Meddys, the Mediterranean chain that got its start in Wichita, has finalized a new restaurant in Olathe and is working to land a second Johnson County spot in south Overland Park. The Olathe location is set for 17943 W. 119th St., with an opening targeted for February or March 2027.
According to the Kansas City Star, the ink is dry on the Olathe deal, and the restaurant will rise on an undeveloped plot of land next to The Bar Ridgeview, a forthcoming installment of The Bar that will include a mini golf course. A separate report from the Johnson County Post placed the address at 17901 W. 119th St. and pointed to a slightly earlier window of January or February 2027, a discrepancy that hasn't been resolved between the two outlets' coverage.
Owner Alex Harb told the Star the new restaurant will be comparable in size to Meddys' Prairie Village location at 4105 W. 83rd St. That gives Johnson County diners a sense of scale before the doors even open, and it keeps with a format Harb says works well for the brand's neighborhood approach.
A Second Johnson County Site Taking Shape at Bluhawk
Beyond Olathe, Harb is also working to secure a spot in Bluhawk, the south Overland Park development off 159th Street and Highway 69, though that site has not been finalized. It would mark Meddys' second active pursuit in the county at once, following a steady build-out across the Kansas City suburbs.
Bluhawk is being built as more than a retail center: the 277-acre development combines shopping and dining with housing, offices, health care, lodging and a sports complex. Its developer says a 160,000-square-foot second phase of retail, dining and entertainment is scheduled to open in spring 2027, alongside the existing AdventHealth Sports Park. That project mix could put a Meddys at a destination serving both nearby residents and visitors drawn by sports and entertainment. Bluhawk’s development plans describe the coming phase and the site’s broader mix of uses.
The Johnson County Post reported in September that Meddys was also eyeing the Bluhawk corridor, noting the chain's new Overland Park restaurant near 115th Street and Nall Avenue, close to the Aspiria corporate campus, was expected to open in mid-November. That timeline lines up with Harb's broader strategy of clustering locations around Johnson County's busiest commercial nodes rather than spreading thin.
From One Wichita Storefront to a Regional Footprint
Meddys has operated for 12 years and has had a presence in the Kansas City area for four years, building out six other locations across the metro alongside two in Omaha and four in Oklahoma, per the Star's reporting. The menu has stayed consistent across markets, with staples like falafel, shawarma, succulent chicken and a hummus plate anchoring each location.
Harb’s path to opening a Wichita restaurant began far from the Kansas food scene. He moved to the United States from Lebanon in the late 1990s to study computer science at Wichita State University, working in restaurants while in school before pursuing a career in food after time in information technology. The company says its menu drew on Harb’s childhood and his mother’s recipes, developed with a Lebanese cook. Meddys’ account of its origins dates the first Wichita location to 2014.
Harb said he once hesitated to take the brand beyond its hometown. “I was terrified to expand out of Wichita because I didn't know how people's perception of Meddys was gonna be,” he said, according to the same Star report. He added that the concept has been well received and that Meddys is grateful for the backing it has found locally: “We're very grateful for all the love we've had from the Kansas City market,” Harb said. “We like neighborhood-y locations.”
That growth has tracked a broader trend among Wichita-born restaurant brands. A February report from the Star noted Meddys had already expanded to 16 locations across Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska, and the Wichita Eagle reported last year that Harb expected the chain to reach 25 sites across seven states within a year, alongside plans to eventually begin franchising. The Eagle also noted that fellow Wichita chain HomeGrown has followed a similar trajectory, growing to 14 restaurants in five states and competing for some of the same markets.
Harb is also weighing a location in Lincoln, Nebraska, as Meddys continues pushing outward from its Kansas roots. For now, though, Johnson County remains the center of gravity, with Harb saying the brand intends to keep building its following in the Kansas City market as the Olathe and Bluhawk plans move forward.
