OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — It's that time of the year ... again.
With the Kansas City Chiefs' win over the Jacksonville Jaguars to head to the AFC Championship, the team's merchandise is flying off the shelves of area businesses.
Thankfully, there's no shortage of ways to take a bite out of KC pride.
"The difficult work starts today for us," said Robert Duensing, owner of Best Regards Bakery and Cafe in Overland Park.
Chiefs season tends to be the sweetest season for them with lines going out the door for people to pick up their favorite cookies decorated as Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Isiah Pacheco jerseys.
Best Regards tends to sell out of their seasonal cookies on game days.
"This is a challenge for us and any other bakery out ... there’s a narrow funnel of what we’re all able to make, and there’s this huge amount of demand," Duensing said.
And while that demand stays high, Duensing has a theory for why their cookie sales took a dip last season between the playoffs and the AFC Championship.
"I call it the New England effect," he said. "I think fans started to take it for granted that we’re just gonna go to the Super Bowl every year."
Instead, he encourages fans to stay engaged in the present.
"As a fan, I’m excited about the prospect [of going to the Super Bowl]," Duensing said. "As a business, we don’t give it one ounce of thought. We are 100% focused on just getting past this week."
Duensing expects to sell around 2,000-3,000 cookies this weekend.
"You’ll never see us complain about it," he said.
That same sentiment is true for boutique Shop Local KC.
Owner Katie Mabry van Dieren has two locations — one in Leawood and the other in Midtown. Every pair of Chiefs-themed earrings, hats, stickers and shirts are made by local artists.
"They can get stuff here that they may not see somewhere else," Mabry van Dieren said. "It’s not mass-produced, so you come and get something here and you might be the only one with that."
Chiefs trinkets are by far her best sellers, but it's everything KC has to offer that makes her business boom.
"I never thought sports would have such a big effect on us," she said. "Kansas City loves Kansas City, so everything with Kansas City on it always does well anyways because I think we just have a lot of pride here."
Thus proving her belief that when Kansas City wins, everyone wins.
"Sports and shopping, I never thought they’d go hand in hand but they do," Mabry van Dieren said.
