This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

a Kansas City heritage bakery operating in Waldo since October 1945, now in its third ownership era under the locally-rooted Hirleman family (acquired 2014), which has grown the original neighborhood bakehouse into a metro-wide bakery + café brand with its own Sway Coffee Roasters house roastery.

Description

McLain’s Bakery has been a fixture of the Waldo neighborhood since October 1945, originally located on Wornall just north of 75th Street before relocating to its current flagship at the corner of Gregory and Grand — 201 E Gregory Blvd.12 It is one of Kansas City’s longest-tenured continuously-operating bakeries.

The bakery still makes its classics — butter rolls, cinnamon rolls, Danish, twists, birthday and wedding cakes, and the signature “chocolate cupcookie” — from recipes carried forward through its ownership eras.13 Under the current owners it has expanded into a full bakery-and-café format (“a bakery, cakery, and coffee shop”) serving fresh breakfast, lunch, and a full coffee bar, with bread and even salad dressings made in-house daily.23

McLain’s has grown from the single Waldo bakehouse into a multi-location metro brand spanning Kansas City, Overland Park, Stanley/South Overland Park, Shawnee, Lawrence, and North Kansas City, with 100+ employees across sites.345 Coffee across the locations is supplied by the company’s own roastery, Sway Coffee Roasters, which also runs wholesale accounts.2

Ownership and history

YearEvent
October 1945McLain’s Bakery opens in Waldo, on Wornall just north of 75th Street, under the founding McLain family.12
~1945-2001McLain family operates the bakery for roughly three generations / ~60 years.1
2001Ownership passes from the McLain family to a second local owner.1 (second-owner identity)
Dec 2013 - March 2014The Hirleman family — siblings Mollie (Hirleman) Lothman and Jeff Hirleman, who grew up visiting the bakery — learn the business is for sale (late Dec 2013) and complete the purchase as the third owners (March 2014). Mollie’s interest in a bakery + Jeff’s interest in a coffee shop drove the acquisition.134
2014 → presentHirleman ownership relocates/expands the flagship to 201 E Gregory Blvd and grows McLain’s into a multi-location bakery + café brand; launches Sway Coffee Roasters as the in-house roastery.23
Oct 2016First sister store opens — McLain’s Market, Overland Park (10695 Roe Ave).4
June 2020Shawnee location opens in the historic “OK Garage” at Johnson Drive + Nieman Road.46

Note on founding year: widely reported as 1945 by the company and independent KC press. Some sources phrase the current business era around the 2013-2014 Hirleman acquisition; this is the ownership change, not the founding. The KS.City master record’s “2010s” founding is therefore incorrect — see Verification status detail.

Last verified: 2026-06-20 · Source: McLain’s official site + official Toast online-ordering menu, with KC press corroboration · URL(s): https://www.mclainskc.com/waldo · https://www.mclainskc.com/order · https://order.toasttab.com/online/mclains-bakery-kansas-city · Confidence: High (signature bakery items); Medium (broader prepared-food roster — full plate-level menu rotates and was not machine-readable from the Toast ordering page)

McLain’s is a full-format bakery, “cakery,” and café: a bakehouse counter of cakes, pastries, cookies, and morning sweets up front, plus a from-scratch breakfast + lunch kitchen and a full coffee bar supplied by the in-house Sway Coffee Roasters. Bread for the sandwiches and even the salad dressings are made in-house daily.78

Bakery (signature)

  • Chocolate Cupcookie — the “world-famous” house signature: a pecan-sandy cookie base topped with a dollop of chocolate fudge frosting; sold individually and by the dozen (a dozen also offered with vanilla buttercream, pecans + sea salt).78
  • Cinnamon rolls — long-running house classic, also sold as a pan of six minis.78
  • Butter rolls — made from the bakery’s signature butter-roll dough carried forward across ownership eras.7
  • Danish + pastries — daily danish and assorted breakfast pastries.8
  • Coffee cakes — including a German Chocolate coffee cake with coconut + pecan filling, topped with chocolate icing.8
  • Custom cakes (the “Cakery”) — birthday and wedding cakes plus decorated custom cakes; a core line (the bakery has historically turned out 70-100 cakes per weekend).7
  • Cookies — decorated and classic cookies (the bakery also runs cookie-decorating classes).78
  • Brownies — classic brownie pan topped with the house cupcookie icing + sprinkles.8

