Owner: About-to-close Wichita restaurant a victim of its location, food costs
.jpeg "Solly & Jude’s, which has sold melty sandwiches, tater tots and cocktails across from Intrust Bank Arena since late 2023, is about to close.")
A sandwich shop and bar that opened across from Intrust Bank Arena in late 2023 is about to close.
Alex Thomas, who owns Solly & Jude’s at 400 S. Emporia with partners Bruce Rowley, Justin Brown and Paul Drace, said that the restaurant’s last day is imminent. The owners haven’t chosen the exact closing date but said people who want one last taste of its sandwiches and tots should visit soon.
“It’s been heading this way for a while,” said Thomas, who also owns Lucky’s Everyday and part of Kirby’s Beer Store and is a partner in The Cotillion and a partner with Drace in Lava & Tonic. “We have not gotten the traction in that location. Plus with rising food costs and just overall budget . . . it was just hard for us to stay afloat.”
Solly & Jude’s — named for Thomas’ son, Solomon, and Brown’s son, Judah — serves a menu of hot and cold sandwiches plus beef hot dogs with different toppings and loaded tater tots. It also features a full bar serving craft cocktails.
When Solly & Jude’s first opened, it served lunch and dinner and stayed open until 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. But the owners soon realized that, with the exception of concert nights at Intrust Bank Arena, that area of town was empty in the evenings. They ended dinner service about two years ago, Thomas said.
They’d hoped to make up for slower times with special events synced to the calendar at Intrust Bank Arena, like when Wichita hosts early rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament. In 2018, Thomas and Rowley set up a beer garden in the parking lot of Rowley’s nearby RSM Marketing, 500 S. Topeka, and did big business.
Wichita was selected to host first round games again last year, and the owners set up a parking lot party at Solly & Jude’s. But for a variety of reasons — including the fact that the University of Kansas wasn’t playing first rounds in Wichita like it had in 2018 and the city’s traffic plan made it difficult for people to access areas south of the arena — the 2025 party flopped.
“That was a disaster for us,” he said. “We really took a big hit.”
Thomas said that the restaurant had just started smoking its own meats, which made a big difference in its sandwiches.
“But it’s just not sustainable where it’s at,” he said. “There was no bar business, no after-work bar business. In my initial projections, it was going to help carry it. All we needed to do was make the food push. I thought it was going to be a more even blend — 50-50 at least. It ended up being more like 80-20 food to booze, which booze can carry you, and it just wasn’t carrying us.”
The hours for Solly & Jude’s until it closes will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Thomas said the owners might try to put on a breakfast or two before closing day as well: Fans should watch Solly & Jude’s social media pages for updates.
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 10:46 AM.
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