KC Juice Co to open in ‘Brookside East’ area

Amy Bartosik and Robin Krause are teaming up on the new KC Juice Co, a coffee and juice bar focusing on raw, whole and fresh ingredients.

“It’s a grab-and-go concept,” Bartosik said. “The emphasis will be on ‘living’ food that does your body good. When you eat them they are actually feeding the cells of your body without sacrificing flavor.”

KC Juice Co will offer cold-press raw juices, coffee drinks, an espresso bar, and fresh fruit and veggie smoothies with such ingredients as coconut water and raw seeds, as well as hemp, cashew, coconut or almond milk.

“Bites” will include detox salads, a variety of “rawnola” bars with fresh raw ingredients like seeds, cranberries and nut butters. It also will sell protein balls, gluten-free cookies, and brownies.

“Cold-pressed is a labor of love. The machines are expensive and it takes time. But it has more nutritional value, approximately 35 percent more,” Bartosik said.

The partners plan a summer opening in an A-frame building at 634 E. 63rd St., next door to the planned 63Brookside apartments. The former bank building with drive-thru, which had housed a couple of food operations in recent years, will be remodeled.

“We want to keep the historic element of that building and that era,” Bartosik said.

Bartosik earned a business degree from the University of Kansas-Lawrence in 1995 and then worked in consulting, marketing and sales for several corporations. In her travels on the West Coast, she could often find healthier quick-serve options while on the road. She wanted the same options in Kansas City.

Krause sold majority interest in her Filling Station operations in late 2014 to Kansas City’s Messenger Coffee Co. She planned to be a health coach and expand her line of protein balls.

This story was originally published June 1, 2015 at 1:08 PM with the headline "KC Juice Co to open in ‘Brookside East’ area."