Wichita’s California Tortilla has closed, but a new restaurant tenant will take over the space
An almost 4-year-old restaurant in the center of Wichita’s booming K-96 and Greenwich restaurant corridor has closed, but a new tenant with a familiar name has already signed the lease to move into the space.
California Tortilla, the build-your-own burrito restaurant that first opened at 2244 N. Greenwich in January of 2020, closed at the end of business on Friday, said franchisee Terri Jabara, who took over the restaurant from its original franchisee in November 2021.
The Jabaras started looking for new franchisees a year ago, having decided that Wichita was more of a “Chipotle or true Mexican” town, Terri said. Unable to find anyone, they finally decided to let the restaurant go when they found someone to take over their lease.
“As hard as it was, we knew it was time,” she said.
The new tenants are the owners of Social Tap, a tap room that contains two different restaurant concepts under its roof and opened at Braeburn Square on the Wichita State University Innovation Campus, 4510 E. 19th St., in August 2021. The business has a big lake-facing patio and asks patrons to order drinks and food and pay their bills using their phones.
Justin Neel, who owns social tap with Luke Luttrell and David Hopkins, said that they have signed a lease for the space and that Social Tap will be taking it over, but he said he can’t share any more specific details just yet.
“We love the energy of the whole space,” Neel said of the building, which sits in The Village at Greenwich, in between Starbucks and Oak & Pie.
Neel promised to share more details about the project as soon as he could.
The Jabaras took over California Tortilla, which is part of a Maryland-based chain, after it had been closed for nearly three months. Original franchisee Mark Polling said at the time he had to step back from the restaurant to deal with ongoing health issues.
The couple was excited about running the restaurant, and they had great customers, Terri Jabara said. But they didn’t have enough freedom to build the business the way they wanted to.
“With it being a franchise so far away and them having control of social media, it was very difficult to advertise and get the new customers we needed,” she said.
Social Tap has two restaurant concepts, both owned by Social Tap, that operate from inside the space: Sungrano Pizza and Wheatly’s Burgers. A year ago, the owners closed Wheatly’s, saying that Sungrano Pizza needed more space to operate and that Wheatly’s would reopen in another spot. But Social Tap customers were not happy that Wheatly’s had left the space, so the owners brought it back, saying they’d continue to search for another standalone spot to open Wheatly’s.
Stay tuned for more information about the new Social Tap project as soon as it is available.
