For the past year, Madison Moore has managed to bring a piece of Hawaii to landlocked Johnson Countians.

Her love story with baking started early, in a junior high economics class. She got a KitchenAid mixer after that, and began whipping up baked goods for her family and friends.

Today, her Hawaiian-inspired baked goods have worked up a following by making appearances at farmers markets in Lenexa and Mission. This winter, her bakery, Mahalo Mornings, will start a new chapter further south.

Madison Moore and her father, Tim Moore, plan to open Mahalo Mornings’ new cafe in downtown Olathe by the end of this year — the bakery’s first brick-and-mortar storefront.

Mahalo Mornings is coming to the County Square Commons

• The bakery will join multiple new tenants at the County Square Commons redevelopment, just off Santa Fe and Cherry streets in downtown Olathe.
• There, it will join Austins Bar & Grill and frozen yogurt shop Fifth & Emery at the new redevelopment.
• Pending construction, the Moores hope to open the new bakery by early December.

Mahalo Mornings will serve Hawaiian-inspired treats

Hawaiian influences will be sprinkled throughout the pastry case at Mahalo Mornings.

One menu standout will be fresh malasadas, a fluffy Hawaiian-style doughnut rolled in sugar and filled with vanilla, chocolate or coconut cream filling. (Customers will be able to choose a filling on the spot, right after the doughnut is fried and rolled in sugar.)

Mahalo Mornings will also serve other baked goods like pistachio croissants, macadamia nut bars, lilikoi bars (think lemon bars but with passionfruit), sea salt chocolate chip cookies and orange cinnamon rolls.

Besides pastries, the menu at Mahalo Mornings will also include savory choices like breakfast sandwiches and breakfast burritos.

The bakery’s Hawaiian theme stems from Madison Moore’s own love of Hawaii, where she’s taken multiple trips and fallen in love with the culture. It’s not just the beautiful nature either, she said; it’s also how people there tend to show up for one another.

“It’s just a really close-knit type community where everyone helps each other out,” she said. “I just think we need more of that in the world.”

The bakery’s name reflects that idea. “Mahalo” means “Thank you” in Hawaiian, so it’s a way of expressing gratitude for each morning. Mahalo Mornings’ logo, featuring a rooster, is also a nod to the wild chickens that roam Hawaii, (and to the idea of starting an early morning on the right note, like the crowing of a rooster).

The Hawaiian theme will also be woven into the decor — maybe even some custom tables made from old surfboards.

“We want to bring that community atmosphere to the restaurant,” Tim Moore said. “(We want it to be) more of an experience than just a transaction.”

This marks Mahalo Mornings’ first brick-and-mortar shop

In addition to farmers markets, Mahalo Mornings’ pastries can also be found in the cases at Revocup in southern Overland Park and the Foundry Coffeehouse in Lenexa. The bakery has also shown up at pop-up events and even branched into catering.

As longtime Olathe residents, Madison Moore and Tim Moore said it made natural sense for their bakery to put down business roots in Olathe too.

“We’ve lived in Olathe for almost 40 years,” Tim Moore said. “We just love the community and the downtown revitalization. We thought it would be a great place to put down roots and give back to the community that has served us so well.”

With new downtown additions popping up in both the County Square Commons and beyond (including Third Street Social and Pizza 51), Madison Moore sees downtown Olathe on the brink of real change — for the better.

“I’m super excited and just thankful that I even have the opportunity to be a part of it,” she said. “Just the sense of community, I think, will grow a lot with the new development that’s going on downtown.”

Beyond the new downtown Olathe store, the goal is for Mahalo Mornings to expand its Johnson County presence. That could look a number of different ways, from multiple brick-and-mortar stores to an on-the-go malasada truck for events.

The beginning of this new chapter, though, feels to Tim Moore like the realization of a longtime dream.

“It’s kind of come full circle,” he said. “I had a vision in my 20s to open a restaurant and it just didn’t happen, and now I get the opportunity to do it with my daughter, which is really kind of cool.”

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