Heritage Development in Andover lands a taproom that’s already familiar to Wichitans

The latest business that’s going to be opening at Andover’s Heritage Square is one that’s already well known in Wichita.

It’s Social Tap Drinkery, the taproom and restaurant that opened on Wichita State University’s campus in 2021 and added a smaller site at the Village at Greenwich at 21st and Greenwich in late 2023.

“We’ve had a tremendous calling to come out to Andover from the people who live there,” said operating partner Justin Neel. “I’ve been eyeballing the SkyLofts for quite some time.”

The SkyLofts at The Heritage are the apartments at the 110-acre Heritage development.

They sit above commercial spaces in three buildings — though they look like one — that are starting to fill up with tenants.

Social Tap will anchor the south end of the three buildings and will face Kellogg.

“It’ll put us over 50% occupancy,” said Jerry Jones, one of the Heritage developers.

He said Social Tap will be a destination for Andover and other cities around it.

“The biggest thing is it diversifies our food offerings,” Jones said.

Livingston’s Cafe already is operating there.

Jones said Social Tap gives diners an evening option for food and sporting events.

“It’s also a fun place to go after dinner,” he said.

“They have a great bar with a lot of beer taps and mixed drinks.”

Neel said beer offerings rotate regularly.

Within Social Tap will be Sungrano Pizza and Wheatly’s burgers, two concepts Neel and his partners, David Hopkins and Luke Luttrell, also own.

There will be a brick oven for pizza in Andover, unlike the 21st and Greenwich space, which isn’t large enough for one.

Neel said the oven gives them the ability to make a variety of pizza styles.

Social Tap opened at WSU during the pandemic after he and his partners had been studying virtual kitchens.

“We furnished the facility for new restaurants or already existing restaurants to operate as carryout only,” Neel said.

He said part of their idea was to give new restaurateurs a chance to figure out if the business is right for them by leasing part of the space for a year.

Neel said a lot of people “don’t understand the margins are very small, the hours are incredibly long.”

Instead, they ended up keeping the Social Tap space strictly as their own with pizza and burgers.

“The campus was still closed during that initial start,” Neel said. “Since then we’ve had tremendous year-over-year growth.”

He and his partners made some changes along the way, too.

For instance, they closed Wheatly’s and planned to open it elsewhere.

“Everyone quickly told me that was a silly idea,” Neel said. “Customers really let me know it fast.”

Also, they discovered that since their business is on campus, liquor sales need to be equal to food sales. When Wheatly’s left, sales dropped 25%.

The new Social Tap will be about 4,000 square feet compared to the 5,600 square feet at WSU.

“It’s just a little too big,” Neel said.

That’s because of the initial plan for virtual kitchens.

At the Andover space, there will be a two-sided covered patio facing south and west.

Neel hopes to open in late summer.

He and his partners are working with SPT Architecture as they have previously.

“They really captured what we wanted,” Neel said.

“Restaurants are an emotion. They’re a feeling. You’ve got a limited amount of time to make a difference in someone’s day.”

Neel said the new space will have the same open feeling as the original and be able to accommodate large parties.

“It’s OK for 40 people to walk in,” he said.

Andover will have the popular graffiti wall that Social Tap is known for, too.

“People love it,” Neel said.

He said he and his partners are using this new Social Tap as their model for future ones, which may one day include Derby. Neel said they’re targeting college towns as well.

Kurt Yowell with Street Commercial handled the Andover deal.

Neel said he sees Social Tap becoming a community gathering spot for the city.

“It’s going to be great for Andover.”

In their original plans, Heritage Square developers penciled in a fourth building on the north side of the current buildings near where Andover Family Optometry is going to open.

With the first three buildings now filling up, Jones said, “This is making us think about getting that fourth building built.”