A shared concept restaurant featuring an IHOP and Paris Baguette may soon finally break ground near Oak Park Mall in Overland Park.
Co-owner Mike Issa of Wichita says securing the permits to begin construction on the site at 95th and Nieman (next to a newly constructed Bank of America) could happen by the end of this month.
“We own the dirt and are ready to build everything from the ground up,” Issa said.
Deal was first announced in 2021
The Post reported two year ago that Issa and his business partner, Moe Touffaha, were planning on opening the first Paris Baguette in the area at this exact location.
The men were aiming for an opening in September 2022.
Issa hopes to finalize the permitting process this month and immediately begin construction on what he estimates to be a five- to six-month building process.
“We’re going to hit the ground running and — without construction delays — we will definitely be open by early next year,” he said.
Issa said he and Touffaha aim to have this be the first of many Paris Baguettes they want to bring to the Kansas City market.
In addition to permitting, he also attributes the delays to COVID-19 complications of the last three years.
IHOP will take up most of the new building
IHOP will occupy about 4,500 square feet of the new structure, and Paris Baguette will lease the remaining 1,500 square feet of the yet-to-be constructed building.
The restaurant was originally intended to just be an IHOP, but Issa says they will be experimenting with the shared restaurant concept at only this location in town.
Beginning in 2005, the pair — both originally from Lebanon — began acquiring IHOP locations throughout Kansas, and now operate 12 in both the Wichita and Kansas City markets, including locations in Merriam and Overland Park.
Paris Baguette is Korean chain with no KC locations
The two men discovered Paris Baguette on work trips to New York City more than five years ago and saw potential for it here.
“We fell in love with them, but they weren’t expanding to the Midwest,” Issa said. “It’s a name that is very popular on the East Coast.”
Paris Baguette began in 1986 in South Korea, and has since grown to a multinational chain of bakery-cafes with more than 3,600 retail stores worldwide, including more than 100 in the United States.
Issa said the Wichita location is used frequently for organizations that need catering and delivers breakfast and lunch sandwiches, along with pastry trays.
The menu offers customers everything from Chicken Fajita salads and seasonal specials, like BBQ Chicken Pizzetta. \
“People will fall in love with the pastries, the cakes, and even with the assortment of sandwiches,” Issa said. “We will be unique in the market. There’s really no competition for it is that we do.”
Ben McCarthy is a contributor to the Post and other publications in the Kansas City area. He can be reached at ben.c.mccarthy@gmail.com with questions, comments and story suggestions.
