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Day: December 30, 2024
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A Marlborough coffee shop with a unique mission
Two couples living in the Marlborough neighborhood of south Kansas City are combining their passions – helping children aging out of foster care and coffee.
Pastors Justin and Samantha “Sam” Roberts and Jordan Weaver and his wife coincidentally also a Samantha who goes by “Sam” Weaver joined forces to open their first brick-and-mortar shop, Neighbors Coffee and Hospitality. This shop is not only a community hub, serving freshly brewed coffee, but also is providing services to foster care children entering adulthood.
The Roberts, who adopted their son Zeke out of foster care, have seen first hand the many issues that face teenagers as they leave the system – homelessness, lack of employment opportunities and more.
The Weavers, who have worked in specialty coffee for more than three years, would often share with the Roberts how much they love the coffee industry community. It’s about “how much we enjoy people and enjoy serving,” Sam Weaver says.
When the Weavers moved across the street from the Roberts in 2022, they started planning a coffee shop that would combine their two passions and Neighbors Coffee + Hospitality was born.
The shop is under construction (8135 The Paseo Blvd.) and is set for a planned spring opening. The partners are renting the building and have spent a year renovating it – this month paving the future patio.
The nonprofit will roast its own beans for its coffee drinks, serve pastries from a local bakery, and sell locally made ceramic mugs.
“We plan to host a really creative space, that is pretty, warm, artistic and full of color,” says Sam Weaver. “We are looking forward to that in our little block.”
In the lead-up to the opening, the Weavers are roasting and selling Neighbors Coffee to raise start-up funds online and through pop-ups like Friday’s event at SOAP Refill Station in Waldo.
When the physical location opens, the partners will offer apprenticeships to youth aging out of the foster care system, giving them a strong business foundation. That will include helping them put together resumes and coaching them for job interviews, and passing on good business practices from customer service to shop upkeep, as well as life skills.
Participants will be paid minimum wage during the 6-month apprenticeship. Then, based on their goals and the needs of the shop, their employment there could continue, or the Neighbors Coffee partners will help them find jobs.
The Roberts are pastors of a microchurch meeting in a couple of homes in the neighborhood.
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Baba’s Bakery Is Officially Open
After an extremely successful two years with their Palestinian restaurant Baba’s Pantry, the Kamal family has expanded their brand.
Their newest concept, Baba’s Bakery, is finally open.
Baba’s Bakery held its soft opening last weekend, introducing a beautifully painted space and a large counter adorned with various Palestinian pastries.
The bakery sits in the space right next door to Baba’s Pantry, with an arched doorway connecting the two (1019 E. 63rd St., KCMO). Business hours are currently 11 am to 3 pm on Saturdays.
Available pastries include traditional Palestinian desserts like baklava and knafeh (a Middle Eastern sweet cheese dessert topped off with a layer of crispy shredded pastry dough). However, the bakery also plans to offer modern takes on traditional baked goods.
“Palestinian culture is such a melting pot of so many different things,” says Kamal Kamal, one of Baba’s sons who helps operate the family business. “There’s Turkish influence, Persian influence and African influences in Palestinian desserts. We want to continue playing with Palestinian diaspora food, and acknowledging our ancestors and traditional roots in Palestine. I think that mix is going to have unique things that you won’t find anywhere else.”
Keep updated with Baba’s Bakery on Baba’s Pantry’s Instagram, @babaspantrykc.
Baba’s Pantry was named one of our Top 40 KC Restaurants in 2022. National outlets have sung its praises as well with Bon Appétit dubbing it Top 10 New Restaurants in the US that same year.
“With the success of the Pantry, we just knew there was so much more we can offer,” says Kamal. “We’re all excited to continue the brand and the storytelling that we’re offering.”
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Chick N Max is targeting the Metro for expansion
Wichita’s Chick N Max has long had its eye on the Kansas City metro.
Now it is reamping up its expansion plans here and throughout the central U.S.
