KC’s first Vietnamese coffee shop brews $20K at AltCap Your Biz; other winners include an urban farm, development company and selfie studio

Cafe Cà Phê can now afford to build bathrooms in its anticipated brick-and-mortar coffee location, Jackie Nguyen teased on Instagram after being awarded the grand prize at the 2021 AltCap Your Biz: Pitch Competition.

Madoka Koguchi and Jackie Nguyen, Cafe Cà Phê; 2021 AltCap Your Biz grand prize winner

“The $20,000 will go toward helping build that out — getting new appliances, [hiring] new employees because we’ve outgrown our cart. I do have an atypical business model where I’m trying to raise capital completely myself and not take out a loan. I’m trying to create generational wealth. I don’t believe I can do that if I go into debt trying to build my coffee shop,” Nguyen shared at Wednesday’s event.

Ten finalists pitched Wednesday at AltCap’s “Closing the Deal” competition, with four businesses taking home cash prizes. AltCap, which presented the event alongside UMB Bank, awarded the biggest check to Nguyen’s Cafe Cà Phê. 

“I think [being here] sets such a good precedent for, especially minorities, and people who really want to start their business, but they’re afraid to go into debt,” said the first-generation Vietnamese American behind the venture, which debuted as a mobile coffee shop in fall 2020 before recently announcing plans to build a permanent location in a culturally significant neighborhood. “Cafe Cà Phê is not only investing in the community, but we’re investing in Columbus Park.” 

Click here to read more about Cafe Cà Phê’s upcoming brick-and-mortar space in Columbus Park, as well as Jackie Nguyen’s activist work.

Mike Rollen, Ophelia’s Blue Vine Farm; 2021 AltCap Your Biz winner

Ophelia’s Blue Vine Farm — a family-run, urban farm in the heart of KCMO — took home the second-place award: $10,000.

“What we are asking the grant money for is the machine to pack [all of our products],” said Mike Rollen, the founder of Ophelia’s Blue Vine Farm. “Currently we are packing all of this by hand. … The machine is going to allow us to cut our costs down tremendously.”

Legacy Asset Group; 2021 AltCap Your Biz winner

Third place and $5,000 went to Legacy Asset Group, an incremental development company focused on affordable housing solutions.

“This prize money would help facilitate the hiring of a community manager who would be responsible for facilitating our meetings and event space,” said Jesse Hawks, the operations manager at Legacy Asset Group.

India Wells-Carter, Fresh Factory KC; 2021 AltCap Your Biz winner

Fresh Factory KC, founded by India Wells-Carter, won the Fan Favorite award and $2,500. Wells-Carter echoed the team at Legacy Asset Group — expressing that grant money will help her fund the need for a growing staff, as well as upgrade her selfie sets.

“Right now our selfie sets are 8 feet by 8 feet; they’re pretty minimalistic, still aesthetically pleasing,” Wells-Carter said. “I will contract with dope artists, painters, muralists to create even more fresh and imaginative sets. So as our demand is increasing, our customers can expect our designs and space to be even more elaborate, fun, interactive and immersive.” 

 Click here to read more about India Wells-Carter’s selfie studio in Zona Rosa.

The other six finalists included: 

• Bizzy Babies, Diamond Fuse — Bizzy Babies is a soft playground and bounce house rental company. It provides “colorful, safe, stimulating and entertaining” soft playgrounds to indoor and outdoor children’s events.

• Heart and Seoul, Rachel Cayetano — Heart and Seoul is an online shop specializing in hand-dyed yarn. Each piece is hand-dyed and personalized by Cayetano. 

• MJ Fitness, Shelley Ortiz — MJ Fitness is a personal training and health coaching gym with an emphasis on member’s mental and physical health journeys.

• Peak Roofing-Mechanical, Jade Teixeira — Peak Roofing-Mechanical is a minority-owned, father-daughter-run heating and cooling business that services residential and commercial HVAC systems.

• Queens Kitchen, Allyscia Burton — Queens Kitchen is a vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian mobile food truck, flavored in soul food. 

• The Ripple, Keith Custer — The Ripple is an online marketplace rooted in giving. Sellers can upload a good or service to the marketplace, then select from a list of vetted charities to receive the proceeds of the sale.

This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn