You don’t say

April 17, 20133:43 p.m.

“I think he’s been in the kitchen all day.”

– Chamber Honors Night emcee Jon Rolph on John Clevenger of Commerce Bank, which sponsored the dessert reception after the awards

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Banks, Chamber, You don't say | Comments

Costco may be close to a Wichita deal

April 11, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Wichita, you just may get your wish for a Costco — maybe even relatively soon — though how close the company is to a deal depends on who you talk to.

The Issaquah, Wash.-based chain, which sells bulk items similar to Sam’s Club stores, has been eyeing Wichita again.

“I came to the market to look at the market on a macro basis,” says co-founder and executive chairman Jeff Brotman. “I didn’t like anything I saw.”

Brotman says that “without disclosing our deepest, darkest secrets,” he can say that the locations he looked at didn’t fit with the way the market moves, meaning its natural trade areas.

“I have a mild interest,” Brotman says. “I’m interested in everything, right? . . . It’s just hard to focus on things that aren’t burning priorities.”

That’s not how others tell it. According to them, Costco is close enough to a deal that a 2013 opening isn’t out of the question.

Even Brotman says, “Let’s just assume it was true: I wouldn’t tell you about it. Even after we get a property under control, we don’t talk about it until after we have permits.”

In summer 2010, The Eagle conducted a poll of what businesses Wichitans would like to have in the city.

Costco narrowly lost the top choice to Cheesecake Factory.

“I was a little disappointed that we came in second,” Costco co-founder and then-CEO Jim Sinegal joked at the time. “I’ve got to be prepared to deal with these little disappointments in life.”

Costco has previously been close to at least one other deal here, and Sinegal said a finalized deal is simply a matter of the company giving Wichita some attention.

“Meaning . . . we get off our butts and go take a look,” he said. “At any point and time, we probably have 100 different sites we’re looking at.”

Sources say several sites have been under consideration over the last six months or so.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under New business, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Neighbors say goodbye to John Rolfe and hello to Jon Rolph

March 22, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Former Go Wichita CEO John Rolfe may be heading to a new job in Houston, but there still will someone by the same name living in his northeast Wichita house.

It’s simply spelled differently.

Jon Rolph, president of Sasnak Management, is buying John Rolfe’s house.

Jon Rolph says their real estate agent handled it brilliantly.

“She’d call one John Rolfe and then hang up and call the other Jon Rolph and then hang up and call the other John Rolfe,” he says. “That had to have been a heck of a place to be.”

The two have been friends since Jon Rolph returned to Wichita a decade ago. He made a point to meet John Rolfe. In addition to becoming friends, the two shared each other’s mail through the years, and their assistants came to know each other because people would call to make or cancel plans with one of them when really they wanted the other.

When Jon Rolph heard John Rolfe is leaving to become chief operations officer for the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, he told his friend he didn’t have to go.

“John, the town’s big enough for both of us.”

Jon Rolph is sorry to see Rolfe and his wife, Felicia, leave Wichita. He also feels for his future mailman, who will have to bring him his mail and forward John Rolfe’s.

“For the mailman to try to keep that straight … I don’t know how he’ll do it.”

 

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Intrust Bank Arena proves to be a test kitchen for Carlos O’Kelly’s Mexican Cafe

Aug. 25, 20116:11 p.m.

WICHITA — Intrust Bank Arena has proven to be a good test kitchen for Carlos O’Kelly’s Mexican Cafe.

Jon Rolph says dishes prepared at his family’s chain of restaurants usually take about seven-to-10 minutes of prep time.

“When you’re at an arena, you’ve got to do it in about 20 seconds.”

That’s what led to the invention of the Baja Chicken Wrap.

“We played around with a bunch of different (dishes), and this rose to the top,” Rolph says.

“We were really surprised at how many people would be at the arena and then come in (our restaurants) and request it.”

So now, the wrap will be on the Carlos O’Kelly’s menu along with the cilantro lime rice that’s used to make it.

“I wouldn’t be surprised . . . if we don’t discover some new opportunities,” Rolph says of other menu items born at the arena.

The wide range of customers helps, he says.

“You get to see rockers, you get to see country music lovers and hockey moms all in one place throughout the year.”

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Tweet of the week

March 4, 20104:04 p.m.

“Must have heard how good they are : -)”

— A Twitter post by Jon Rolph (@jonrolph) of Carlos O’Kelly’s on how Billy Joel requested one of the restaurant’s burritos during a break in his concert at Intrust Bank Arena Wednesday night

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Intrust Bank Arena, Restaurants, Tweet of the week, Twitter | Comments

You don’t say

Nov. 17, 20095:52 p.m.

“I was a little feisty about it.”

— Jon Rolph of Carlos O’Kelly’s on how he felt when he pulled up to the chain’s east-side restaurant and saw that a new paint job included North Carolina Tar Heel blue on the tower (which since has been corrected to feature Riviera blue instead)

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Restaurants, You don't say | Comments Off

You don’t say

Oct. 14, 20091:57 p.m.

“There are a lot of tweets by twits. But not all tweets are by twits.”

—Visioneering chairman Jon Rolph’s characterization of Twitter

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Twitter, You don't say | Comments