What’s coming to The Roasterie? Production facility has plans for 2017

The Roasterie, which celebrated its 23rd anniversary on Nov. 4, is expanding its offerings.

The production facility, at 1204 W. 27th St., will soon have a new theater and interactive display on the history of coffee and the history of The Roasterie. It is being designed by Hufft Projects in Kansas City and is expected to be completed by early spring 2017.

“We’re just getting more and more people and more and more questions. And we have people saying, ‘I have these questions, but I don’t want to hold up the line,’ ” said Danny O’Neill, founder of The Roasterie. “We’ve always had that notion of educating, educating, so people know the difference.”

The theater will resemble the DC-3 that is part of the company’s brand. When “passengers” head down the aisle to their seats, the cabin lights will be illuminated. As a short movie begins on the history of coffee and The Roasterie, the cabin lights will dim and the windows will illuminate to simulate an early morning flight.

“It will be brief and fun and move quickly. Then we will have a 45-minute tour and go as deep as someone wants to,” O’Neill said.

Westport’s Baked in Kansas City has been supplying pastries to The Roasterie cafes for a couple years and now plans to open an 800-square-foot wholesale bakery inside the production facility. It will have windows allowing Roasterie customers and tourists to watch the production of brioche, baguettes, cinnamon rolls and other breads for The Roasterie cafes and area restaurants, cafes and grocery stores.

“They were looking for a bakery, and at the same time we were looking to expand,” said Frank Sebree, owner of Baked in Kansas City. “We think this development is a really neat and novel idea for Kansas City, and we are excited to be part of it ... to be growing while they are growing.”

The Roasterie also plans to remodel its current cafe and expand its retail area with more coffee makers, coffees and specialty food items in a second phase scheduled to be completed by late 2017.

The Roasterie sources, roasts and sells small batch, premium coffee from farms and co-ops around the world. It also has cafes in Brookside and Leawood.

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 10:26 AM with the headline "What’s coming to The Roasterie? Production facility has plans for 2017."