Austin Barnes and Tommy Felts
Recent Articles by Austin Barnes and Tommy Felts
Chocolatier Christopher Elbow: Neighborhood favorites need KC support to survive 2020 (and 2021)
Hours before opening to hungry Black Friday customers, workers at Christopher Elbow’s Fairway Creamery were busy crafting decadent donuts and savory on-the-go breakfast favorites. Salted caramel gingersnap cake. Strawberry rosé and chocolate blackout yeast raised. Avocado toast with a sunny side up egg on top. The morning easily could go either way, staff members said:…
Shop small: Five ways to wear (and wash with) KC pride from Westside Storey’s historic corner
Editor’s note: Startland News perused Westside Storey’s 1920s-era corner shop as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. What began eight years ago as a boutique antique shop quickly evolved into…
Shop small: Five finds at Made in KC to help creators survive a ‘make or break’ holiday season
Editor’s note: Startland News explored the Made in KC Marketplace in Lee’s Summit as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. A trip to Made in KC means a majority of…
Shop small: Five designer gifts at Kindred celebrating KC’s fashionpreneurs, winning vibes
Editor’s note: Startland News shopped Kindred’s Oak Park Mall store as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. Local designers always have a spot on the rack within the Kindred Shops. …
Shop small: Five buys at Westport’s Mid Coast Modern to help support KC makers
Editor’s note: Startland News explored Mid Coast Modern’s Westport storefront as part of the newsroom’s five-part holiday gift guide that identifies locally made goods and supports the call to shop small. Click here to read the multi-day gift guide as it develops. Westport streets aren’t filled with as much cheer in 2020, Matt Bramlette said, entering…
Stronger brew: Messenger blends coffee collective into its behind-the-scenes menu
As the smells of Ibis Bakery and roasting beans waft together at Messenger Coffee in the Crossroads, rising between floors of the spacious and vibrant corner cafe, the flavors haven’t changed since COVID-19 began — nor since the popular Kansas City roasterie joined a freshly launched coffee collective, said Isaac Hodges. It’s still steeped in…
Wiener Kitchen’s chef-driven, artisan eats: This time you’ll actually want to see how the sausage is made
The grill hasn’t gone cold for Overland Park-stuffed Wiener Kitchen, said Dave Derr, recalling his unexpectedly packed experience as a restauranteur amid a pandemic season squeezing many small businesses. “We’ve had more revenue at our store than pre-COVID, which is absolutely nuts,” he chuckled in near disbelief. Consumer habits rapidly changed during the onset of…
New in KC: Why Jackie Nguyen hit the brakes on acting to open a mobile coffee cafe
Editor’s note: New in KC is an ongoing profile series that highlights newly relocated members of the Kansas City startup community, their reasons for a change of scenery, and what they’ve found so far in KC. Click here to read more New in KC profiles. Lifting the curtain on the region’s first Vietnamese coffee traveling cafe, Jackie Nguyen is…
Back-to-basics innovation: How two former vegetarians revived a 5,000-year-old pig breed in the hills of Platte County
First comes a sudden rustling of leaves, followed by soft grunting and the patter of dozens of unseen hoofed feet hitting the Platte County earth. A stampede of 30 pubescent Meishan piglets darts out of a wooded area at the base of a rolling hill covered in native plants, legumes and organic maize. “They look…
Peek inside Tesseract HQ: Robotics startup builds future in real time (with humans on the brain)
As an intentionally lowered screen begins to lift on Tesseract Ventures, once-seemingly-wild ideas that lived only in tech inventor John Boucard’s head are being realized. With them, the future of work is taking shape — 3D-printed piece by 3D-printed piece — hardwired in the suburbs of Kansas City. “We were a bit mysterious in the…