‘Come out, Kansas City’: Cafe owner calls on KC to fill World Cup tourism gap as small businesses outside FIFA footprint struggle
June 18, 2026 | Tommy Felts
Bisou at 2122 Jefferson St. in Kansas City's Westside neighborhood; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Construction on Southwest Boulevard slowed traffic to nearby storefronts and restaurants for more than a year, said Cait Benedict, with many small business owners holding out hope that if they could just make it to the FIFA World Cup, they could survive.
A cyclist rides down newly opened bike lanes along Southwest Boulevard during First Fridays June 6 in the Crossroads Arts District; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
“Now the cones are gone and I feel like we’re experiencing the aftermath of a storm,” said Benedict, owner of Bisou, a European-style coffee shop in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood. “We’re back open, but we have to get the message out to Kansas Citians that there’s not as much construction, Southwest Boulevard is completed, and it’s easier to get around.”
Massive crowds of travelers attending World Cup matches and watch parties have not materialized at most local businesses, she observed, noting compounding concerns for entrepreneurs that have already faced issues with road work, public safety and, further away, lengthy construction along the KC Streetcar line.
Like many businesses, Bisou prepared for an influx of World Cup visitors — local organizers stuck to projections of 650,000 travelers coming to Kansas City for the summer games — by hiring staff, adjusting schedules, and increasing inventory ahead of Tuesday’s first match between Argentina and Algeria, Benedict said.
“We thought it was going to be mayhem for a month and a half, but now we’re all standing around and we’re like, ‘The first day, it was dead; the second day, more dead,’” she said. “First game hits and we’re in a situation where we don’t see anyone, and these were supposed to be some of the best teams.”
Sales are already down more than 50 percent, Benedict said in a social media post late Wednesday.
Argentina fans pack Café Corazón on game day ahead of the team’s bout with Algeria. Fan activity has been clustered closest to the KC Streetcar line and activations like FIFA Fan Festival; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Activity among fans in the city for FIFA Fan Fest and the games themselves appears largely clustered in a corridor roughly spanning the Fan Fest site at Liberty Memorial to the Power & Light District downtown, following the KC Streetcar line through the Crossroads Arts District.
Fans gather mid-day for a FIFA World Cup match at the Power & Light District; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Benedict said hype images that show the city is packed — and unintentionally implying businesses in the surrounding area are inaccessible — are deterring locals from venturing to their regular spots or exploring the city as they might typically during the summer.
“Not everyone has $25 to spend on a beer at FIFA Fan Fest, but you can still get out and support your local community — the small businesses that are here every day, paying the taxes,” she said.
Benedict hopes city officials will join her in acknowledging that early visitor numbers are not panning out as predicted for nearby businesses, she said, urging them to call on Kansas Citians to join the World Cup action and keep locals afloat during the games.
“It’s not a failure,” she said. “Just say, “OK, it’s not actually as busy as we anticipated. Come out, Kansas City. This is an amazing opportunity to experience FIFA.’”
There’s definitely room for locals to join in the festivities, agreed Nia Webster, assistant director of KCMO’s Neighborhood Services Department and the chief architect of the City of Entrepreneurs initiative.
“Don’t stay home, get outside and enjoy the city and all the fans that have discovered us,” she added. “We also need to get these visitors outside of the FIFA zones and into our communities.”
View this post on Instagram
Nia Webster, the core organizer behind Kansas City’s City of Entrepreneurs initiative introduces Open Doors! entrepreneurs to gathered media, content creators and influencers; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
City of Entrepreneurs
Much of Kansas City’s approach to boosting small businesses during the World Cup centers around its City of Entrepreneurs initiative, organized alongside the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City.
Among the core programs: a popular outdoor dining grants effort; the first Open Doors! storefront vacancy cohort, which helped put more than 20 small businesses into available brick and mortar spaces ahead of the games; and a five-week marketplace for more than 100 businesses, organizations (including Startland News), and artists inside Union Station, just down the hill from FIFA Fan Fest.
Those projects lean heavily on local consumers supporting Kansas City businesses long after the World Cup ends in July, officials have emphasized.
Artist Megh Knappenberger, whose business The Studio Shop by @meghmakesart is part of the City of Entrepreneurs’ Open Doors! program, chats with the team from Ruby Jean’s Juicery after making a purchase from Oh My Gooey KC at City of Entrepreneurs’ Marketplace in the Grand Hall at Union Station; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
“Spend money. Share this (opportunity) with people,” said Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, moments before a June 10 ribbon-cutting for the marketplace at Union Station. “The way the World Cup becomes a success for small businesses depends on you.”
