The team behind popular restaurant Rye is expanding its footprint with a new bakery and coffee shop called Cornflower Baked Goods — in the building next to its Leawood location at Mission Farms.
Owners Megan and Colby Garrelts opened Rye, which they describe as an “upscale urban farmhouse” in Leawood in December 2012. Following its success there, they opened a second location at the Country Club Plaza in November 2017.
While Rye serves hearty entrees like fried chicken and steak, both locations also have a popular bakery counter, known best for its pies.
New bakery will also be at Mission Farms complex
The original idea for Cornflower came from a need for space, which Megan Garrelts said was a good problem to have.
“We have to turn away quite a bit of corporate orders for pies and sometimes cinnamon rolls and other things because we just don’t have enough room in the restaurant,” she said.
The initial plan was to build a production kitchen in a building behind the Leawood location, but when a storefront opened up nearby at 10555 Mission Road, the Garrelts shifted concepts.
“That actually seemed like a better fit to have a little bit of a storefront, and then we’d still have some production kitchen space, too,” Megan said.
Cornflower will be aimed at “take and go” orders
Megan said patrons will be able to get Rye’s bakery staples like pies and cinnamon rolls, but that they’re also working on some new menu ideas for Cornflower.
“I’m still buttoning up exactly what those are, doing some testing of things,” she said. “You can expect some savory breakfast items, some grab-and-go sandwiches. We’ll also do some canned cocktails.”
Megan said the bakery will also have a “nice, tight coffee menu” with beans sourced from Arkansas-based Onyx Coffee Lab.
While there will be around six to eight counter stools in the window of Cornflower, the bakery is intended to be “take and go.”
Where does the name come from?
Megan said the name Cornflower continues their theme of using native plants as inspiration.
Both Rye and the couple’s first restaurant Bluestem — which closed in 2020 — were named after prairie grasses.
“Cornflower is another from the land,” she said. “It was also a flower I had in my wedding bouquet, so I’ve long adored it.”
The Garrelts are aiming to open Cornflower in late February or early March.
