Orange By: Devoured — the flagship pizza shop from Jhy Coulter — is finally ready for the public.
It comes after enduring years of pop-ups to keep the dream alive, renovations, and the closure of business lending platform Mainvest that took founders by surprise.
“I am tired — I’m exhausted,” Coulter said with a laugh, noting the pizza shop deftly handled three weeks since opening. “But I feel good. Everyone has been receptive to my food, to my concept, and everything.”
Orange took a year to open after the completion of its $112,000 funding round, she detailed, explaining that the space at 31st and Gillham Road underwent significant renovations. In addition, community members who crowdfunded Coulter’s concept through Mainvest expected a return on their investments — requiring additional steps to finalize plans and make good on her investor assurances.
“It took me about a year and a little change to get everything built out, everything ready to open. But before then, there was a lot of work, a lot of due diligence that I had to go through,” she said. “That in itself has been a journey. I thought the pop-up was a journey, but then this is real life.”
Within the shop, its space boasts orange accents, tile work, and curated art and signage that adds to the upscale and trendy feel of the restaurant. The store sits between a Made in KC storefront and Ludo’s shuffleboard bar.
“I think [our store] is really exciting for the neighborhood. It’s one of those things that as a business owner, you worry about; you don’t know if your restaurant or concept is going to be well-perceived,” she added.
Customers looking for the most popular menu items — gambas al ajillo (a take on Spanish-style garlic shrimp), and the risotto bites — will need to be strategic to get a taste, Coulter said, noting the store is working hard to keep up with demand.
“We’ve been running out of our risotto bites a lot,” she admitted. “It feels good to be in the neighborhood and have people be so open to our food because our food is a little bit different than other restaurants. We are doing pizza, but not the typical customization of pizza.”
The team she gathered for Orange — some new faces and others from the pop-up days — are building the shop’s “small but mighty” atmosphere to deliver fresh takes on delicious pizza to expecting customers, she said.
Currently, the frequent faces manning the ovens include: Jones Goldman, her long-time business partner from four years of the shop’s pop-up iterations; Coulter’s own partner Brit Estes, who takes on dishes when needed; as well as Nick Sanders and Alex Thomas, she said, adding that new hires are percolating as well.
“There’s a lot of consistent people who believe in what they’re doing. They believe in the food, the culture, and they want to be a part of this creation,” said Coulter. “I’m just very open-minded about them being a part of the journey and wanting to build with me.”
The switch from pop-ups to permanent store concept has brought a unique set of challenges, she said. The different needs and expectations demand change, flexibility and adherence to new systems.
“You have to change your mindset, you have to change everything you have,” Coulter said. “You can keep some systems with the restaurant but [with pop-ups] there were a lot of things that we were doing on the fly or having to makeshift things. We now have this stable environment and all of us are getting used to that.”
The team’s goals are now to “take it week-by-week” and focus on making the shop’s output as consistent as possible. The details of ensuring customer experience is well-tuned, and each employee is learning the tools of the trade, are major pieces to long-term sustainability, Coulter said.
“Everyone feels good — especially my staff. That’s the most important thing, the people who work with me everyday,” she added.
Coulter is hesitant to put out details on longer-term goals as the store continues to chug along, she said, but merch and new or rotating menu items are definitely in the pipeline.
“I’m just trying to keep it simple. I don’t want us to crash and burn,” she said. “I want us to have a consistent rise up and then as we start to grow, we can get a little wild with it.”
Coulter credits early collaborations with other businesses like Cafe Cà Phê and Casual Animal Brewery, as well as Made In KC — neighbors at the Orange shop who helped Coulter scope out the real estate opportunity that developed into her brick-and-mortar.
“Everyone is seriously on our team. I want to keep that buzz going,” she said. “I feel like this chapter has just started.”
This story was originally published by Startland News, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
