West Wichita restaurant is about to get a new name, new menu
The owners of the dual-concept restaurant Crispy & Co/HaneBe — which opened in January 2025 at 10330 W. Central — are trying something new in the space.
Johnny Chandra, who owns the restaurant with some partners, closed it a week ago, letting customers know via social media that he was planning to remodel and rebrand.
Then, new signs went up on the building reading “Zen Bento.”
Chandra said he hopes to reopen the restaurant this week as Zen Bento: He’s aiming for Thursday.
Though the new restaurant will still have several of the items that were part of the Crispy & Co menu, which was filled with fried chicken tenders and wings, it will drop the smoothies, milk teas, and fresh juices that made up the HaneBe menu.
The main change: When the restaurant reopens, it will begin serving bento boxes, which are trays with separate compartments that hold a salad, rice, a side item and an entree. At first, Zen Bento will offer a choice of eight different entrees, such as spicy pork bulgogi, udon noodles, Chinese sweet-and-spicy chicken, and General Tso’s chicken.
The owners also may still serve a few acai bowls, which are like smoothies in a bowl topped with fresh fruit. But overall, the HaneBe side of the business wasn’t as popular with customers as the owners had hoped it would be, Chandra said.
“Crispy & Co worked: Most of the sales came from that,” he said. “But HaneBe didn’t really work in that area.”
The hours will be the same for Zen Bento as they were before: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Chandra and his partners have opened several other restaurants in Wichita over the last eight years, starting with Tuptim Thai, 2121 N. Rock Road, in October 2018 and followed by Mirai Ramen & Sushi, 6524 E. 37th St. North, in April 2023. In July 2024, they added a Tuptim Thai Express at 1317 N. Maize Road.
The partners still have a combo Crispy & Co./HaneBe at 2855 SW Wanamaker Road in Topeka, which opened about a year before the Wichita store. They also own a Topeka Tuptim Thai restaurant.
This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 4:04 PM.
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