowhere near what the owners were asking, he said.
The Lehmans had said they’d close the restaurant if they didn’t find a buyer by the end of the year. It’s just been too hard to run the place since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chad Lehman said. He’s ready to find a better work-life balance.
“It’s just getting harder and harder for me without days off,” he said. “Everything was good until COVID. Then post-COVID has been a real struggle with staffing and filling in for employees that are sick.”
The restaurant is down to about 20 employees, he said. Before the pandemic, it employed between 25 and 30 people. Chad Lehman said his staff is older: Some will retire, and some have new jobs lined up already.
The Lehmans think they may have a buyer for the building, but that buyer doesn’t intend to use it for a restaurant, Chad Lehman said.
Word has been spreading through Newton about the closure, and locals have expressed disappointment, he said.
Herman and Bertha Toevs founded The Breadbasket in 1984 during what then-Wichita Eagle food writer Kathleen Kelly called “a bakery revival in small Kansas towns.”
At first, they focused just on bakery items, which included whole grain breads, muffins, sweet rolls filled with pecans, cherries or raisins, German zwieback (a soft yeast roll with a knot on top), and a Prussian coffee cake.
The Toevs added lunch to the menu, and the business became a popular gathering spot in Newton.
In 1992, Craig and Marilyn King, whose Colonial House restaurant in Hesston had been destroyed by fire, took The Breadbasket over and began expanding its options. Their restaurant had been known for its German buffet, so they added one to The Breadbasket. It still continues today and includes options like verenike, chicken borscht, zwieback with apple butter, hot German potato salad, and sauerkraut and sausage.
In April 2005, employees Barry Lehman and George Eason and their wives took over The Breadbasket, which seats 160. Chad, Barry’s son, became an owner about 10 years ago, he said.
The Breadbasket’s hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. The German buffet will be offered two more times: from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Dec. 19 and 20. The Sunday buffet, which features lots of home-cooked dishes, will be offered this weekend and on Dec. 21.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 2:31 PM.
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