Made in KC

Children’s book tells KC entrepreneurs’ stories; challenging traditional pathways to success

Christle Reed wants Kansas City’s next wave of potential business builders to know they needn’t be bound to a mainstream plot line for wealth and happiness, the entrepreneur-turned-author shared. Her new children’s book about more than a dozen local entrepreneurs could help rewrite that narrative. “College isn’t the only way to success for kids,” she…

Popular airport vending machines stocked with local maker goods won’t make the move to new terminal

When Kansas City’s new terminal opens Feb. 28 — booked full of local brands — a retail startup that weathered nearly a decade (and a pandemic that grounded much of the nation’s air travel) at the airport won’t be among those selling KC goods at the new shopping destination, its founders announced this week. SouveNEAR…

Know where your meat comes from? For KC shoppers, it’s in a vending machine outside this popular coffee spot

If a farm-to-table beef vending machine is going to successfully plug into a hungry market, Tim Haer has just the place to meet the challenge, he said. “Kansas City — at one point in time — had the largest stockyard in the nation and we were known as Cowtown USA,” noted the startup worker-turned-Green Grass…

Ice Cream Bae returns to the Country Club Plaza with its own storefront, more flavors 

Adison and Jackie Sichampanakhone have a soft spot for the Country Club Plaza, they shared. It’s where the journey with their soft-serve ice cream shop began. “We’re excited to be back. We had so many great customers down here before, so we’re happy to be able to serve them again,” said Adison, who co-founded Ice…

Triple (stitched) threat: Olathe apparel shop brings design, sewing, printing in-house with shirts hitting store shelves soon

Adam Worrel’s vision for a fabric-to-finish apparel and screen printing business is finally sewing itself together — nearly 4,000 miles from where it began — with a label made in KC.  First formulating the idea in 2010, he imagined creating a line with production and printing in-house and as much control over the supply chain as…