Tag: kansas city

Kansas City HR tech startup earns $9M defense contract to help hire skilled workers for nuclear subs

admin — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:43:50 +0000

Meeting the U.S. Navy’s aggressive hiring goals requires collaboration across thousands of contractors in all 50 states at a time when America is already experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, said Ray Dick, co-founder of a talent assessment and hiring software platform developed specifically for manufacturing and skilled trades.

Fifth & Emery rebrand puts local in control; Isaac Lee Collins’ next move: add handmade chocolate

admin — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:13:43 +0000

Taking his businesses independent is the cherry on top for Isaac Lee Collins, following more than a decade building his credentials as one of Kansas City’s most consistent and resilient entrepreneurs. A rebrand of Collins’ frozen yogurt ventures adds a further twist to his story.

Building a movement: How empowering one small business can change their world (and ours)

admin — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:02 +0000

Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Brandon Calloway is CEO and Co-Founder of Generating Income For Tomorrow (G.I.F.T.), and now writes a weekly blog, The Equity Advocate.

She made kitchens her classroom; now this young foodie has her own Olathe bakeshop

admin — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:43:40 +0000

Oreo cheesecake cookies. Take-and-bake cinnamon rolls. Pina Colado sodas. After seven years as an home-based business in Olathe, Cake Loft now has a storefront and even more attention-grabbing offerings.

Meet KCSourceLink’s trio of ‘navigators’ now embedded in KC business support hubs

admin — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:33:24 +0000

A new initiative from KCSourceLink that places three experienced business leaders in strategic locations across Kansas City will help aspiring entrepreneurs better connect with the resources and answers they need to start and grow businesses and side hustles, said Becca Castro.

NXTUS launches bracket-style pitch competition for Kansas startups with $20K in prizes

admin — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 16:34:03 +0000

A new, high-energy pitch competition is expected to help startup founders collide with angel investors and innovation leaders from across Kansas — all set against the excitement of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this spring.

Lawmakers redeploy bill to boost veterans as entrepreneurs; targeting easier access to capital, credit

admin — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:16:20 +0000

Bipartisan legislation to help veteran small business owners and entrepreneurs overcome barriers on the home front is back in Congress, with backing from two area lawmakers who say the time is now to get resources to those who served.

Chris Boyle wants you to reach for kombucha on instinct; his plan: make it as accessible (and tasty) as your favorite beer

admin — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 14:19:30 +0000

Daily Culture Kombucha’s expansion is not quite as effortlessly self-replicating as the scoby that powers the Kansas City brand’s bold, full-bodied flavors — but a commitment to consistency and authenticity has fermented a strategy founder Chris Boyle said keeps his company on the tip of consumers’ tongues.

Olathe restaurateur brings comfort food home from the Mediterranean (starting with falafel bowls)

admin — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 19:17:25 +0000

Summer Salem looked around her city for an authentic Mediterranean restaurant and found a gap in the Olathe marketplace.

Cook to CEO: Chad Offerdahl sticks to Big Biscuit basics as breakfast industry trends funky — ‘That’s not us’

admin — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 13:55:10 +0000

Chad Offerdahl’s journey with The Big Biscuit didn’t start in an office — it began in the kitchen, explained the CEO of the fast-growing, locally owned breakfast brand. That’s where he first learned the classics that define the company, its mission and the menu.

“I started as a cook,” said Offerdahl. “I trained in the original two restaurants for months, cooking, serving, rolling silverware, and setting tables.”

How this founder’s hobby (plus a little trouble) became Oak Park retail incubator’s biggest success story

admin — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 23:13:58 +0000

“Big Chunky Blankets” — soft as a baby’s cheek and custom knitted in any color of the rainbow — folded into the foundation of what would become Maryann Nzioki Hult’s resilient, nearly pandemic-proof foray into entrepreneurship.

They put local Tabu Knits on the online map of must-have-items, and then became the seed of two Johnson County retail shops.

Nzioki Hult took up knitting as a 9-year-old at her mother’s side. She was top-notch by her teens and even learned tailoring.

Big win for UMKC: Unlocking top tier research status gives KC new competitive edge

admin — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 17:11:07 +0000

A new milestone for the University of Missouri-Kansas City — achieving status as Kansas City’s first Carnegie R1 research institution — is expected to help boost the region’s ability to start, grow and scale more startups, leaders said this week, emphasizing the role university-led research plays in innovation across industries and communities.

KC Bier Co building new 30,000-square-foot urban beer garden; founder brewing a space for all

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:47:45 +0000

A Kansas City-built, German-style brewery is expanding to Lenexa — bringing an authentic Bavarian beer garden experience to Johnson County, said founder Steve Holle.

Founder Problems: Podcast captures the ‘messy middle’ you don’t see on entrepreneurs’ highlight reels

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:13:40 +0000

A new Kansas City-based podcast is skipping over the fairy tale stories of founding a startup; instead diving straight into the messy parts, the hosts shared.

‘Invest with women we know’: This $1.4M wellness hub project is redeveloping one neighborhood from within

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:45:51 +0000

It’s an old real estate adage: “Buy the worst house in the best neighborhood.”

Longtime Kansas City commercial broker Sheryl Vickers said it also applies to business properties, “one thousand percent.”

Like twin mid-century office buildings just over the Missouri/Kansas state line in Prairie Village.