Andre’s Confiserie Suisee‘s tea room has been a mainstay south of the Country Club Plaza for nearly seven decades.
Its tearoom – where it offers classic comfort food and gourmet Swiss-style confections – has been part of that success.
But Andre’s needs more production space so they have made the “bittersweet” decision to close the tearoom at the flagship store, 5018 Main St., Aug. 17. Its daily specials will be served until then.
Starting Aug. 20, the tearoom menu will be served exclusively in the front cafe and will include quiche lorraine, vol- au-vent and carrot salad.
Breakfast, lunch and happy hour will still be full-service.
While it will discontinue its daily lunch specials, it will periodically bring back favorites from over the decades such as chicken pot pie, lemon souffle cookies, Madame Truffle (a lighter, creamier truffle), vanilla custard Danish and pots de crème.
“We are still working through the details,” says Nancy Bollier, co-owner and director of marketing and wholesale. “It’s also a fun way for people to follow us on social media. As we release these specials we will let people know they are available.”
The tearoom will then be converted into production space and Andre’s plans to hire additional employees to staff it. No employees will be laid off.
The Bollier family opened Andre’s in 1955 and relocated next door to the current space in 1960. It has since expanded three times.
Its Facebook announcement on the tearoom closing received 161 comments by Tuesday afternoon including:
- “My KC born heart is breaking. I’ve been a diehard supporter for over 50 years and even after moving away, look forward to visiting the tearoom for lunch every time I am back visiting family. I can’t tell you how devastated I feel right now.”
- “The tea room has been my happy place since 1980! I love you are growing but will really miss eating in the tea room!!”
The family also has a location in Overland Park’s Hawthorne Plaza. It will still offer daily lunch specials.
