Sasnak plans third HomeGrown for Bradley Fair, though it will be the second to open

Jon Rolph had a little laugh when he announced in September that he is bringing his west-side HomeGrown breakfast, brunch and lunch concept downtown.

“It was funny because all our east-side friends were like, ‘At least it’s getting closer.’”

What they didn’t know is that on the same day, Rolph signed a deal to open a HomeGrown in Bradley Fair, too.

This third HomeGrown actually will be the second because it will open in March, and the downtown HomeGrown in the Spaghetti Works District won’t open until the larger building it will be in opens in early 2020.

The first HomeGrown opened in May 2017 at 2835 N. Maize Road in NewMarket North.

As the Bradley Fair HomeGrown opens in the former Backwoods space, Rolph’s Good Egg restaurant on the other side of the center will close. The entire staff will be retained.

The original plan was to put HomeGrown there, but the Good Egg space wasn’t quite right for the new concept.

“While the size and configuration of The Good Egg space would not work for HomeGrown, the benefit of them opening in a new space is that there will be no downtime from the change in concept,” said Amy Liebau, spokeswoman for center developer Laham Development, in a statement.

Also, Rolph says there will be a covered patio at the new space, better parking and better visibility along with the chance to start with a blank space instead of trying to squeeze in one concept to another concept’s space.

The new HomeGrown will feel somewhat different since diners will enter into the middle of the restaurant instead of the front, but Rolph says it will still have the “cozy modern farmhouse feel.”

“We’ve really paid attention to the design elements internally that people have enjoyed,” he says. “We’re learning what people like. We’re learning what makes people think of HomeGrown.”

SPT Architecture is the HomeGrown architect, and the general contractor is Coast to Coast Builders.

Christi Royse of J.P. Weigand & Sons handled the deal.

Sasnak Management also owns Carlos O’Kelly’s and is an Applebee’s franchisee.

Rolph had been considering a few other concepts when former Good Egg owner Daryl Lowry approached him about buying the restaurant.

“We got close on a couple deals,” Rolph says.

Instead, though, he chose the Good Egg.

“We bought it with the hope that that would be a growth area for us, but we wanted to get in and learn it.”

At the time, he wasn’t thinking about HomeGrown, but it’s now the one he wants to grow. That could mean more in the greater Wichita area, such as Derby, but likely that means outside the market, too.

“We haven’t even selected what market we’d go for yet,” Rolph says.

“We’ll grow as fast as we’re able to,” he says. “We’re learning every step of the way with this brand.”

Rolph says that “the west side has been spectacular to us,” but he says he’s excited to bring HomeGrown closer to his own home and right by Sasnak’s corporate office.

There will be 130 seats in the restaurant, and it will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day in addition to being available for private evening events.

Rolph says he feels like HomeGrown has developed “fast and slow all at the same time.”

“We were able to put that concept together pretty quickly.”

Then he says his team “worked on that, dialed it in.”

“If you want to have a multi-unit chain . . . you’ve got to get the first one right.”

The two new HomeGrowns — not to mention Rolph’s other 61 restaurants — are hardly all he’s thinking about.

“We continue, actually, to dream about other concepts.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 5:00 AM.