Other

  • Lunch — sandwiches, salads, and wraps on house-baked bread; e.g. the CBS (grilled chicken, cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, housemade BBQ ranch) on garlic ciabatta.78
  • Coffee bar — full espresso bar; beans roasted in-house by Sway Coffee Roasters.78

Prices not listed — current item-level prices were not machine-readable from the official ordering page at verification.

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Inside Brookside (And Waldo) — “McLain’s Bakery: A Waldo Classic, Updated for Today’s Tastes.” Published 2019-05-28. https://insidebrookside.com/2019/05/28/mclains-bakery-a-waldo-classic-updated-for-todays-tastes/. Asserts: 1945 founding on Wornall north of 75th; McLain family ~3 generations; Mollie Lothman + Jeff Hirleman as third owners purchasing 2014; relocation to 201 E Gregory; signature butter-roll dough + custom cakes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. McLain’s official site — Story + Waldo location pages. https://www.mclainskc.com/story and https://www.mclainskc.com/waldo. Asserts: established October 1945; Hirleman acquisition Dec 2013-March 2014; “bakery, cakery, coffee shop”; Sway Coffee Roasters house roastery; 201 E Gregory Blvd, KC MO 64114; daily 7:00 am-2:30 pm; (816) 523-9911. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Johnson County Post — “McLain’s Market looking to open bakery and restaurant in downtown Shawnee.” Published 2019-07-19. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2019/07/19/mclains-market-looking-to-open-bakery-and-restaurant-in-downtown-shawnee-81171/. Corroborates 1945 founding, Hirleman ownership, expansion to multiple metro locations, 100+ employees. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. KCParent — “McLain’s Markets – Various Locations.” https://kcparent.com/venue/mclain-s-markets-various-locations/. Corroborates location roster and openings (Overland Park Oct 2016; Shawnee June 2020; Stanley; North Kansas City). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Visit KC — McLain’s Bakery listing. https://www.visitkc.com/listings/mclains-bakery/. Corroborates Waldo address 201 E Gregory Blvd and phone (816) 523-9911. ↩

  6. Yelp — McLain’s Bakery, 201 E Gregory Blvd, Kansas City, MO. https://www.yelp.com/biz/mclains-bakery-kansas-city. Corroborates address + phone (816) 523-9911. ↩

  7. McLain’s official site — Waldo location + ordering pages. https://www.mclainskc.com/waldo and https://www.mclainskc.com/order. Verified 2026-06-20. Asserts: full bakery + cakery + café format; danishes, coffee cakes, cakes, cookies, breakfast sandwiches, lunch salads/wraps, and the “world famous Chocolate Cup Cookie”; housemade quiche; CBS sandwich on garlic ciabatta; bread + salad dressings made fresh daily; in-house Sway Coffee Roasters espresso bar. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  8. McLain’s official online-ordering menu (Toast). https://order.toasttab.com/online/mclains-bakery-kansas-city (and item-level pages, e.g. Danish Pastries). Verified 2026-06-20. Corroborates item categories: danish pastries, chocolate cupcookies (single + dozen, incl. vanilla-buttercream/pecan/sea-salt variant), mini cinnamon-roll six-pack, German Chocolate coffee cake (coconut + pecan filling, chocolate icing), brownie pan with cupcookie icing + sprinkles. (Automated page fetch returned 403; categories confirmed via search-indexed listing snapshots of the official ordering domain.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

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On the record — ks.city/registry/mclains-bakery · record updated 2026-06-23