Best Regards Bakery & Cafe

Best Regards Bakery & Cafe is a from-scratch European-style bakery and lunch cafe at 6759 W 119th St in Overland Park, owned and operated by husband-and-wife founders Robert and Cherrie Duensing. What began as a basement gift-basket business in 1993 grew into a full artisan bakery and cafe known for naturally-leavened breads, brioche cinnamon rolls, and elaborately decorated sugar cookies — earning owner Robert a turn on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge. Tier 1: an owner-operated, locally-founded family business with three decades of roots in the Kansas City metro.¹²

Description

Best Regards Bakery & Cafe is a from-scratch bakery and lunch cafe in southern Overland Park, Kansas, in the Kansas City metro.¹ Everything is made in-house, including the dressings, soups, and sauces, and the bakery produces naturally-leavened, crusty artisan breads alongside pastries, cakes, cookies, and chocolates.² Signature items include the brioche cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, the Cranberry Orange Cookie, Texas Sheet Cake, and the elaborately decorated frosted sugar cookies the shop is best known for.²

The cafe side serves a lunch menu built around grilled cheese sandwiches in numerous variations, plus other sandwiches, soups, and salads.¹² The business has operated for more than three decades in the metro, evolving from a home-based gift-basket operation into a commercial bakery and finally a full bakery-cafe.²

The shop is located at 6759 W 119th St, Overland Park, KS 66209, and is reachable at (913) 912-7238.¹³ It operates Monday through Friday 8:00 AM–4:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 AM–2:00 PM, and is closed Sunday.¹

Ownership and history

Best Regards was founded by Cherrie Duensing in 1993 as “Best Regards Gift Baskets,” run out of the family basement before moving to a roughly 2,000-square-foot warehouse in Lenexa.² Cherrie and her husband Robert Duensing transformed the enterprise from gift baskets into a commercial bakery in 2002.² In January 2011 they opened the Overland Park retail location and acquired an artisan bread-baking oven, beginning production of naturally-leavened crusty breads that summer; the operation expanded into a full bakery and cafe by Fall 2012.²

Local radio personality Toby Tobin discovered the bakery in 2007 and dubbed Robert the “Cookie Man,” encouraging the seasonal decorated-cookie work the shop became known for.² In December 2017, Robert competed on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge, which the business credits with raising its profile.² The bakery remains family-owned and owner-operated.¹²

Links

• Website: https://makethemsmile.com/
• Listings: Yelp · Visit Overland Park

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

Footnotes

1. Yelp — Best Regards Bakery & Cafe, Overland Park. https://www.yelp.com/biz/best-regards-bakery-and-cafe-overland-park — asserts: address 6759 W 119th St, Overland Park, KS 66209; phone (913) 912-7238; hours Mon–Fri 8–4, Sat 8–2, closed Sun; bakery & cafe with scratch-made baked goods and grilled-cheese lunch; listing updated April 2026 with 182 reviews and 131 photos (active operation). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Best Regards official site, “Our Story.” https://makethemsmile.com/ourstory.htm — asserts: founded by Cherrie Duensing as gift baskets in 1993 (later Lenexa warehouse); owners Cherrie and Robert Duensing; became commercial bakery 2002; Overland Park location and artisan bread oven Jan 2011; naturally-leavened breads Summer 2011; full bakery & cafe Fall 2012; Toby Tobin “Cookie Man” 2007; Robert on Food Network Christmas Cookie Challenge Dec 2017; signature Cranberry Orange Cookie, Texas Sheet Cake, brioche cinnamon rolls, decorated sugar cookies; scratch dressings/soups/sauces. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

3. Visit Overland Park — Best Regards Bakery directory listing. https://www.visitoverlandpark.com/directory/best-regards-bakery/ — asserts: address 6759 W 119th St, Overland Park, KS 66209; phone (913) 912-7238; scratch-made bakery/cafe; email Info@MakeThemSmile.com; active local establishment. ↩