Mama Resch’s gluten-free bakery opens in Overland Park

Four years ago, Angela Resch’s nearly 7-year-old son was diagnosed with severe food allergies.

When she couldn’t find safe and tasty food — as good or better than what his friends were eating — she created recipes of her own.

Now Resch, who had previously worked as an executive in the apparel industry, is selling those items from her new gluten-free and allergen-friendly bakery in south Overland Park.

Mama Resch’s offers a variety of products with selection varying daily. But customers can order anything the bakery makes by pre-ordering online 48 hours before pickup.

Items include oatmeal cookies, Snickerdoodles, hot dog and hamburger buns, banana bread, brownies, millet sandwich bread and millet dinner rolls, pizza crust, baked chocolate donuts, graham crackers, sun-dried tomato crackers, chocolate chip granola bars, and pancake mix.

“The response has been overwhelming. I think I cry every day,” Resch said. “It is a place where the kids can come in and safely pick what they want from the case. I had a girl who was 13 years old and never had a doughnut in her life.”

The bakery, in Metcalf 127 at 12635 Metcalf Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. It is closed Sunday and Monday.

After nearly 22 years in Overland Park, Hooters has remodeled.

The 5,800-square-foot restaurant and bar, in Hooters Plaza at 10620 Metcalf Ave., has a brighter, more open feel with a central bar, new seating including booths and high-back chairs, and an outdoor patio, bringing seating capacity to more than 250 people. There also are new high-definition televisions throughout the restaurant.

New menu items include shrimp and spinach salad, Cobb salad, a smothered chicken sandwich, a blackened mahi mahi sandwich and Baja fish tacos.

Hooters of America LLC is the franchisor and operator of more than 412 Hooters restaurants internationally. The first Hooters opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Fla.

The Overland Park restaurant and bar opened in 1992, when the name of the center was changed from Overland Station Shops to Hooters Plaza.

The 39 Street Bevco Restaurant Retail Group has closed three of its operations, but will expand its barbecue concept.

The company closed its 119th Street Diner, a breakfast/lunch/dinner operation in Olathe; Quasimodo Live Music in Overland Park; and Fresh Grill, a breakfast, salad and sandwich operation in south Kansas City.

However, its Jon Russell’s Kansas City Barbecue concept is scheduled to open in the former Fresh Grill space, at 13145 State Line Road, in March, after the space is remodeled.

The company’s Overland Park Jon Russell restaurant had created many of the menu items at Fresh Grill and some of those customer favorites, including its specialty salads, will return.

Tracy Mandel McHugh, president of 39 Street Bevco, said the company is changing its business model. Previously, it had offered several diverse concepts. Now it will concentrate on the operations with “more potential.”

The company also has a Pita Mediterranean Grill in south Kansas City, 39th Street Market in midtown and Prairie Market in Lenexa.

A Jon Russell outlet also will open in 39th Street Market in March.

Sonic Drive-In has closed at 8031 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park. The 2,200-square-foot building is for sale.

Sonic said the closing is “a normal part of business” for a chain of its size. .

Sonic opened on the Metcalf site in 1996. The company said it has several locations within a five-mile radius of the spot.

This story was originally published January 14, 2014 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Mama Resch’s gluten-free bakery opens in Overland Park."