Overland Park neighbors shared their homemade toffee, then turned it into a business

On Cedar Street in Overland Park, children play in their yards and neighbors offer a friendly wave to each other and exchange pans of home-baked goods.

Three of the residents got an idea to expand that neighbor spirit to others — by taking their favorite toffee recipe and turning it into a small business.

Teresa Spiess also is a property manager and mother of three boys — Graham, 10; Gabe, 9; and Oliver, 7. Her partner in the new Cedar Street Toffee is Andrea Johnson, who works in insurance and is mother to Tate, 4, and Nash, 2. They said a third partner dropped out of the business but their husbands and children often step in to help out.

Earlier this year the women whipped up batches of their original toffee recipe for a couple of hours each night for two months to perfect it.

Now they head to a commercial kitchen twice a month to make retail batches.

They named it Cedar Street after their sociable street and sell the toffee online and at Foo’s Fabulous Cafe in Leawood. Foo’s had been selling another local brand of toffee but replaced it with Cedar Street Toffee.

“Cedar is hyper-local, just up the road, and they gave me some samples and I was just overwhelmed the quality of the toffee,” said Jeff Stottle of Foo’s.

The owners of Cedar Street Toffee also are making local deliveries for orders of $20 or more. Prices start at $10 for 1/4-pound packages up to $55 for a party pack.

After the holidays the women plan to introduce a “non-nut” toffee with dark chocolate.

Frontier Justice for KCK

Lee’s Summit’s Frontier Justice plans a fall/winter 2017 opening for its new location at 1720 N. 100th Terr. in Kansas City, Kan. The new 34,000-square-foot building will be just east of Interstate 435.

Frontier Justice is described as a “premium firearms destination.”

President Bren Brown said the spot near the Legends Outlets Kansas City and the Kansas Speedway has good traffic and will be more convenient for her Kansas customers.

Frontier Justice opened in early 2015 at 800 N.E. Jones Industrial Drive in Lee’s Summit. It has a firearms training facility, indoor shooting range, gun club, cafe, lounge area for members, and retail area selling apparel for men and women, conceal carry accessories, jewelry and more.

Ronnie’s Restaurant for Lenexa

Locally owned Ronnie’s Restaurant, a breakfast and lunch operation softly opened Monday in the former Arris’ Pizza & Pub spot at 12812 W. 87th St. Parkway, Lenexa. Menu items include omelets, sandwiches, wraps and salads. It is a sister restaurant to Kate’s Kitchen in the Northland.

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This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Overland Park neighbors shared their homemade toffee, then turned it into a business."