Town Topic closes JoCo restaurant. But another favorite burger stand will replace it

The owners of a downtown Overland Park burger stand are expanding.

And they said they couldn’t have done it without the loyal support of their fans during the pandemic.

Matt Tolle and his wife, Rayna Andrew, opened the The Snack Shack on Santa Fe in 2011. Now they have purchased the former Town Topic building on Johnson Drive in Mission and plan to open a second Snack Shack in the space this summer. Tolle says he spent part of his childhood in Mission.

Snack Shack is known for its burgers, fries and shakes, as well as its customer service — with Tolle and the couple’s son, Jack Tolle, working in the restaurant full time.

Andrew said it also has a nostalgic feel, one that they didn’t set out to create. They are hoping to bring the same feel to Mission and are looking forward to getting to know the community there.

“We’re just so excited,” Andrew said.

Town Topic is one of Kansas City’s oldest restaurant concepts, dating to a little diner that opened downtown in 1937. It still has two Crossroads locations.

The Mission location opened in early 1987 at 6018 Johnson Drive. It shut down in March 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. While owner Scot Sparks planned to reopen the location, instead he sold it to Snack Shack earlier this year for an undisclosed price.

“I wanted to make sure someone good went in there, and Matt has a great restaurant. If I want a hamburger and I don’t come down to Town Topic, I go to Snack Shack,” Sparks said. “They will do a great job out in Mission. I’m just a great fan.”

Sparks plans to continue to grow the Town Topic diners.

“We had a tremendous year last year. We were so lucky,” he said. “I try to keep it as it once was. It’s a bit of a time capsule. Sit down at the counter, at the stool, and talk to that guy or lady next to you. That’s who we are really — that urban diner.”

His former Mission building has 40 seats indoors, and the new owners will add a patio. The Overland Park Snack Shack only has 18 seats inside but has outdoor seating, and customers also take their meals to Thompson Park, next door, during nicer weather.

Snack Shack’s menu includes a variety of burgers, onion rings, fries, sweet corn nuggets, hot dogs, hand-breaded pork tenderloins, crispy chicken sandwiches, shakes and malts, chocolate dipped cones and limeades. The new location will have about 10 employees.

The Johnson Drive spot has long been a burger stand. Joe’s Whopperburger operated there in the 1960s and 1970s, then Burgers Unlimited in the 1980s.