Two weeks ago, an Olathe mainstay turned 12 years old.
But it was a bittersweet birthday for Vader’s Bar and Deli, a longtime staple in the heart of downtown Olathe. The family-owned restaurant has made it through a lot, owner Willie Vader said, but now it’s heading toward an uncertain new chapter.
Due to plans to redevelop its building on Johnson County Square (site of the former county courthouse), Vader’s is currently working to raise funds for an expensive move north.
Vader’s Bar and Deli is at 122 N Cherry St.
Vader and his family opened the restaurant in 2012, originally known as Dub V’s, before it eventually became Vader’s.
“I’ve made it through everything for 12 years in a crazy, crazy world, so that is some measure of success,” he said.
The restaurant’s menu features items like fried chicken sandwiches, bacon cheeseburgers and garlic parmesan tater tots.
A majority of its menu can be made gluten-free — something Vader said has drawn in customers across the Kansas City metro. His daughter has Celiac disease, and he said he wanted people like her to have a safe place to eat.
“During COVID, I came up with a gluten-free fried chicken sandwich, and it was like an overnight sensation in the gluten-free world,” he said. “Soon after that, people came to realize how safe we are because all of our fryers are 100% Celiac safe.”
The city of Olathe wants to redevelop the building
The city purchased the Cherry Street building in 2023, and later publicly requested development proposals for the structure that looks out over the new Johnson County Square.
Cody Kennedy, the city’s chief communications officer, said tenants in the building were informed of their upcoming lease expirations in October 2023.
So far, Kennedy said the city hasn’t finalized any specifics for the redevelopment, but they will likely include potential restaurants or other private businesses.
In the meantime, Vader’s is now on a month-to-month lease through September.
It’s a big change for Vader, who said he planned to keep the restaurant in downtown Olathe for at least another two decades. He said he put roughly $200,000 into renovating the Olathe space from an office into a restaurant.
So far, Vader said the city hasn’t offered compensation for relocation.
His previous landlords were right next door, and he had weekly conversations with them about the future of downtown Olathe and how Vader’s fit into it.
“We would talk about the future of downtown — we talked about the (new) courthouse getting voted on, where it would go, how it would help us,” he said. “We talked about not just two years in the future, we talked about 20 years in the future.”
Vader wants to move the restaurant to Shawnee
Though nothing is set in stone yet, Vader said the goal is to move the bar and deli to downtown Shawnee.
“I just love the feel and what they’ve done in downtown Shawnee,” he said. “The gluten-free community, they come from an hour or an hour-and-a-half away all the time. So I would like to be a little more centrally located.”
He’s found a potential building there, he said, but it would cost roughly $250,000 to move there and renovate it into a restaurant space.
With the ability to cover some of that through loans and help from his future potential landlord, he has put out a call on GoFundMe asking for the community’s help in raising $150,000.
As of Thursday morning, the fundraiser has pulled in just about $4,000 in donations.
If he meets his fundraising goals, Vader expects to be able to reopen in Shawnee within a few months.
He’s not sure how fundraising will pan out, he said, but he hopes that Vader’s doesn’t have to close its doors completely. He wants to preserve his family business, but he especially wants to continue to offer a safe place for his gluten-free customers.
“These people — gluten-free people — would be kind of losing a home,” he said. “I love my job, but I also want to stay open for those folks.”
Want more food and drink news? Hot chicken eatery Mother Clucker readying new Leawood space
