André’s planted its flag in KC 70 years ago; chocolatier says that’s just a taste of what’s to come

Nearly 5,000 miles from Switzerland, a small group toured the inner sanctum of an iconic 70-year-old Kansas City company — a family-run brand that helped redefine accessible luxury in the Midwest, one Swiss chocolate-covered almond at a time.

“What people get excited about André’s is the legacy, that we take a lot of pride in our heritage, in the way we produce things and in our packaging,” said René Bollier, president and executive chef, and the third-generation to helm André’s Confiserie Suisse. “It yells out that we are a Swiss brand in the United States.”

Onlookers granted access this week to a behind-the-scenes look at the brand’s 25,000-square-foot flagship in the South Plaza — a mix of production facility, cafe and retail shop near the just-opened last stop of the KC Streetcar line — peeked into big silver bowls of butter (André’s uses 110-pounds a day, on average).

They watched as workers eyed each orange peel and chocolate almond for consistency, hand-piped buttercream frosting on cakes and cookies, and tied red-and-white bows around Aztec Spice Hot Chocolate blend.

“The difference between a good product and a great product is the small steps,” said René. “That is why André’s has always been special. We have never shied away from that effort. We’ve stayed very traditionally Swiss, never changing our heritage or our roots.”

And while the brand’s Overland Park outpost — André’s Rivaz in Hawthorne Plaza — is expected to close at the end of the year as René’s aunt and uncle, Brigitte and Kevin Gravino, retire, the family isn’t dialing back operations or its commitment to the legacy and lore that helped put it on the map, René said.

Dusted with history

André Bollier was a 33-year-old master konditor-confiseur in Switzerland, and could have continued on that career path, or as a headmaster at a professional school.

But his dream had long been to open his own shop.

“He had so much creativity and so much knowledge he had acquired from 12 years in the business. He could expand the offerings,” his grandson René said. “It is a beautiful country but an extremely expensive country. They realized they would probably never have the funds to open a shop there.”

André and his wife, Elsbeth, looked at cities in Japan, the coastal U.S., and in southern France.

But his brother was selling Swiss watches in Kansas City and assured the couple there was little competition for a world-class chocolate shop in the Midwest. 

They funded the move by writing a cookbook for professionals, focusing on tea cookies, and earning enough to bring over the family of four, including 5-year-old Marcel, in June 1955. Four months later, they rented a small space for André’s Swiss Candies and Pastries at 5008 Main St., just to the north of their current shop.

André’s brother had been right about one thing: no competition. But that wasn’t exactly a good thing.

“The reason was there was no market for luxury chocolate at that time,” René said. “They didn’t understand why his flavors were more unusual … and substantially more expensive. He was using high-quality ingredients and it was very labor-intensive.”

About half the people who walked into that early André’s shop walked right back out after seeing the prices. Some people predicted its quick demise. 

But instead of lowering quality and prices, the Bolliers broadened their market. 

André built a Swiss-chalet themed Tea Room in back of the shop, serving hearty European-style meals with fine pastries for dessert. Diners not only got to try the products, they would stop in the retail shop to buy more to take home.

André schooled the market through TV appearances, and talked to small groups on “The History and Art of Pastry Making.” The couple donated to area causes, and teamed up with cultural institutions such as The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (collaborations that continue today).

Still, profits, while growing, weren’t consistent.

So they added more baked goods — French bread, Danishes, croissants and quiche — unique to Kansas City at that time. 

In 1960, they put up their own building at the current site, 5018 Main. They’ve since expanded three times there.

They later opened branches in St. Louis, Houston, Denver, and Menlo Park, California — outposts that promoted and expanded the brand.

“We were very fortunate. They all were a tremendous success,” René said. “But when (André and Elsbeth) got to retirement age, it was hard to find franchisees that could finance it. And they didn’t have the expertise. For the consistency of the brand it made sense to have them sell the stores, but for us to keep the André’s brand.”

“What we do is not cookie-cutter-ist.”

After André died in 1985, his son Marcel became president and CEO.

René, Marcel’s son, was in kindergarten when he told his classmates of his plans to train as a pastry chef and take over André’s one day.

He would climb into the giant commercial oven as a youngster (it wasn’t on), and in his teens he would toil over truffle shells — at 8-hour stretches. His father had saved $10,000 for a down payment on a house, but then used it to purchase an enrober machine which revolutionized the process, much to René’s delight. (André had been so impressed, he quickly put the $10,000 back in the couple’s account.)

But in the mid-1970s, Marcel bought a $250,000 One Shot machine at its debut in Switzerland, without consulting the rest of the family. Family tensions were high — René jokes that his grandmother locked herself in the bedroom — until it, too, proved to be worth the substantial risk.

Despite the innovation turn, employees still do much of the work by hand throughout the facility, focusing on product perfection rather than speed.

Whipping opportunity from KC

René apprenticed under his father as a teenager. He earned a business degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and then trained in Switzerland for three years.

“I always really loved the work itself, the creativity of it. I was always really passionate about it,” he said, noting the business of building André’s — and the story of its brand — isn’t yet complete.

The family repurposed a portion of the Tea Room in 2024 to expand production.

But its front cafe offers breakfast and brunch items including croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Swiss Birchermüesli, cheese pie, quiche, egg souffle sandwiches, omelets, vol-au-vent (chicken and mushroom with white wine cream sauce in a puff pastry shell), salads, hot and cold beverages, and more. It has lunch and happy hour specials.

Instead of taking over the soon-to-shutter Overland Park outpost, which opened in 2002, René and Nancy want to concentrate on the flagship operation on the South Plaza, including production for online sales and the wholesale operation (its products are in 156 Whole Foods Markets, as well specialty food stores, coffee shops and retail shops).

The family purchased a parcel of land, just to the west of André’s, three years ago for possible future production expansion.

They also continue to offer events such as a recent Chocolate & Whiskey Tasting Class at J. Rieger & Co., and they collaborated on several products including Whiskey Chocolate Shots, and the KC Whiskey Caramel Bar; as well as André’s Chocolate Bourbon Road ice cream with Clementine’s Ice Cream; and a seasonal BBQ Quiche with Q39 restaurant. 

Its new tours sell-out quickly, as does its Wednesday Night Fondue series this month.

André’s chocolate-covered almonds remain among its top-sellers locally and nationally. Its signature pastry, the Matterhorn, has a butter cookie base, chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream, topped with a dollop of white icing to suggest a snow-capped mountain.

Fifteen years ago, demand for French macarons exploded. André’s version has been the Luxemburgerli featuring ganache or buttercream filling sandwiched between two light almond meringue cookies.

René and Nancy have three teenage daughters who work part-time in the shop, but unlike René, they haven’t yet announced plans to take over one day.

“There’s a reason America is called the land of opportunity. Anyone who had the motivation and drive could achieve their goals,” René said.

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Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.