WICHITA — Coleman Lockett has applied for a conditional use permit for his Bite Me BBQ, which recently moved to 130 N. St. Francis just north of the revamped Zelman Lofts.
He and his wife, Becky, and daughter, Mercedes, hope to offer live music in keeping with their “BBQ, booze and some blues” motto.
Anytime there’s a combination of alcohol and live entertainment, that qualifies a business as a “nightclub,” according to the city. Someone with the city pointed out that Bite Me is within 200 feet of a church, and that’s why the Locketts need the permit.
“So we’re jumping through the hoops now with the city,” Coleman Lockett says.
Rivercrest Free Methodist Community Church is at 136 N. Emporia.
Lockett hopes to be approved by July 5. He then plans a grand opening July 14 with music by Rain.
Lunches have been going well so far, he says, but the dinner crowds are thinner.
“You know, people who work downtown, they’re not going to go home east and west and then come back downtown to eat,” Lockett says.
He says he needs to let people living in downtown know Bite Me is there. He thinks the bands will help with that once they’re approved.
“We shouldn’t have any problem.”