“We are looking for experienced restaurant operators. We have a very unique niche in a very saturated segment,” says founder and CEO Max Sheets. “Our flavor profiles, our proprietary batter and flour recipes, the wood in our smokers. It’s a very unique flavor profile and I think the American public is looking for that today.”
The fast casual chain specializes in chicken sandwiches using almond wood smoked chicken, as well as wings and tenders (smokers are in every restaurant).
The first location opened in 2018 and it currently has four locations in the Wichita area and one in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sheets started franchising in 2021 and now wants to add as many as 50 more locations in the next two years in:
- Kansas. Six to eight restaurants on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro as well as Topeka.
- Missouri. Five to seven restaurants on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro, as well as metro St.Louis, Jefferson City and Columbia.
- Iowa. Five to seven restaurants in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Sioux City, Davenport, and Iowa City.
- Minnesota. Upwards of 10 restaurants across the Twin Cities area.
- Oklahoma. Four to six restaurants across the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas.
- Texas. As many as 10 to 12 restaurants in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Chick N Max has four new prototypes to fit various retail spaces – from the smallest at 1,500 square-feet seating 22 people (in the dining room and patio) to the largest at 2,400 square-feet seating up to 80.
The restaurants, which will have 25 to 30 employees, will have drive-thrus, designated curbside pick-up parking spaces, and take-out counters.
But the company also will look at nontraditional locations in colleges and universities, truck stops, gas stations, hospitals, amusement parks, and sports arenas.
“The franchise fee is $35,000 with the total investment ranging from $650,000 to $2,500,000.
Sheets had previously worked for some top chains – Ted’s Montana Grill, Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers and Smashburger.
But he wanted to create a franchise concept that could tap into the booming chicken market as a healthier alternative to beef. He started by experimenting with different woods on a big smoker in the backyard of his Wichita home.
His first Chick N Max opened in Wichita in 2018 and he started looking for franchisees in 2021, targeting the Kansas City market, as well as St. Louis, Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
But during COVID, “the world was in turmoil,” he says. So he waited.
Meanwhile, he focused on the menu, and his slogan “home of the better chicken sandwich,” as he took on industry giants such as Chick-fil-A.
Chick N Max currently offers seven different sandwiches, including Chicken & Waffles (two chicken tenders on two sweet waffles with pepper jack cheese, bacon and spicy sauce); the BBQ Onion Ring (with smoked pulled chicken tossed in barbecue sauce and topped with coleslaw and an onion ring on a toasted potato bun); the Smoked Chicken BLT (with pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, Max’s signature sauce and pickles); and the Sriracha Hot Honey (with two hand-breaded tenders, buttermilk garlic sauce, sriracha hot honey, and bread and butter pickles on a brioche bun); and Nashville Hot (or not) topped with coleslaw.
Other menu items include smoked leg quarters, breast quarters, half-birds, smoked wings, popcorn chicken, club salads, bowls and specials.
Its 10 homestyle sides include fries, onion rings, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, deviled egg potato salad, turnip greens, and smoked white beans, and 11 sauces made in-house daily including barbecue, jalapeno lime and sriracha hot honey.
For dessert it offers a chocolate brownie and fresh baked cookie. Chick N Max also has family-size meals and kids’ meals.
“You can come more often because there are so many things to try,” Sheets says.
According to consulting firm Technomic’s 2024 Top 400 Chain Restaurant Report released earlier this year, full service restaurants saw a notably slower increase in new locations, but chicken chains have maintained momentum, with 2023 marking the category’s fifth straight year of double-digit growth (up more than 12%)
Locally owned Chick-in Waffle also is expanding with a new Overland Park location (8667 W. 135th St.) scheduled to open in late January. Dave’s Hot Chicken, with locations in Overland Park and Westport, plans a late February opening (15139 W. 119th St. in Olathe). The new Laney’s Get Down in Westport (4057 Pennsylvania Ave.) specializes in southern fried chicken. Chicken Salad Chick, a chicken salad chain, just opened in Lee’s Summit (1020 N.W. Pryor Road, A) and more area locations are planned.