Cotton candy catering: Kiffany Bosserman refined her taste for business (and the value of her time)
September 25, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Kiffany Bosserman, Cottontale; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
After nearly a decade in business, Cottontale KC is still spinning sugar into a confection for success, shared founder Kiffany Bosserman — pivoting her business to say “yes” less and reprioritize the balance of family and life and profitability.
The all-natural cotton candy company started with pop-up and catering events of all sizes, then pivoted to retail with its sweets space in South Kansas City. When the brick-and-mortar closed, Bosserman shifted back to catering and corporate events.
“We’ve just really ebbed and flowed,” explained Bosserman, who launched Cottontale with her husband, Steve, in 2017. “Like all small businesses, we’re just trying to figure out who we are and what works best.”
“The first year, we said ‘yes’ to anything,” she continued. “If it cost me money, if I didn’t make any money, I was just like, ‘Yes, there’ll be exposure. It’ll be this and that.’ And then I’ve realized, ‘Wow, my time is really valuable.’”
Kiffany Bosserman, Cottontale, spins fresh cotton candy; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Bosserman and her husband initially opened a storefront in the Red Bridge Shopping Center in fall 2020 after demand soared for the hand-spun sugary treats — ranging in flavors from Classic to Root Beer to Party Cake and such seasonal nibbles as Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread among dozens of others. It was one of the first cotton candy companies in the Kansas City area. Branded as “Cookies and Creamery,” the space served up not only cotton candy but also fresh-baked cookies, ice cream from Lawrence-based Sylas and Maddy’s, and other local sweet treats.
Kiffany Bosserman in 2021 at Cookies and Creamery on Red Bridge Road; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
But the slow days started to take a toll, she shared, noting they eventually turned into slow weeks and months — especially with construction disrupting traffic on Red Bridge Road. The couple closed the retail operation in 2024.
“People couldn’t even access the shopping center,” Bosserman explained. “I’m not saying it was all that. Obviously, we opened during COVID, which was also a risk. So there were a lot of unknowns.”
“The tough part about brick and mortar though is, regardless if you have any customers, you have to have a full staff and full inventory,” she added. “But my favorite part was talking to people. My husband was like, ‘If you could just get paid to talk to people.’ There was never a stranger who walked in. They were always a friend.”
Despite initially feeling like a failure after the closure, Bosserman said, her husband and friends helped her to realize that retail just wasn’t the right fit for Cottontale.
“I’m so proud that we tried and we did it,” she continued. “I learned a lot. I now know that I would never do it again. It’s not for me.”
A Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader stands next to the Cottontale and Cookies and Creamery mobile cart at a Chiefs corporate event; courtesy photo
Taking on more corporate, larger-style events — like fundraisers and galas — just made more sense for the business, Bosserman noted, especially after her husband returned to the corporate world and she took on the challenge of homeschooling their three boys.
“It’s a lot less stress,” she explained. “Clients have the budget. It’s a lot less risk. With pop-ups and cash sales, I never know what I’m gonna sell. It’s always a question mark. So just doing the catering style and corporate events is where we’ve been and found ourselves.”
A weekend with the world
Despite the pivot to corporate events, Cottontale made a four-day, weekend return to retail in July — timed to the FIFA World Cup’s stint in Kansas City — selling its treats at The Porter House KC’s outpost within the City of Entrepreneurs marketplace at Union Station.
“I’m very happy and pleased with the experience and the exposure,” Bosserman said. “I got to talk to a lot of other small businesses that I had never met before. So it was a really wonderful experience overall.”
“(The atmosphere) was electrifying,” she added. “The energy was just off the charts. Everyone was excited to be there. It was really, really fun to see the people who traveled here from all over and how they fell in love with the city.”
ICYMI: New KC-first marketplace at Union Station makes local retail the destination for World Cup
The experience also translated into new corporate gigs, Bosserman said, noting she met someone connected to the City of Mission, Kansas, and its 75th anniversary event series while working the marketplace booth.
Thanks to that conversation, she’ll be spinning cotton candy Saturday at the Mission Street Dance in downtown Mission at Johnson Drive and Woodson Street.
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Bosserman first connected with The Porter House KC — which provides support to underrepresented entrepreneurs, with a special focus on those leading retail operations — seven years ago as a mentor within the nonprofit’s programming, she noted.
“When they offered that opportunity to be at Union Station for the World Cup, I thought, ‘I’m just gonna apply; let’s see what happens,’” she recalled. “Then I was thrilled when I was selected as one of the businesses that was able to show up one of the weeks.”
“I felt really proud to represent them,” Bosserman added. “Anyone who came up to me, I was telling them about Porter House. I was like, ‘It’s free. You get support. It is such a wonderful thing.’”
Kiffany Bosserman, Cottontale; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Hometown support system
Through all the ebbs and flows, the Kansas City entrepreneurial ecosystem has always supported Bosserman and Cottontale, she shared, whether it was the Porter House KC, KC BizCare, the UMKC Innovation Center, or Square One at the Mid-Continent Public Library.
“I really can’t say enough about the ecosystem in Kansas City for small businesses,” she explained. “I think we’re really lucky. I’m originally from Las Vegas. So I have friends in Vegas. I have friends in Southern California, family all over the country, and when I tell them about the resources and the support that Kansas City has for entrepreneurs, they are really blown away.”
“If someone has a dream, if someone has an idea, this city is set up to help them,” Bosserman added. “It’s exciting. So I just feel overwhelming gratefulness as I look back over the almost 10 years of being able to have an idea that some people might have thought was silly: cotton candy catering.”
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