Family-owned boba shop opens in JoCo: ‘See our community come together’
A new family-run boba shop opened in south Overland Park over the weekend to a line of waiting customers, selling a variety of milk teas and pastries with the hopes of fostering community.
Te Amo Cafe, located at 7932 W. 151st St., has been in the making for a year now, according to Alysha Khan, 18, the head of social media for her parents’ business. Her family lives nearby and watched the Stanley Square Shopping Center be revamped and become the perfect location, she said.
Their storefront had to be completely renovated since it wasn’t originally a food or drink business and had low ceilings.
“It means a little more to us, because we pass by this area every single day. Knowing that we have a place of our own so close to our house,” Alysha Khan said.
Opening day was a huge success, she added. Originally anxious no one would show up, the Alysha Khan was surprised to see several people outside waiting for them to open. Everyone in the family had made sacrifices to open on time, with Alysha herself taking time off from her senior year in high school to talk to painters and builders.
“When we opened the door, and we saw the line, I was about to start crying,” she said. “This is insane, like people are here for us.”
The space was designed by her and her mother, Sabeen Khaliq, with the goal of creating tranquility. It’s filled with mint green cabinetry, greenery hanging from rattan woven ceiling lights and a large coffee cup mural near the entrance filled with flowers.
“We wanted to be a little more unique and different, so we decided to do a cup design of our own cup and added flowers brewing out of it, representing our drinks. We wanted this store to be really green in nature to represent a breath of fresh air when people come here, they come to relax,” Alysha Khan said about their version of a flower wall.
Te Amo Cafe sells customizable milk teas, coffee, matcha, lemonades, brew tea, fruit tea and more with the ability to add toppings like brown sugar boba and crystal boba. Drink prices range from $6 to $8.
There are also several cake options and croffles, which is a waffle made with both croissant and waffle batter to make it crispier (both $7).
The name Te Amo comes from Spanish, meaning I love you. It’s the tone the family wanted to instill for customers.
“We wanted to see our community come together, and if they were able to sit somewhere and have fun and we were the reasons behind that, that meant so much to us,” Alysha Khan said.
Both of Alysha Khan’s parents are originally from Pakistan. They moved to Texas in 2007 before coming to Kansas City in 2015. Her mother, Sabeen Khaliq, 48, is a doctor and her father, Mehtab Khan, 53, is an engineer.
Both Khaliq and Mehtab Khan have long since dreamed of opening a business together. They had one briefly in Texas, but it was when they moved to KC that Khaliq discovered their new passion.
“We moved here to Overland Park, and that’s when my parents were finally able to start their dream again of owning and running a business. And that’s where my mom found boba, and she loved it. She was like, ‘If I’m going to do business, I’m going to do this,’” Alysha Khan said, adding that her dad eagerly agreed.
Khaliq and Mehtab Khan began working with boba in 2020. That was the year they opened their first Fat Bee Boba franchise in Lee’s Summit and opened a second in St. Joseph in 2024 before deciding to add their own brand venture.
Alysha Khan says she hopes her family’s passion and drive inspires others.
“I hope it proves to people that you can do anything, and you can do everything and you can do it together as well. You don’t need to do it alone,” she said. “For them to do this, it’s a big deal for us. For my mom to be full-time pursing her own medical career and my dad be working full-time pursuing his own business and work,” she said.
Khaliq and Mehtab Khan plan to eventually expand to a second location, continuously refresh their menu and extend hours as time goes on. In the meantime, they are encouraging feedback from customers to see how they can improve.
“This is not static,” Alysha Khan said. “Especially with everything on our menu and like our drinks and everything. We want to keep changing it, making it fun, keeping it interesting so people can come back and try something new.”
Te Amo is open every day from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
