Restaurant went from ‘We are absolutely not closing,’ to closing plans real quick

You can still make a run for the border this week, but you’d better be quick because Wichita’s last On the Border is closing after business on Friday along with what appears to be the rest of the chain’s restaurants.

“They’ve decided to close all the On the Borders,” said a manager at the Bradley Fair restaurant.

The manager preferred not to be named so as not to jeopardize a severance package.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, citing $25 million in debt.

The west-side On the Border at NewMarket Square closed in late May.

At the time, the general manager of the Bradley Fair On the Border said that restaurant would remain open.

“We are absolutely not closing,” she said.

On Wednesday, numerous news outlets nationally reported the chain was closing On the Border restaurants after business Friday in their cities. None had corporate confirmation but did quote multiple employees about the closures.

Last year, Houston-based Pappas Restaurants — known for Mexican restaurant Pappasito’s Cantina, among others — purchased On the Border out of bankruptcy.

Since then, Pappas closed about half of the 60 or so On the Border restaurants, whittling the number to just over 30 before the news Wednesday of the rest of the restaurants.

On the Border first announced it would be opening at Bradley Fair in 1996.

The manager who preferred not to be named said it doesn’t look like Pappas plans to put one of its other concepts in the space.

According to a closing checklist that the restaurants were given, “It appears that we are going to be leaving the facilities.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 8:19 PM.