Longtime chef and downtown restaurant owner Tina Kuehn will be taking a new approach with her K Restaurant space, backing away from regular lunch and dinner service to focus on hosting events and catering.

The restaurant at the end of the boardwalk at 8^th & Railroad Center will be ending its regular lunch and dinner menus with a Valentine’s Day dinner on Feb. 14. Lunch and dinner service will continue on their regular schedule until then, with the last Thursday dinner set for Jan. 30.

“It’s not that I don’t like doing lunches and dinners. I love them, and we have such loyal and wonderful customers. I do it with a heavy heart. It’s not something I’ve taken lightly. They’re like family,” said Kuehn who grew up in Sioux Falls, moved away and returned from the Twin Cities in 1992.

“But I think that this is the way going forward. I just am really excited about it.”

Kuehn first opened a downtown restaurant in 1993 in the space that now is Fernson Downtown. Her business went through a few names and ownership changes before becoming K in its current location in 2008.

“In the last couple years, our weekly dinners have been growing by leaps and bounds, and we’re seeing new clientele, and it just goes to show how much Sioux Falls has changed and how much downtown has changed,” she said.

Her change in business model isn’t a reflection of the restaurant’s performance, she said. Instead, it’s being driven by a couple other factors: A longtime employee decided to move on, forcing her to evaluate the operation, and her own desire to focus the rest of her career on what she likes the most.

“When I moved over here, I wanted this to be my last phase of a restaurant. I want to do stuff I have fun doing, and it has been. I love the catering aspects of it and the special events and the wine dinners,” she said. “I love every aspect of it, but it’s just so much. So for the last couple years I’ve been trying to figure out the next phase.”

She sees a niche to offer private events, classes and destination dinners such as wine-focused meals out of the space, along with offering off-site catering.

“And it will be a little more freeing, and that’s what I’m looking forward to,” she said.

She also plans to offer a dinner menu for the public on First Fridays downtown and could open for other pop-up or special events.

“I am open to a lot of different things,” she said.

The restaurant can accommodate everything from a dinner party for 14 people to an event for 50, she said, with more space during nice weather on a covered patio. K Restaurant has hosted corporate dinners, small weddings and other gathering, she said.

“Sometimes we get people who don’t want to have a dinner party in their home. We can do everything and you don’t have to do the dishes.”

Gift certificates can be redeemed any time, including for future special dinners and catering. Kuehn plans to share updates on future events through her website, Facebook page and by gathering customers’ contact information.