Courtesy St. Louis Kolache
Over 30 sweet and savory varieties are available at St. Louis Kolache.
Long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Louis Kolache founder Russ Clark claimed kolaches were “the perfect foodservice item.” People are increasingly in a hurry for breakfast and lunch, he told SLM five years ago, before opening his flagship store in Creve Coeur, and “whatever they’re eating, they want it served fast.”
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Russ Clark, co-founder of St. Louis Kolache
Clark explained that “a kolache is like a little Hawaiian sweet bread sandwich, stuffed with different goodies. It’s inexpensive, and it’s a one-hander, so it can be eaten in the car.”
There was only one kolache store in St. Louis at the time, which was part of a national chain. Clark wanted to become a locally based, independent operator and invited like-minded restaurant owners to collaborate. Among the many specialty kolaches introduced over the years, Pappy’s three barbecue versions and Gioia’s Hot Salami kolache were especially popular and have since garnered permanent menu status.
When Clark launched the business with partner Bart Mantia, he hoped to build a small company around five or eight kolache locations. He currently has three stores in metro St. Louis (in Creve Coeur, Ballwin, and O’Fallon, Missouri) and one slated to open in a former Metro PCS location at 5936 Southwest (at Hampton) in early September.
Part of Clark’s plan was to franchise the concept, which he did in late 2018. St. Louis stores would retain the name St. Louis Kolache, and out-state stores would be called American Kolache. I Franchise Group is handling the particulars.
The first franchise beyond Missouri is slated to open in Edwardsville, near the Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville campus, this September. Another franchisee has signed on to open four locations in the metro area and two more with family members in Indianapolis. Two more local stores (in Sunset Hills and South City) will be operated by yet another franchisee, and plans are in place for a kiosk on Washington University’s campus (to be operated by Bon Appetit Management Company).
Clark says potential franchisees are looking for space in Tampa, Nashville, New Jersey, and metro Chicago.
“Most of the franchise interest was generated before the pandemic struck,” he says, though the interest has picked up in the past three months from people wanting a safer alternative than the traditional restaurant, where the focus is pickup, delivery, and catering. “All you need is 1,000 square feet in a good location,” Clark says.
Courtesy St. Louis Kolache
Clark says the kolache business was impacted by the pandemic but survived. “Catering got crushed, but it’s coming back," he says, adding that all stores just experienced the best Father’s Day ever. Clark says he rolled out a new app just in time to institute curbside pickup, "but for some reason, it didn’t catch on. With kolaches more than other products, I think people want to come in to look around and smell,” he says.
Earlier in his career, Clark worked at Al Baker’s and logged 11 years at Morton’s before getting into the chain pizza business. He was not familiar with kolaches until he read that Bon Appetit called them “one of the foods that everyone will be craving in 2015.” For Clark, it was a way out of flipping pies. “I remember the late nights, special orders, and all the competition," he says. "Kolaches were a welcome break from all that—and our hours are from 6 in the morning to 2 p.m.”
