Boom or Bust: 2 businesses in same Northeast Kansas City neighborhood have opposite World Cup experiences

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Two businesses just steps apart on East 12th Street in the Northeast neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, had vastly different experiences during the World Cup this summer.

While one business saw a surge of international customers, the other watched the numbers drop at his business.

KC Burgers, a family-owned Somali and East African restaurant, drew customers from around the world during the soccer tournament.

"We had a lot of customers from different countries,'' said Mohamed Awo, owner of KC Burgers. "A lot of Colombian customers came. The Netherlands, a lot of Netherlands people came. Algeria, too. All the teams that played here — their people came.”

The restaurants in the neighborhood offer diverse food choices.

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"Because we serve different food, Middle East food, East African food, American food," Bahasan M. Said, the original owner of KC Burgers, said. "All the Asian and Middle East people, they like to eat rice, lamb, goat meat," Said said.

Across the street, the experience was different at the Boujee Baker

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"It wasn't what we expected," Joyce Watts, owner of the Boujee Baker, said.

Watts said the business prepared for the anticipated crowds, but they never came.

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"We were so prepared for big crowds," said Watts. "We decorated the place with all sorts of soccer stuff. But unfortunately, it didn't pan out for us."

Watts believes many visitors — and even some of her regular customers — were drawn to more heavily promoted parts of the city.

"Yeah, our numbers were down probably about 30%," said Watts. "It pulled away even the normal crowd."

Despite the disappointing World Cup turnout, Watts said she is grateful she held back on major investments ahead of the tournament. She is now preparing to launch a cinnamon roll and cheesecake bar in hopes of bring in new customers.

"I didn't hire extra people like I had planned to do, I didn't buy extra food like I had plan to," said Watts. "I just wanted to play it by ear to see what was going to happen and I was so glad that that's what I did."

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