Startups

Happy Food Co., Get Happy Catering

High demand, low profits: Happy Food Co pulls meal kits from stores, pivots to catering

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2020

Love wasn’t enough to sustain the original model of Happy Food Co., but the meal kit company’s ability to pivot opens new doors, said Kiersten Firquain. “For a startup in Kansas City … it is difficult,” Firquain, head chef and co-founder of Happy Food Co., said of geographical challenges that contributed to its restructuring, a…

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Ryan Martin, KC Jacks

Outcrafting Carhartt: KC denim guru opened the door to a hidden maker speakeasy, affordable US-made workwear 

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2020

The high-stakes world of makers — especially those hoping to develop a national brand built on quality craftsmanship — can require connections beyond what someone finds in a simple Google search, said Ryan Martin. “You kind of have to know somebody,” the Kansas City denim guru behind the KC Jacks workwear line and the couture…

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Wise Power Shield Club at Children's Mercy Park

WISE Power shifts energy from Hy-Vee Arena to Sporting KC, debuting cutting-edge tech lounge March 7

By Tommy Felts / February 19, 2020

A new partnership with Sporting KC gives a Kansas City-founded startup naming rights to the new WISE Power Shield Club at Children’s Mercy Park, as well as a new lease on its emerging entertainment concept previously set to debut at the Hy-Vee Arena. “WISE Power has designed technology products and services that are incredibly innovative…

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Komal Choong and Anoop Choong, ZOHR

ZOHR relocates HQ to Dallas; KC lauded as its test site, but too limiting to grow brand nationally

By Tommy Felts / February 18, 2020

Everything’s bigger in Texas for ZOHR — including the startup’s potential to drive onto the national automotive scene, said Komal Choong. “Kansas City has been our test market to prove out key elements of our growth and market expansion strategies,” said Choong, co-founder of ZOHR, confirming Tuesday that the on-demand tire service startup has relocated its…

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Megh Knappenberger super bowl confetti

Megh Marks History: Artist crafts Chiefs-inspired painting from on-field Super Bowl confetti

By Tommy Felts / February 15, 2020

While most Kansas Citians were shouting from the rooftops in the seconds after the Chiefs Super Bowl victory, Megh Knappenberger was quietly writing down on the back of a grocery list an idea to capture the joyous spirit of the big win through artistic expression.  “I saw the confetti raining down on the players and…

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