49-year-old Reginald Hester has been running a sip-and-paint art studio in Overland Park, Kansas, for the last two years. It’s called Paint with A Twist and allows people to have a cocktail while they pick up their brushes. Hester, who is Black, said running his studio has been difficult.
“Business, as you can understand right now, has been a little bit of a challenge with the economy,” Hester said. “We’re trying to partner with other businesses, community partners, just to keep the doors open.”
Hester knows that marketing is the lifeline of any business and he has struggled with it in the past. That’s why he has now cast his efforts on attracting out-of-town visitors here for the World Cup.
“We just want to connect with them to make sure we have a phenomenal experience here in the city," he said, "and you know just give them a different twist and a different perspective of alternative events."
Hester has shaped his activities around the World Cup by creating experiences that offer a relaxing environment, a space designed to give people a rejuvenating activity after heated, intense games. For example, he's got a DIY candle-making activity and fun trivia games.
Paint With a Twist is one of 30 businesses featured in the new Kansas City G.I.F.T Black-owned business guide, called Black Business Passport. Kansas City G.I.F.T. provides grants, education and marketing services to emerging Black businesses. Their latest guide features a mix of restaurants, entertainment options and essential services, new additions directed to out-of-town visitors. A QR code provides a link to 50 other Black-owned businesses in the area.
This is the third iteration of G.I.F.T.’s Black-owned business guide. CEO Brandon Calloway said, in the past, when big events come to Kansas City, visitors stay and shop near areas that have been heavily promoted. These historically exclude those where Black-owned businesses are concentrated. As a result, Calloway said, businesses in the Black communities lose out on the hefty profits these major events can bring in. The World Cup is expected to bring together more visitors than any other in Kansas City's history.
“I didn’t want to sit back and passively let that same thing that happened during the NFL Draft happen during the World Cup," said Calloway. “It is our way of helping businesses hopefully get some additional traffic during World Cup and beyond.”
So far, Kansas City G.I.F.T. has printed out around 3,000 of these guides and placed them in a cross-section of small businesses around the city.
Kim Davis, the CEO of the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, echoed Calloway’s concern.
“For some reason, there has been a lack of exposure and a lack of directing our city when we have these conferences (and events),” she said.
The total number of World Cup visitors to Kansas City will be difficult to calculate, but officials are counting on a commercial boost from those who come.
They’re anticipating the biggest crowds for the quarterfinals, which take place at Arrowhead Stadium, known as Kansas City Stadium for the duration of the tournament, on July 11.
Both Davis and Calloway expect the business guide to benefit Black-owned businesses long after World Cup visitors are gone.
“Hopefully it's the start, (so that) when Big 12 and any other major conference comes around, we’re already on the map,” Davis said. “That is what that passport is going to do with a lot of businesses.”
Calloway agrees.
“We are planning to print these all throughout the year and all throughout next year,” he said. “It's a way that we see long-term to increase Black business support around the city.”
Guides can be found at these supporting businesses or on the Kansas City G.I.F.T. Instagram page:
- The Prospect Business Association (Union Station Pop Up)
- The Combine
- Urban Restaurant
- Equal Minded Cafe
- The Bevel Barber Lounge
- Fetch KC
- Boulevard Brewing Co.
- Mildred's (South Plaza)
- Tiki Taco (various locations)
- Arvest Bank (various branches)
