Café Equinox propagates new year-round Liberty location; Nelson brothers taking perennial coffee concept evergreen
January 7, 2025 | Joyce Smith
Café Equinox initially was meant to operate its coffee shop concept only during the equinox, nestled inside Family Tree Nursery greenhouses, said Jonah Nelson.
Jesse and Jonah Nelson, Cafe Equinox and Family Tree Nursery; courtesy photo
“From September through March when people don’t have that warm outside space, they can come to the greenhouse,” said Nelson, who operates the family-owned garden centers with his brother, Jessie. “It is like being in the garden. It feeds part of our souls and has become a community space.”
But the Shawnee cafe, at 7036 Nieman Road, “exploded and developed into what it is today. Full-time,” he said of the popular Johns County location that debuted in 2019 — ultimately the first to shift operations to 12 months a year.
From the archives: Fresh coffee concept sprouts in the suburbs
Now the family plans to operate a Café Equinox trailer year-round inside the greenhouse of their Liberty store at 830 W. Liberty Drive. It is scheduled to open later this month or in early February.
The Overland Park cafe, in the greenhouse at 8424 Farley St., also will eventually expand to year-round.
Cafe Equinox’s new coffee trailer concept, slated for the Family Tree Nursery location in Liberty; photo by Joyce Smith
Jesse Nelson and Bo Nelson, Cafe Equinox
Bo Nelson, brother of Jonah and Jessie, is founder and owner of Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters, which plays a integral role within the Café Equinox brand.
In addition to coffee from Thou Mayest, Café Equinox’s menu includes teas and tea lattes. It also serves pastries from Heirloom Bakery & Hearth in East Brookside, as well as some from Mud Pie Vegan Bakery & Coffee in Mission. On Saturdays, the cafes feature cinnamon rolls.
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Blue Sky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
Featured Business
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Innovation Stockyard selects first St. Joe startup for Digital Sandbox
A curbside recycling service is expected to be the first startup to receive Digital Sandbox KC proof-of-concept funding through the Innovation Stockyard incubator. Toss it Curbside, a service with which customers place unwanted items on their curbs to be recycled or donated, plans to use the funds and the St. Joseph-based incubator program to optimize…
Applications open: Sprint Accelerator dialing into ag tech, IoT with 2018 cohort
Investing in startups isn’t just about providing needed capital, Doug Dresslaer said. As the Sprint Accelerator gears up for its fifth year, Dresslaer, managing director of the program, said the accelerator’s 2017 cohort — the first since its move toward establishing corporate partnerships and pivot away from Techstars — proved industry relationships themselves create tremendous value.…
Entrepreneurial inspiration: How a wheelchair freed Wesley Hamilton
Editor’s note: Kansas City fitness and community advocate Wesley Hamilton offered four inspirational tips for entrepreneurs, illustrated by his own remarkable experiences overcoming adversity. Two bullets pierced Wesley Hamilton’s back, confining him to a wheelchair, but freeing his mind, the Kansas City adaptive athlete said. “I found that being shot by someone I never knew…
Show ’em KC hustle! 1 Million Cups needs you to beat Fargo (Video)
Nice shirts. Clever designs. The perfect mix of whimsy and irreverent wordplay. They’d fit in well among the Kansas City apparel scene. Except for one glaring snag: They’re brewed in Fargo. Yeah. That Fargo. And if you don’t want to see them on the backs of KC’s 1 Million Cups team, you’ll make plans to…