Copper Oven owners sell their restaurant to the owners of another local breakfast spot

Wichita’s Copper Oven Cafe & Bakery — a popular neighborhood spot on West 13th Street that serves breakfast and lunch — has new owners.

Phil and Sharon Schoenhofer, who in 2012 purchased the restaurant in the Indian Hills Shopping Center, 2409 W. 13th St., from founder Larry Burke, are ready to slow down, Phil said. The buyers of the 22-year-old restaurant took over this week.

Copper Oven is now owned by Melissa and Raul Velasquez, who over the past couple of years took over both Wichita Riverside Cafes — at 739 W. 13th St. and at 9125 W. Central . Former Riverside Cafe owner Paul Cohlmia, who sold the two businesses to the Velasquezes, is an investor in the Copper Oven purchase.

Melissa Vasquez wants to make one thing perfectly clear though: She plans to change nothing at Copper Oven — not the name, not the menu, not the decor, not the way it operates. She’s been at the restaurant learning how it operates from the Schoenhofers and says she likes the restaurant just the way it is.

“I’m keeping the same quality and the same staff,” Velasquez said. “All of the same employees stay. Nothing changes besides new owners. I’m happy to follow in the footsteps of giants.”

Actually, Velasquez will make one change, but it’s one that customers will likely welcome. Soon, she’ll start opening the restaurant on Sundays, when it’s historically been closed. (She’s not yet sure exactly when Sunday hours will start.)

Velasquez had been working as a server at the Derby Riverside Cafe, which Cohlmia still owns, for about seven years when her boss opted to sell the Wichita restaurants. She and her husband decided to buy.

Since then, she says, they’ve remodeled both of their Riverside Cafes by installing new floors, reupholstering the booths and more.

Copper Oven doesn’t need all of that, though, she said.

“I’m absolutely in love with this place,” she said. “It’s so beautiful inside... I wouldn’t touch a thing.”

Velasquez said that one of her employees at Riverside Cafe also worked at Copper Oven and told her about that restaurant being up for sale, suggesting she should buy it. She prayed about it, she said, and ultimately decided to go forward.

She’s enjoyed learning the ropes from the Schoenhofers.

“They’re the sweetest people on the entire planet,” she said. “He and his wife are so amazing and so kind and have so much knowledge about restaurants. I’ve learned so much from them over the last week that I hadn’t learned before.”

Copper Oven offers breakfast and lunch dishes, daily specials starting at $9.99 and soups made daily from scratch. It also bakes all of its own muffins and scones daily.

The Schoenhofers had long careers in the restaurant industry: They opened Potbelly’s in 1985 near 47th South and the Turnpike and ran it for about 20 years before taking over Copper Oven. They also once owned a restaurant and bar at 8442 W. 13th St. called Kanfield’s Place.

Sharon’s brother was the late Larry Conover, who ran the restaurant their father founded — Town & Country at 4702 W. Kellogg — until he died in 2020 .

“We have been trying to retire for several years and we finally get to,” Phil Schoenhofer said of the sale. “I started in the restaurant business in 1970 and am ready to slow down.”

Copper Oven’s hours for now are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Copper Oven menu

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