This is the third in a three-part series. Read part one and part two here.
When Joyce Watts of Boujee Bakery began to update her website with promotions to lure soccer fans to her location east of downtown, she ran into an unexpected roadblock.
FIFA World Cup 2026 is protected intellectual property, and according to the local Community Activation Playbook, it may only be used in plain text for editorial purposes, not marketing or promotion.
“You can’t say The World Cup. I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, surely you can use a soccer ball or something, but then I decided not to even do anything different to my website. Hopefully, once people Google, they can find me,” she said.
The search engine lists Boujee Bakery, 2311 E. 12th St., as a black- and woman-owned bakery known for “American comfort food.” She offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches, soups, salads, and trays of baked goods, including cookies, cinnamon rolls, and cheesecake.
Watts is eager to make her individual cheesecakes a fan favorite.
She perfected her fluffy cheesecake recipe during the pandemic and now offers an array of flavors and tasty toppings, including strawberry, cherry, banana pudding, and sweet potato.
Watts moved into her new bakery seven months ago, and she’s already outgrown her space thanks to regulars like Eugene Williams, another tenant in the strip of shops that received a recent facelift.
Williams is Boujee Bakery’s No. 1 customer, stopping by a few times a day.
“I stopped eating sweets for about a week or two, but they’re just too tempting. You can’t stay away. So now I just work out to eat this. I love it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Watts has developed a robust delivery business that has inadvertently made her better prepared for tourists because she is fielding orders from non-English speakers.
She’s also confident her young staff will know how to use various translation apps when dealing with any in-store customers who drop by.
While checking whether her cheesecakes are ready to come out of the oven, Watts said she was also glad she learned how to freeze batters and doughs, which will help her better meet fluctuations in customer demand.
“We just don’t know what to expect because we’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said.
Up and down the Independence Avenue corridor, the 131 mostly immigrant- and refugee-owned businesses are checking their websites and online reviews, spiffing up their social media profiles, and hiring and training additional staff.
The neighborhood’s proximity to downtown should increase foot traffic, though the Fan Festival is being held quite a distance away from the Historic Northeast on the grounds of the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Thus, the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce has devised its own game plan.
It is hopeful that its International Marketplace and downloadable app available on Google Play help visitors navigate the Historic Northeast neighborhoods, using a variety of self-guided walking tours that illustrate the diversity of the community and its authentic food and culture.
“We want our businesses to be prepared and discoverable. We have a lot of businesses that are not the best at promoting themselves,” said Laura Birdsong, team resource manager for Independence Avenue Community Improvement District.
For example, many Somali refugees harbor a deep distrust of the government and avoid an online presence.
“But how do you profit when you don’t even have a desire for random people coming into your store? It can feel like a violation to them,” Birdsong said.
Yet, she’s noticed that some store owners are interested in taking advantage of what is being touted as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
One of those businesses is La Cubana, a bright spot in the Historic Northeast.
A few blocks south of Independence Avenue at 5402 Winner Road, the terracotta facade of the restaurant stands out from a complex of newly renovated affordable housing units across the street.
A blend of garlic, citrus, cumin, and oregano sold as Sazón Completa wafts from the open kitchen. A big-screen TV is tuned to performances of Cuban music, including rumba, reggaeton, and timba.
But expect to hear fans cheering as they root for their favorite teams during a summer of soccer matches.
“If you walk in, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is nice in here.’ Like, even if it’s raining and storming outside, you walk in here, and it’s like a little piece of Miami, so if somebody came here and they wanted to taste American food, they’re getting the American experience through Cuban eyes,” said Lester Ruiz, who does double-duty managing a car mechanic shop and the 46-seat cafe he owns with his wife, Mireya.
The couple first ventured into business as a food truck in 2019. They initially served tacos to help transition customers to Cuban dishes. After growing their customer base, they turned a former Mexican restaurant into their own tiny island paradise.
The trim woman with slightly graying hair in the kitchen is Ruiz’s mom, Magalis Garcia. Every day, she arrives at the restaurant around 6 a.m. to start the stewed meats. The authentic pan Cubano, a fluffy white bread essential for a true Cuban sandwich, is baked daily.
The menu includes ropa vieja (a slow-cooked, shredded beef stew in tomato sauce), picadillo (ground beef in tomato sauce with olives), and a platter that goes by the name “El Tipico,” featuring roast pork marinated in a citrus sauce, congris (a muddy-colored rice that comes from cooking black beans and rice together), and cassava with mojo and salad.
Cuban coffee, tropical fruit juices and shakes, snacks, and desserts, including flan and pastelitos, round out an affordable menu where the most expensive item is $18.99.
Ruiz emigrated from Cuba with his family when he was 11.
He grew up in the Historic Northeast on St. John Street and graduated from Northeast High School. Mireya is Mexican and a graduate of Van Horn High School. They grew up with a strong sense of community, and they’re investing in their neighborhood.
“We’re trying to bring up the area a little bit… it’s not the prettiest part of the city, but it’s kind of the heart,” Ruiz said. “We could have gone somewhere else, but we wanted to stay right here.”
This story was originally published by Flatland, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
