Brown Suga

Brown Suga is a Black-owned, women-owned, family-run specialty cookie shop founded by Ebony Paul (born and raised in Olathe, KS; Olathe North High School grad), who launched the concept as a pop-up in 2020 alongside her mother Reba Paul and sister Asia Lockett. After four years on KC’s pop-up and event circuit, Ebony opened the first brick-and-mortar in Olathe in 2023. The second location opened in March 2026 at Park Place in Leawood, KS. AltCap $25K pitch-competition winner (November 2024).

Description

Brown Suga is Ebony Paul’s specialty cookie shop — a family business she founded with her mother Reba Paul and sister Asia Lockett out of Olathe, KS. Ebony, a born-and-raised Olathe native (Olathe North High School), started Brown Suga as a pop-up in 2020 and spent four years building a community following at KC events and markets before opening her first brick-and-mortar in Olathe in 2023.

In November 2024, Brown Suga won a $25,000 prize from AltCap’s pitch competition, which she used to purchase a food truck — adding a mobile arm to the brick-and-mortar operation. The second storefront opened at Park Place in Leawood in March 2026, placing the concept in one of KC’s south Johnson County destination retail clusters.

The concept centers on large-format, custom, and decorated cookies — an heirloom baking origin story that started in the family kitchen and grew into a multi-location operation.

Locations

Location	Address	Opened	Notes
Leawood (Park Place)	Park Place, Leawood, KS 66211	March 2026	Newest storefront
Olathe	Olathe, KS (exact address)	2023	First B&M
Mobile	Food truck (acquired Nov 2024 post-AltCap win)	Nov 2024	Supplements storefronts

Ownership and history

Ebony Paul grew up in Olathe, KS. She launched Brown Suga as a pop-up in 2020 — a COVID-era kitchen project that turned into a full catering and event circuit. After four years of earned community presence, the first Olathe storefront opened in 2023. The AltCap pitch win ($25K, November 2024) funded the food truck. The Leawood Park Place location, opened March 2026, reflects deliberate expansion into south JoCo. The business is family-run: Reba Paul (mother) and Asia Lockett (sister) are co-owners and active in day-to-day operations.¹²³

Tier classification

Tier 1. Ebony Paul is a born-and-raised Olathe, KS entrepreneur (Olathe North grad) — KC metro native per the tier doctrine standard (“born-and-raised in any KC-metro municipality counts”). Family-run, independent, zero corporate affiliation. Community following built over four years before first storefront. AltCap pitch competition winner signals civic-ecosystem endorsement. The “pride + dedication to KC roots” standard is unambiguous.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-30 · Source: Johnson County Post (March 2026); The Pitch KC¹³ · Confidence: Low (Phase-0 stub — product category confirmed; specific flavors/varieties not documented in press; retrieve from Brown Suga’s Instagram or site for current offerings)

Specialty cookie shop. Custom, large-format, and decorated cookies. Celebration and event baking.

Products

• Specialty cookies — large-format, custom, and decorated; heirloom baking origin¹³
• Custom orders + event/celebration cakes

Current flavors and custom order info:

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Links

• Website: https://www.brownsugabakes.com/

Sources

Footnotes

1. Johnson County Post — “Brown Suga cookie shop opens in Leawood’s Park Place” (March 6, 2026). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2026/03/06/brown-suga-open-leawood-281173/ — Confirms: Ebony Paul + Reba Paul + Asia Lockett (owners); Park Place, Leawood; March 2026 opening; Olathe first B&M; pop-up origin 2020; specialty cookies; family-run. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Startland News — “Brown Suga brings cookies to Leawood” (March 2026). https://startlandnews.com/2026/03/brown-suga-leawood/ — Confirms: Ebony Paul (founder); Leawood Park Place; March 2026; family-owned; cookie shop concept. ↩

3. The Pitch — “Ebony Paul offers ingredients for celebration at Brown Suga.” https://www.thepitchkc.com/mise-en-place-ebony-paul-offers-ingredients-for-celebration-at-brown-suga/ — Confirms: Ebony Paul background; Olathe origin; heirloom baking roots; community following narrative. ↩ ↩² ↩³