New-to-Wichita restaurant opens this week, another being added in nearby town
The owner of The Coop Chicken Fingers — a new restaurant for Wichita — has chosen a firm opening date.
Eliot McDonald, who said earlier this month that the restaurant would open this week in the old Schlotzsky’s building at 1140 S. Rock Road, says he will open the doors to the new restaurant on Friday.
He also shared that he’s chosen a location for his next Wichita-area restaurant. He’s taking over the old KFC building at 2003 W. Central Ave. in El Dorado, which has been vacant since the restaurant closed early this year. McDonald hopes to have a location of The Coop open there by October.
Though his Wichita restaurant will open Friday, he’s holding off on a grand-opening celebration until Saturday, July 25, when the first 500 people through the doors will receive scratch-off tickets good for prizes. Fifteen of those prizes will be a voucher good for free chicken for a year.
The hours for the new restaurant, which will have a drive-through, will be 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Over the weekend, McDonald shared photos that offer a look at the restaurant’s interior.
McDonald, who owns the restaurant with business partner Henry Panameno, says that his food is better and less expensive than what’s served at popular chicken finger chain Raising Cane’s.
McDonald and Panameno opened their first location of the restaurant adjacent to the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa, just before Thanksgiving 2025. When they decided to expand their concept, they targeted Kansas. Their second restaurant opened at 430 E. 30th Ave. in Hutchinson in May.
They chose Wichita for their third restaurant, McDonald said, when they saw how popular Raising Cane’s became after opening at 350 S. Ridge Road in June 2025. (Raising Cane’s is also planning to open a restaurant at Douglas and Rock in 2027).
In addition to chicken fingers, spicy chicken fingers, fries and dipping sauces, The Coop offers milkshakes, chicken sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches.
The owners’ goal is to have three restaurants in the Wichita market. Next, they’ll focus on Oklahoma.
McDonald worked in chicken finger restaurants for seven years, including Raising Cane’s, Slim Chickens, and most recently Layne’s Chicken Fingers, a Texas-based chain, where he was director of operations. He was looking into becoming a Layne’s franchisee, but when that didn’t work out, he decided to do his own thing.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 1:24 PM.
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