Foo’s Fabulous Café set to close Dec. 24 after 13 years of community business

Foo’s Fabulous Café, located in the Ranch Mart Shopping Center, is scheduled to close Dec. 24 after 13 years of business and serving the community through sponsoring church and school events, specifically within the SMSD community.

Owner Jeff Stottle said he initially chose to buy the Ranch Mart space because of its location in Leawood and proximity to local schools, including East. Stottle said he was promised that the shopping center would be remodeled within the year, but 13 years later the remodels are yet to break ground as plans were continuously pushed back.

“If this was a vibrant shopping center like Corinth and had been remodeled, we would have made money for the last 12 years,” Stottle said. “As it’s been now, we’ve just been hanging on and doing our best.”

Ranch Mart Shopping Center developer Cadence Commercial Real Estate got a remodel approved this year, which will be partially funded by a 1% community improvement district sales tax. According to Stottle, Cadence Real Estate leased the cafe to a national tenant and offered Foo’s a 1,054 square foot space within the projected remodel plans. But due to the smaller space, low street visibility and lack of curb-side parking, Stottle declined and decided to close on Christmas Eve.

The closing date was chosen to give college students a chance to come back during their Winter break and eat at Foo’s one last time according to Stottle. Because of their involvement within the schools and churches in the community, Stottle believes the cafe has managed to impact many lives.

“When we opened up here we had two primary goals,” Stottle said. “The first goal was to run a profitable operation and provide for my family and my investors. A very close second to that was to be a servant leader in the community. So we have worked our tails off to be part of the schools and churches in the community.”

To fulfill Stottle’s second goal of being a community leader, Foo’s supported nearby churches, and opened the shop an hour early on Friday mornings to give two Bible study groups a place to meet before going to work. Foo’s donated money, ice cream and event space to different organizations as well as donated to football coupon fundraisers, donated ice cream to football and dance events and sponsored multiple 5K runs within the SMSD schools. 

“They donated coffee and other supplies for our pancake breakfast,” East dance team coach Bubba Close said. “They’ve been big supporters of ours.”

Foo’s also employed students from local high schools, including around 50 East students throughout the years.

“They come to work at our store when they’re 15, 16 years old, and they’ve never had a job before; they don’t even know which end of the broom to hold,” Stottle said. “I give them as much accountability and responsibility as they can handle, so, when they graduate from high school and go on to college, they’re so mature. That’s been the biggest blessing for me.”

East junior and Foo’s employee Ava Deschaine says she will miss the other high school employees that she has gotten close to over the past year and a half of working.

“I was pretty sad [when I found out it’s closing], it’s a really fun job and I’m friends with all of the people I work with,” Deschaine said. “We always look forward to when all the graduated people come back over breaks and we all hang out.” 

Due to Foo’s close proximity to Corinth Elementary School, the cafe frequently supported Corinth through sponsoring the fun run, the Dragon Dash, as well as hosting First Tuesdays.

First Tuesdays is an event at Foo’s on the first Tuesday of every month where Corinth art teacher Kim Bogart hangs up students’ art from three different classes, and by the end of the year, each student has their artwork hung up at least once. The event brought in not only students, but families to view the artwork and eat custard. 

“[Students] bring moms and dads mostly and show them their artwork and get their pictures taken with their artwork cause they’re always proud,” Bogart said. “Usually kindergarten, first and second graders, 15 out of a class of 25 will all go and then they’ll have ice cream with their friends.” 

Bogart hopes to find a new location for First Tuesdays after Foo’s closes.

Stottle said that the cafe is busier than usual since the closing announcement on Facebook on Dec. 3, and Deschaine said she will pick up extra shifts to make up for the increase in customers.

“We probably should have announced we were closing years ago,” Stottle said. “We’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been able to leave the shop and customers are coming in crying.”