In the run up to this summer’s games, city officials have touted such efforts as a way to avoid a repeat of small business’ experience with the NFL Draft in 2023. Vocal entrepreneurs at the time felt they missed out on economic opportunities because they didn’t have access to visitors — many of which were funneled directly into official NFL Draft events featuring largely non-local vendors — and locals stayed home out of fear of large crowds and bottlenecked roadways.
“Through the efforts we are leading with Open Doors! and City of Entrepreneurs marketplace, our team quickly recognized that tourism for World Cup was looking very different than expected,” said Webster. “We pivoted to working with more local news outlets, cable companies like Spectrum Reach, and influencers to help spread the word out locally and regionally to visitors who are more likely to purchase more and buy bigger, who may also be staying longer, and can hopefully come back to patronize our businesses beyond the World Cup.”
City of Entrepreneurs organizers reported nearly 12,000 visitors to the Union Station marketplace over its first four days in operation. (The marketplace returns Thursday, running noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.)
Jackson Conroe, co-founder of Martin City Vintage, pulls a shirt down from his business’ racks at the City of Entrepreneurs marketplace in Union Station; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
“This has been a blessing,” said Jackson Conroe, co-founder of Martin City Vintage, a secondhand vintage clothing shop that’s taken up residence at the marketplace during the games. “It’s been great exposure to be here.”
Largely an e-commerce retail operation that began in Martin City before moving to Raytown, the business needed a way to get in front of World Cup visitors and local shoppers alike, Conroe said, noting steady crowds through the space, especially over the weekend.
View this post on Instagram
Elsewhere in the city, businesses without a presence within the high-traffic World Cup footprint are hurting, said Austin Mosier.
“It’s so hard to be transparent with difficult information in times when our city is supposed to be lit up with amazing energy,” the co-owner of West Bottoms Plant Company said in a social media post, noting business is down nearly 50 percent year over year for his shop. “It’s actually showing to be one of our worst months in the history of our company’s existence.”
View this post on Instagram
Mosier voiced that there’s a missing link in the execution of Kansas City’s strategy, joining Benedict in encouraging locals to step up for businesses amid the World Cup.
“It may come as a surprise how critical one or two months of awful sales can be to a small business but … it can be make-or-break a small business,” he said. “We urge you to get out and support us, and other companies that may desperately need your foot traffic.”
The newly completed Las Tarascas Statue Plaza on Southwest Boulevard; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
Catching up
Benedict’s Bisou cafe sits at 2122 Jefferson St., near the I-35 overpass that divides the Westside district from the Crossroads Arts District to the east. The two-phase $43.6 million Southwest Boulevard project is meant to enhance mobility, safety, and quality of life along the corridor that connects the neighborhoods.
The city celebrated the infrastructure projects this week, highlighting improvements to the streetscape — a wider path for walking and biking, fresh sidewalks and ramps — and upgrades to parking under the I-35 bridge with 150 free spaces.
The Las Tarascas Statue Plaza also was unveiled, featuring a bronze sculpture of three Purépecha women lifting a tray of fruit to the sky as a gift to Kansas City from sister city Morelia, Mexico.
View this post on Instagram
While most of the overall project is complete, additional work is set to resume after the World Cup concludes in July.
Benedict said she welcomed the upgrades, but lamented that getting it done before the summer games led to a frantic mood across the city as long-needed road construction projects and other infrastructure improvements spiked.
“It’s such an honor to host FIFA. And then we got picked, but we were so far behind,” she said. “Everything has deteriorated and then we went into hyper mode trying to catch up, and that just destroyed businesses in the city. It’s a perfect example of not letting things get so close to the point of no return.”
Crowds of Kansas Citians traverse Southwest Boulevard June 6 during First Fridays in the Crossroads Arts District; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
She was encouraged by June’s First Friday attendance, which saw throngs of locals packing the nearby streets, including the freshly completed Southwest Boulevard corridor. But that healthy burst of activity was short-lived, Benedict said.
“I was like ‘Yay! Humanity has come back. We’re here!’ And now it’s gone,” she said, noting it’s not too late to turn things around for businesses like Bisou.
“Get out and support locals because otherwise it’s a ghost town out here,” Benedict added.
Webster said the city appreciates feedback on what small businesses are experiencing now, so that programs can adapt for the next big events to arrive in the community. Unlike other host cities for the 2026 games, she noted, Kansas City didn’t have a pre-made roadmap based on years of experience with major sporting events.
“We are just getting started and building our own major tourism playbooks for the future generation to score with,” Webster said.
2122, Jefferson Street, West Side, Downtown Kansas City, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, 64108, United States
Fund More Stories
This story was made possible by readers like you. Join them — make a one-time contribution or become a monthly member to sustain our work.
Latest Stories
