KC native and private chef Ashley Bare is turning her meal delivery service Hemma Hemma into a brick and mortar culinary hub. Located in the former District Pour House + Kitchen space (7122 Wornall Rd. KCMO) in Waldo, Hemma Hemma will be many things, including a “bodega” with a coffee bar and marketplace, an instructional kitchen as well as a dine-in cafeteria-style restaurant.
Bare will continue to offer her meal delivery service that Hemma Hemma is known for. Between meal deliveries and the grab and go offerings, Bare expects her restaurant to offer “Kansas City’s best prepared foods.” Hemma Hemma will serve breakfast and lunch and is expected to open in October.
Bare recognizes that cafeteria-style dining sounds “unsexy” but says it will have a refined “retro vibe.”
Hemma Hemma’s menu will offer approachable dishes with a twist and change with the seasons. Pickle fried chicken bacon ranch salad, Mexican-style potato salad, and roasted broccoli salad with a garam masala lime vinaigrette are just a few examples of what can be expected.
“Just the nature of private chef-ing and the way I like to eat, I cook the globe. I cook all different types of food,” Bare says.
The meal delivery service can be described as a “fill your fridge” concept. Clients can choose from a menu offering six different dishes, breakfast items and a kid’s menu. The deliveries take place on Monday and are meant to provide enough meals and snacks for the entire week.
Each area of Hemma Hemma, which means “at home” in Swedish, will take on a different style.
“Hemma Hemma should feel very much like home. We have incorporated a lot of residential touches,” Bare says. The interior will be decorated with soft seating, thrifted artwork, throw blankets and pillows. Even the instructional kitchen will look residential.
Bare worked in New York as a private chef and started teaching cooking classes at Haven’s Kitchen in Chelsea. When she moved back to KC, her meal prep delivery service exploded during the pandemic.
