It’s only been a few years since Jeff Martin dreamed up Smallcakes, the fast-growing chain of cupcake stores, but he’s already launching a new eatery—one that combines the fast-casual model with high-quality sweets.
Decadent is set to open in late September or early October in Overland Park’s Prairiefire shopping center. The idea is to serve up chef-inspired desserts without forcing customers to go to a formal sit-down restaurant.
“I want to stay in the dessert business,” Martin said, “and there’s a need for a fast-casual dessert concept.”
Martin had been mulling over the idea for Decadent for about six months. Plans kicked into high gear when Prairiefire approached him about an opening it had.
Decadent will also be open in the mornings, serving pastries, danishes and other sweet treats, along with coffee, a first for one of Martin’s businesses. The eatery will offer wines and craft beers, as well as a lineup of pies. All of Decadent’s ice cream and baked goods will be made in-house.
Does Martin want to turn Decadent into a franchise like Smallcakes, which has about 120 locations? He’s already received inquiries about that, and while it’s an option, he wants to take two years to refine Decadent’s concept and menu before aiming for big growth.
Martin and his wife will be making many of those tweaks themselves. They plan to spend more time working in Decadent, at least to start. It’ll be a nice change of pace after the past few years, when he’s been dedicated to scaling up Smallcakes.
“I’m going to play a bigger (day-to-day) role than I have with Smallcakes in the past five years,” said Martin.
