Bakery popular at farmers market opening Johnson County storefront soon. Here’s where
On any given Overland Park Farmers’ Market day, the Frannie Franks Coffee Cakes stand bustles with hungry customers.
Their hands reach into the stacks of personal-pan coffee cakes: apple crumb, cinnamon streusel, lemon blueberry cheesecake and other flavors.
Last market day, a new sign announced the arrival of their new storefront — 11828 Roe Ave., in the old Ruby Jean’s Juicery space in Leawood’s Town Center Plaza.
Owner Jill McEnroe said she’s eager for her large Johnson County customer base to be able to buy her cakes on a more consistent basis. Some visit the market on Saturdays and Wednesdays just for her. (Don’t worry, the Frannie Franks Coffee Cake stand will still be at the Overland Park Farmers’ Market.)
“They’re really excited,” McEnroe said. “We get to meet even more people and build those memories.”
McEnroe is aiming to open the store Sept. 1. It will be her second permanent location. The first opened at 1096 E. Winner Road in Independence about three years ago.
The new Johnson County spot will look a little different than the store in Independence. While the previous location has some seating, she’s pushing the new store’s counter up to make room for a large, commercial kitchen, so customers will have to take their coffee cake to go.
Frannie Franks’ growth
Frannie Franks itself began “accidentally” 15 years ago, after McEnroe baked her mother’s famous cinnamon streusel coffee cake for her boss’s birthday. She sent a second moist, crumbly cake with her husband and told him to share it with his co-workers.
“‘You could sell these,’” McEnroe recalled her boss saying after tasting the cake.
Her husband’s co-workers also requested McEnroe make cakes for them, so she decided to begin selling them on the side.
While the first part of the business name — Frannie — pays homage to her mother, her grandfather, Frank, makes up the other half. (The recipe was originally her grandmother’s, but “Frank” sounds like “coffee cake.”)
The logo is an old, black-and-white portrait of her mother.
Five years ago, McEnroe quit her job and went full-time with Frannie Franks, bringing on her niece, Jenny Thompson, to help.
Her flavor list has since ballooned from one, then three, and now 150.
The opportunities keep coming, too. She’s catered the Thundergong! celebrity comedy fundraiser, as well as the Chiefs’ VIP suite at the Christmas game.
Frannie Franks ships cakes across the country. It’s sold online at franniefrankscoffeecakes.com. Small cakes go for $6, while large ones — serving up to 16 — cost $25.
‘A slice of love’
Whether customers buy in-person or not, McEnroe promises freshness.
“The big draw for our cake is we don’t have a freezer,” she said. “You are never getting a frozen cake.”
Plus, McEnroe believes the cake’s rich history carries through to its flavor. She remembers her mother baking the treat often, in her pearls and high heels. The aroma often filled their home.
“We have people tell us it tastes like a slice of love,” she said. “It sounds really corny, but … there’s a lot of story there.”
Ruby Jean’s closed its Leawood location in May, after having been open for two years.
“It never caught on in Leawood,” owner Chris Goode told The Star at the time. “It just didn’t happen for us there.”
Ruby Jean’s still has its 3000 Troost Ave. juicery in Kansas City and a spot inside Whole Foods at 301 E. 51st St. in KC. It also wholesales to 150 sites, including the Current’s new CPKC Stadium.
