But the cafe space went through several tenants over the years and has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Now, though, it's about to reopen. Joseph Winfield, who has been working as a facility monitor at the downtown YMCA for about a year, will reopen the spot on Dec. 15 and call it Cafe 402 by Big Joe's Catering. He plans to serve salads, sandwiches, smoothies, protein shakes and protein snacks. He'll also offer daily specials and "immunity shots" made with different juices.
"The whole idea behind the entire cafe is to promote healthy eating," he said.
Winfield played football at Bethel College until he graduated in 2020. He then played football overseas before deciding to move back to the Wichita area.
He said he grew up learning how to cook from his father, who was a chef. He started his catering company a couple of years ago, Winfield said, and it's done well with word-of-mouth advertising. His specialties at Big Joe's Catering, Winfield said, have been tacos and barbecue.
While working at the YMCA, Winfield said, he noticed the cafe space and wondered why it wasn't open. He asked the facility's directors, who told him they'd been using it for storage but had been thinking about getting it going again.
Winfield said he came up with a business plan for the cafe and presented it to the branch directors, who liked his ideas.
He said that the cafe will be open to anyone, not just YMCA members. But members will be able to order food while they're working out upstairs and pick it up before they leave. The hours will likely be 8 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
YMCA managers also plan to use the space to offer free cooking classes, said Shamain Bachman, the branch's vice president for marketing.
His eventual goal, Winfield said, is to open his own restaurant.
"I hope this will turn into my full-time gig," he said, "hopefully in the next couple of years."
The first operator of the cafe space when the branch first opened was the Hyatt Regency. It was then run by a private chef, who called it Cafe 402, then by now-defunct coffee shop Mead's Corner.
The last operators of the cafe were Ramy and Melissa Salem, who took it over in 2017 and operated it under the name A Taste of Times Square at Cafe 402.