More Knolla’s news: Local chain’s oldest operating restaurant will move sometime next year
On Tuesday, we reported that a new Knolla’s Pizza would be opening early next year in the former Pinot’s Palette space at 338 N. Mead in Old Town Square.
Today, there’s more Knolla’s news.
It appears that sometime in 2024, the Knolla’s Pizza that has operated at 7020 W. Central since 2005 will be moving. Owner Dan Knolla — who also has the Knolla’s restaurant at 4041 N. Maize Road — said that he was notified a year ago that his lease would be up on Halloween 2024, and he’s been searching for somewhere to move ever since.
He thinks he’s found a spot at a prominent west-side intersection. Though he doesn’t want to share the address until he’s closed on his purchase of the land — which should happen in late January — he said he plans to build a new restaurant on the site.
Until then, he said, the current Knolla’s restaurant will continue to operate as normal.
Knolla said that, in a way, he’ll be sorry to leave Central and Ridge. The restaurant there has always been busy, he said, and on a recent Friday, it had its busiest day since it opened 19 years ago.
But the building is aging, he said, and it’s really too small. His staff, led by his sons, has started to outgrow it.
The restaurant space he’s planning to build will have a bigger kitchen and room for about 30 seats, he said.
“It’ll have just a little bit more space for the guys,” he said.
Back in 2021, the Taco Pronto restaurant that operated next door to the Knolla’s Pizza at Central and Ridge closed, and in January 2022, the owners of the Central Heights Shopping Center, which also includes bargain outlet Ollie’s, tore the Taco Pronto building down. At the time, the leasing agent for the center said that the owners wanted more visibility for the shopping center’s north side. As of now, though, the north-facing side of the shopping center is still vacant.
Knolla’s restaurants in Wichita are owned by different members of the Knolla family. Dan Knolla and his wife, Ruth, have their two restaurants. Dan’s brother, Pat — who brought Knolla’s to Wichita — died in 2015, but his daughters Darinda and Raelene Knolla own the restaurant at Douglas and Main and are also opening the restaurant in Old Town. Darinda also owns the Knolla’s at Central and Rock.
