A Cup on the Hill aims to help jump-start revitalization in downtown KCK
Until recently, the lawyers, police officers, courthouse employees, library workers and other assorted business types of downtown Kansas City, Kansas, lacked a proper place to grab their morning (or post-lunch) cup of coffee. As of March 20, though, A Cup on the Hill (730 Minnesota) is offering an alternative to gas-station drip and burnt office coffee for neighborhood caffeine seekers.
The shop itself isn’t particularly fancy. “We’re a pretty traditional espresso bar,” says manager Jessica Rose. It offers teas and pastries, doughnuts from Hana’s on Maple Hill, and coffee roasted by the locals at Action Coffee. There were three pump-your-own-cup blends this morning: Hilltop, Snickerdoodle and a decaf.
A Cup on the Hill’s ambitions are more notable. The shop is supported and sponsored by Community Housing of Wyandotte County, a nonprofit dedicated to community redevelopment in KCK. It’s a partnership between CHWC and Jamina Bone, who spoke with The Pitch about her plans to launch a coffee shop/youth program a few years ago. “We’re a branch of their [CHWC’s] community building and engagement,” Rose says. “The idea is that the coffee shop will be able to sustain a program here where we hire young kids from around here in KCK and provide them with job skills and training.” (Bone will be the program coordinator once it launches.)
They’re not quite there yet — the baristas today were in their 20s — but Rose says she’s been seeing steady growth these last few weeks, as word-of-mouth spreads about A Cup on the Hill. Another hope is that the shop can help spur redevelopment along Minnesota Avenue and in downtown KCK. Many of the adjacent storefronts, though historic and architecturally attractive, sit empty. “I think groups like the CHWC and the Downtown Shareholders [which is soliciting pop-up businesses to boost growth in the area] are working to try new ways to get people down here,” Rose says. “People have a lot of misconceptions about KCK, I think. But maybe that’s starting to change.”
A Cup on the Hill. 730 Minnesota.
Hours: 7 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
