Jon Rolph and Thrive have a version of musical chairs, only with restaurants

Thrive Restaurant Group owns restaurants in a dozen states, but what president and CEO Jon Rolph is about to do is something he said he could accomplish only in his own backyard.

In a version of musical chairs, only with restaurants, Rolph is moving his Applebee’s near 13th and Greenwich to Andover where former Applebee’s franchisee Jim Stevens used to have a restaurant; then he’s moving his Carlos O’Kelly’s on North Rock Road to the Applebee’s space; and finally, he’s opening a new Applebee’s in the space Carlos O’Kelly’s is vacating.

It’s not only the biggest shuffling of restaurants that Thrive has ever done, Rolph said, “It’s the biggest one I ever even heard of, really, to have the dominoes fall this way, and it’s just unique that the timing’s worked out so well.”

Last month, Thrive closed on its purchase of Stevens’ 22 Applebee’s restaurants along with another 20 from an out-of-state company, which now makes Thrive the fifth-largest Applebee’s franchisee.

The advantage of having so many restaurants in his own hometown — including three HomeGrown restaurants and a Peace Love & Pie shop and truck — is Rolph can watch restaurant traffic patterns and even hear from friends and neighbors about what they want.

“It’s our trade area. We eat at the restaurants,” he said. “And all that informs why we believe this . . . will really work out well.”

Rolph goes to church in Andover, and residents there told him how much they missed the Applebee’s at 436 S. Andover Road.

He was able to purchase the building and now is remodeling it with what he said are a lot of updates.

“We’re not just putting the signs back on the building and flipping on the lights.”

Don Piros of Landmark Commercial Real Estate handled that deal.

Rolph had already planned to remodel the Carlos O’Kelly’s space at 3025 N. Rock Road, near 29th and Rock Road, after he purchased it a couple of years ago.

“We’ve been wanting to bring . . . our newer look on Carlos to the east side of town.”

Rolph then considered moving the restaurant farther east along Greenwich, so he held off remodeling. Now he’ll do it, but for a new Applebee’s to serve that part of Wichita.

On the west side, Rolph said he’s found that the Applebee’s near Maple and Ridge Road serves the west side well, so he’s closing the one at NewMarket Square. Sunday was that restaurant’s last day in business.

“It’s a separate decision from the musical restaurants, yet it’s in the same vein,” he said. “We kind of look at this market, and we see where we believe the opportunities are.”

Rolph said he’ll eventually list the NewMarket building to sell.

There’s still a HomeGrown at NewMarket, and Rolph said he could one day bring an Applebee’s back to the area.

All the moves set the stage for the next decade or even 15 years, Rolph said.

“It dawned on me the opportunity that’s out there for us,” he said of the rearranging of the restaurants.

Remodeling is underway in Andover, and that Applebee’s likely will open sometime in January.

Then the Carlos O’Kelly’s move to 13th and Greenwich will follow, followed by the addition of the new Applebee’s on North Rock Road.

Rolph said employees will follow their restaurants to their new sites, and employees from the NewMarket Applebee’s will have new jobs at Thrive restaurants as well.

“It’s kind of wild to think about all these moves at once,” he said, “but it lays out perfectly.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 4:47 AM.