Restaurants that have quietly closed since the beginning of the year

While doing a recent cleanup of what restaurants have opened and closed in Wichita, I became aware of four places that have closed since the start of the year with zero fanfare. These are places that quietly went away without much in the news.

Just in case any of you have tried to stop by one of these places, here’s a heads up.

31st Street Phat Burgers – 331 W 31st St
The little burger restaurant near 31st and Broadway closed down and the entire strip center it was located in is for sale.

MoJoe’s Grill & Bar – 10919 E Harry St
They were a grill and bar located near Harry and Greenwich. This one closed in late January.

Nam Viet – 1920 E Pawnee St.
This Vietnamese restaurant that used to be Hunan Cafe is now closed but will soon be replaced by Xing Xing. Some of you may have heard of her egg rolls.

Pizza Mia – 4600 W Kellogg Dr
Located inside Towne West Mall, they are just one of a couple other spots in the mall that have closed down permanently.

Roselynn’s – 4628 S Seneca St
This was a small little restaurant on south Seneca that has been home to numerous amounts of restaurants. They tried to give it a go with tacos, burritos, burgers and more but it just couldn’t catch on.

Yummy’s Carryout – 1935 S Hydraulic Ave
Another burger restaurant located in south Wichita was around for close to five years. They quietly closed down as well.

The common denominator in most of the restaurants that have closed this year is the owner. It’s all locally owned mom and pop shops. By my rough estimate that 18 restaurants have closed over the first three months of the year. With tough times still continuing, who knows what that number could be.

In a New York Times article, they said that independent restaurants make up about two-thirds of the American dining landscape may not survive. Restaurant analysts and operators have been quoting an estimate that 75 percent of the independent restaurants that have been closed to protect Americans from the coronavirus won’t make it.

Let that sink in for a bit.

Should you be inclined to help some of our restaurant industry employees who have lost their jobs because of COVID-19, head on over to ICT Bar Rescue.

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