A company offering aspiring cooks of all ages a spot in the kitchen is expanding its Johnson County presence.
Taste Buds Kitchen will open a new downtown Overland Park location in the coming months — its second in Johnson County.
Local franchise owner Matt Robinson estimated the new kitchen will open in early 2025 — either in January or February.
Taste Buds Kitchen will be at 8085 Metcalf Ave.
- The center will occupy a space on the ground level of the Avenue 81 senior living facility, just off West 80th Street and Metcalf Avenue.
- Taste Buds Kitchen will be the retail space’s first occupant, and it will neighbor Casey’s and the F45 Training fitness center.
- Once it opens, the new Overland Park location will operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday — the same hours as its Leawood location.
Taste Buds Kitchen offers cooking classes for all ages
The center offers a range of cooking classes for kids, adults and families at every ability level.
Children can join in on classes as young as 2 years old — though from 2 to 8 years old, they must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
For adults, Robinson said the center offers classes catered toward events like date nights, nights out with friends, or corporate events. (Guests at these types of events can bring in their own alcohol as well.)
“You get to come make a meal, learn some tips and tricks, and just have a good time at the same time,” Robinson said.
Taste Buds Kitchen has been in JoCo for 7 years
Matt Robinson and his wife, Jenny Robinson, opened the Leawood franchise in 2017.
They’d been looking for a place to host a cooking birthday party for their daughter, Matt said, but no such place existed in Johnson County at the time.
Then on a trip to New York later on, they “stumbled upon” the Taste Buds Kitchen concept and decided it would be a great thing to bring back to the Kansas City area.
By opening a second kitchen, Robinson said that Taste Buds Kitchen will be able to offer more weekend classes, which have increased in demand at the Leawood location.
“We’re just really excited about offering a whole new group of kids the opportunity to come to our camps and birthday parties and things like that,” he said. “For the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve grown up with Food Network and all the cooking shows and all that stuff that kids see online. (Taste Buds Kitchen) kind of gives them an outlet for what they’re seeing on TV as well.”
Bringing the concept further north, he said, will open the door to a new batch of customers (particularly younger kids who want to learn to cook, but can’t make the trip out south as easily), as well as some new employees.
“We get a lot of high school kids who come and work part-time, and we’ve got a few now that are in college but some come back and work during breaks,” he said. “It’s always fun to have some new employees and support the community from that aspect.”
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