Coffee shop with a special mission is coming to North Kansas City
A coffee shop with an inclusive mission is coming to the main drag of North Kansas City, bringing a relaxed cafe space to the rapidly growing community.
Latte Life, which is associated with disability services nonprofit Life Unlimited, is opening in August at 318 Armour Road, according to Emily Morgan, vice president of external relations at Life Unlimited.
The coffee shop will function just like any other coffee shop — serving lattes, teas and pastries to customers in the morning and early afternoon. But it is part of Life Unlimited, an organization that provides services like job skills training and housing to adults with disabilities in the KC area.
Built into the coffee shop is Latte Life Academy, a workforce training program for adults with disabilities. The program will train four participants at a time for four months, Morgan said in an email, and it will combine classroom instruction with working on the cafe floor alongside Latte Life’s experienced baristas and managers.
The program will provide training in the following areas: barista skills, espresso brewing, earning a food handler’s license, learning point-of-sale systems, customer service skills, food prep and other more general workplace skills.
“We want to give them marketable assets so they can go within our community and get quality jobs — be it hospitality or an industry that has those transferable skills,” Morgan said.
She added that the program is different from places like The Golden Scoop, an ice cream shop in Overland Park that employs adults with disabilities over longer terms. Once participants complete the program, they’ll work with Life Unlimited’s employment services team to find a job outside the Life Unlimited program.
As for what customers can expect, they can have their morning brew just about any way they’d prefer: hot or cold, topped with sweet cream, flavored and with mocha. Latte Life will serve espresso drinks, blended coffee drinks, cold brew, lattes, cappuccinos and macchiatos.
The cafe will use coffee from an NKC small-batch roaster called Northlandia. The company worked on a special roast for use at Latte Life, said Stevie Rose, marketing specialist at Life Unlimited.
For those non-coffee drinkers, Latte Life will serve hot and cold teas, chai lattes, hot chocolate and energizing fruit beverages.
The coffee shop also has a small breakfast food menu that will include breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, pastries and some grab-and-go items. According to Latte Life’s Instagram, the coffee shop is partnering with Scratch KC to provide baked goods like homemade Pop-Tarts, muffins and croissants.
And because the mission of Latte Life supports adults with disabilities, they wanted the customer-facing experience of the cafe to be inclusive as well. Accessibility and comfort was important in the design, so the team avoided an industrial feel that can make other coffee shops feel louder or echoing.
Life Unlimited worked with Nell Hill’s, a Kansas City furniture store, to make the space feel warm and inviting. That can be seen through their seating options, offering a variety that goes beyond the typical cafe tables. There’s also lounge-style seating in the form of couches and upholstered chairs that provide a little more comfort to the guests who may linger longer. And according to Instagram, Latte Life will also have patio seating, which will be dog-friendly.
“We’re going to work very, very hard to make it a coffee shop inclusive for all, regardless of what your needs are or what your purpose is for meetings or grabbing a cup of coffee,” Morgan said.
It makes sense that Latte Life would land in the Northland given that’s where Life Unlimited is based — in fact, the coffee shop will be just next door. But the team also wanted to bring something different to NKC, which has businesses to get coffee, but fewer options to meet up or hang out with a cup of Joe.
“We hope our community will stop by not just because they believe in our mission, but because they enjoy a great cup of coffee and want to be part of an inclusive community gathering place,” Morgan said.
When Latte Life opens next month, the cafe will welcome guests from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, though Morgan said they may consider expanding hours if there’s customer demand for it.
Future guests can get Latte Life updates on Instagram.
