2025 Startups to Watch: OLEO roasts plans for slow-drip craft retail concepts, starting with coffee (and soon a diner)

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies.

Click here to view the full list of Startups to Watch — presented by Morgan Stanley, and independently produced by Startland News — and see how the companies (including this one) were selected.

In Kansas City’s East Crossroads neighborhood, Take Care by OLEO is making its mark as a coffee shop focused on intentional sourcing, community connection, and quality coffee.

Led by 21-year coffee industry veteran Christopher Oppenhuis, Take Care has become a go-to spot for those who value transparency and excellence in every cup — brewed within the broader OLEO brand, which is expected to rollout additional retail roasts in years to come.

“Take Care is the first retail concept for our coffee roasting company, OLEO,” Oppenhuis explained. “We needed a physical space to showcase our roasted coffees and fresh-baked goods, all made in-house daily.”

The idea for Take Care emerged during the pandemic, a time when many businesses pivoted online. But Oppenhuis had a different vision, he said.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we wanted a space where people could connect — not just with our products, but with each other,” he explained.

Oppenhuis sees Take Care as part of a broader effort to rebrand the East Crossroads as a “craft corridor.”

“This neighborhood is experiencing incredible momentum,” he noted. “It’s probably the largest concentration of craft manufacturing in the U.S. — from breweries and coffee roasters to distilleries. It’s a vibrant ecosystem of independent businesses.”

• Elevator pitch: OLEO is a retail coffee company that was founded out of necessity to create a transparent supply chain between coffee producers and coffee consumers through beautiful products, hospitality focused experiences and tangible brick and mortar concepts.  
• Founder: Christopher Oppenhuis and Mark Sappington
• Headquarters location: Kansas City, Missouri
• Founding year: 2023
• Current employee count: 6
• Funding amount raised to date: $125,000

Building on Take Care’s success, Oppenhuis is now working on an OLEO-fueled diner concept inspired by the same values of intentionality and community. 

“The diner is something we’ve dreamed about for years,” he said. “It’s a chance to bring people together over reimagined classic dishes made with local, ethically sourced ingredients. We want it to be a space where everyone feels welcome.”

Mark Sappington and Christopher Oppenhuis, Marcell Coffee, Take Care, OLEO Coffee; courtesy photo

The diner will complement the coffee shop while expanding OLEO’s presence in Kansas City. (Oppenhuis and OLEO co-founder Mark Sappington, also are the founders and owners of the wholesale roasting company Marcell Coffee.)

“We want to create a gathering place for any time of day — whether it’s for coffee, a meal, or just a moment to connect,” Oppenhuis said. “It’s about fostering an authentic, sustainable community.”

At the heart of Take Care’s mission is ethical sourcing. OLEO works exclusively with single-farm coffee producers in Central and South America, frequently visiting farms in Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia to ensure fairness and transparency.

“Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, alongside tea and bottled water,” Oppenhuis said. “We pay two to three times the commodity market price to ensure farmers are compensated fairly. It’s a big investment, and that’s why we go to the farms ourselves — to make sure it’s equitable for everyone involved.”

Christopher Oppenhuis, OLEO, discusses his company at Take Care by OLEO in the East Crossroads; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

Take Care also partners with local businesses to strengthen Kansas City’s craft community. 

“We’ve collaborated with breweries like Torn Label and Casual Animal, as well as distilleries like Lifted Spirits and Mean Mule,” Oppenhuis shared. “These partnerships highlight the incredible craft work happening here in Kansas City.”

As Take Care celebrates its first year, the focus is on refining operations and exploring new possibilities.

“We’re doubling down on what we’ve built with Take Care,” Oppenhuis said. “We’re also looking forward to new releases, like our barrel-aged coffees with Lifted Spirits.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Oppenhuis envisions an initiative that goes deeper behind the beans.

“The goal is to create an agritourism experience,” he said. “Kansas City offers the space and opportunity to make that dream a reality.”

10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2025

• Good Oak scales social venture to boost biodiversity in farming, herd ag industry toward change
• Hilltop Technologies targets cybersecurity for Main Street (with help from next-gen talent)
• Icorium matches a complex environmental threat with Kansas-powered innovation
• LPOXY Therapeutics punches back at gut infection (and a foe with a billion-year head start)
• Marma pushes women’s nutrition to the forefront, birthing resources on demand
• Noonan scores under par success with digital caddie as golf market earns deepage
• Raise Health tasks AI tools with a multiplier mission — detecting mental health struggles early
• Scout charts early adoption with digital veterinary workflow platform, diagnosing industry burnout
• Trially combines founders’ lived experiences, AI to streamline critical stage of health care advancements

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