News Stories
Natural fit: Ruby Jean’s opening new juicery inside busy Whole Foods
The fresh-pressed, multi-year deal to open a brick-and-mortar Ruby Jean’s Juicery inside a high-traffic Whole Foods location puts Chris Goode in a position to scale his clean concept even further beyond Kansas City, he said. “We’re in the healthy food space and Whole Foods has cornered that market pretty broadly. With its parent company now…
Major Kansas City grocery chains stock SERV Nutrition less than a year into business
Doing good is more than just a motto for SERV Nutrition — it’s the state of the startup’s operation seven months into business, Isaac Collins said as the company’s patented protein pods hit shelves at Price Chopper and Hen House stores across the metro. “Online sales have been going well, but we saw a great…
Peek inside: Project Commons teen accelerator pilot aims for ‘innovation, collaboration, impact’
Innovation is growing on the third floor of Goodwill’s East Crossroads center, enabling Kansas City’s next generation to take ownership of their city. “We really wanted to sort of address their needs, hear more about their voice and engage with them,” William Dowdell, program director at Hire KC, said of the 21 students who make…
Two novice gardeners in an Olathe lab could harvest Kansas’ first legal hemp harvest
Potential for a high-yield payoff grows with each day as Michael Wilson and James DeWitt inch closer to their first hemp harvest — likely the first in the state in modern times, they said. “It’s the jumping off point to create a repeatable process,” said DeWitt, co-founder and CEO at United American Hemp. “We’ve learned…
Tea-Biotics bottles $1.2M in quick funding round; taps into thirsty new markets for kombucha
From jar-lined countertops in her kitchen to a 13,000-square-foot facility brimming with brew tanks, Lisa Bledsoe’s mission to pour Kansas City a more refreshing bottle of “booch” is scaling fast, she explained over a freshly tapped glass of her “Beachlife”-flavored kombucha. “I think it can be an inspiration for younger women or even other women…
