Troost Avenue missed out on World Cup business bump — but owners had low expectations 3%
By Mike Sherry0%
7/16/2026, 9:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Confirmation Bias, and Optimism Bias, with Hasty Generalization as the most egregious example at 9.8% saturation with 297 hits. Analysis detected 1,061 faulty-reasoning hits from 3,023 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 15.1% and a BS Rank of 3% (16,123 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.40% of the article peer group.
When Alisha Comelekoglu and her husband, Ali, venture to Kansas City for entertainment, their go-to restaurant is usually Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que in Kansas City, Kansas.
But on one late June afternoon, the couple was eating at Baba’s Pantry, a Palestinian-American delicatessen near the corner of 63rd Street and Troost Avenue in Kansas City.
The husband and wife from Rogers, Arkansas, wore bright orange shirts to signal their fandom for the Netherlands soccer team, which was playing Tunisia in the World Cup match they were going to that evening.
Alisha figured there would be barbecue at the stadium, so she asked ChatGPT for the best lunch spots in Kansas City.
Ali is originally from Turkey, and there are not a lot of Mediterranean restaurants in their neck of the woods back home.
Plus, the couple likes to try restaurants off the beaten path.
So Baba’s was a natural choice.
“It hit a lot of buckets for us,” Alisha said.
But the Comelekoglus seemed to be as rare as a deep World Cup run by the U.S. national team.
Venturing near Troost Avenue was apparently not on the bucket list of many fans in town for the international soccer tournament, which ended its monthlong run in Kansas City last Saturday.
Through its Documenters program, The Beacon checked in with seven businesses along a stretch of Troost from 30th Street to Baba’s neighborhood around 63rd Street.
The point was to see if Kansas City’s role as a World Cup host city — which involved a significant investment from federal, state and city coffers — paid economic dividends along a street long acknowledged as the dividing line between the haves and the have nots.
But in contrast to some of their peers in other parts of the city, Troost business owners largely took it in stride that they did not see a bump in sales from the World Cup.
The reason?
They never expected a windfall in the first place.
The questions and answers from the Documenters’ Troost Avenue project are below, in order of address heading south.
Ruby Jean’s Juicery, 3000 Troost Ave.
Chris Goode, founder/CEO
How has World Cup business been compared to your expectations?
Goode’s experience has been in line with what he anticipated.
“I didn’t have any of these grandiose expectations of what the World Cup would bring us as a business,” he said.
“I wanted us to be involved in any way we could, and we got involved through the Open Doors!
Program.”
Led by the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, in partnership with the city’s KC BizCare Division, Open Doors aimed to replace vacant spaces with small-business owners.
Financial assistance through the program allowed Goode to convert some unused space in his building into a spot for local artist Remy Wharry and her new RAW Art Creative Studio.
Goode also invested in a spot at the City of Entrepreneurs Marketplace at Union Station.
His goal there was to break even and introduce his business to potential new customers.
Why has your business been like this during the World Cup?
“It has been normal.
We have seen visitors from all over the world.
I think we’ve seen Argentinians, Ecuadorians, we’ve seen people from Japan.
… It has been sprinkled with people that have intentionally gone out of their way to find us.
We’re a really niche audience, and so we cater to a very, very specific audience of people, and that’s not going to change because there are international visitors.
And people are in a very fun vacation mindset for World Cup, they’re partying, they’re having fun, and so it’s not likely that healthy drinks and food is their top priority.”
What could the city have done to be more helpful to your business during the World Cup?
The build-out from Open Doors will pay dividends into the future, Goode said, so he praised the city for that initiative.
On the other hand, Goode said, city leaders should have been more measured in their rhetoric about the business opportunities that would come from the World Cup.
As a health-food business in a part of town not necessarily clamoring for that fare, Goode doesn’t let his emotions go full throttle.
“My expectations always come with a level of … healthy skepticism.
I can’t operate in the magical land of what could be and what’s possible, and you know, all these customers that are just gonna send lines out the door, because that’s never been the case for us.
“But I think that there are people that have been in business less time, there are people that really get excited easily, … so I think that the city could do a better job of setting realistic expectations when we have large-scale events.
Make sure that people don’t have this inherent idea that things are just going to overnight just explode because of the excitement and marketing.”
What has been your favorite moment with a World Cup fan, if applicable?
“It’s cool that any fans have walked in.
I’ve always seen Ruby Jean’s as an international brand… so being able to see international visitors at all, it just affirms that it’s possible to get our business in front of a global set of eyes.”
Urban Restaurant, 3420 Troost Ave.
Justin Clark, co-owner and co-founder
“It’s kind of mixed.
We have gotten some people from other countries that came in, but not a lot,” Clark said.
“I think it was a little overhyped, but it could be because of the area that we’re in.
We’re actually in Midtown.
We’re further away from all the action, and I think a lot of things are in Power & Light, the Union Station area, the Crown Center area, more than anything.”
Nevertheless, he said, “The experience has been great.
I love that we have the World Cup in our city, in our community.”
Part of the explanation, he said, comes from Urban Restaurant’s location along Troost.
The area is sparsely populated with businesses.
“You have to intentionally know that you’re coming to Urban, if you’re in this area,” Clark said.
HIs perception was that Vine Street Chicken Co., a restaurant he and his partner operate in the 18th and Vine Jazz District, had more business from the World Cup since it is a little closer to the action near Union Station.
City officials could have dialed back talk of a business tsunami.
But Clark also surmised that boosterism came from wanting visitors to feel safe in the city.
The hype did lead him and his partner to make some small investments, such as printing menus in different languages and adding staff.
Those expenses add up, he said.
“But at the end of the day,” he said, “I don’t know what else the city could have done, because they probably didn’t know either — or did they know?”
“I’ve seen a lot of different types of people, a lot of good energy, that’s good.
There’s still good times and laughs.
… I think it gives Kansas City opportunities to embrace another sport, embrace other countries and cultures.”
The restaurant industry “worked together as a community when it came to the World Cup, and tried to figure out: How can we make things better?
What should we do?
How do we plan for it?”
Clark said.
There were “multiple seminars and group sessions with business owners, but only a certain amount of people actually benefited,” he said.
“It’s all good, though, at the end of the day.”
Anchor Island Coffee, 4101 Troost Ave.
Armando Vasquez, co-owner
“I was not expecting much because I know my city,” Vasquez said, “and I know how visitors work.”
As anticipated, the event has had little to no impact on business at Anchor Island.
Traffic has mostly been the crowd of regulars, except for maybe a midmorning rush of World Cup visitors.
Vasquez and his co-owner did hire an additional person to handle potential evening rushes.
That extra business did not materialize, but they are keeping the new employee anyway.
“It’s a good addition to our team,” he said.
“But when it comes to the World Cup, there’s not much going on.”
Vasquez is unsurprised by the amount of World Cup business at Anchor Island because of what he considers to be typical tourist behavior.
“When you visit an area, (you) just stay around the area around your hotel,” he said.
“That’s how I am.”
When foreign tourists do expand their horizons, Vasquez said, they’re more likely to seek out a true U.S. experience at places like Waffle House, McDonald’s or Taco Bell.
Vasquez also said Kansas City’s limited public transportation system makes it difficult for out-of-towners to venture too far afield from their lodgings.
Plus, he said, “Most of those people don’t speak the language, so they’re gonna have a difficult time getting an Uber.”
Meanwhile, Vasquez conjectured that some World Cup visitors were pinching pennies after going all out to travel here and purchase game tickets.
A Guatemala native, he’s familiar with Latino habits: “We tend to focus on getting the tickets, and then we’ll make everything else work because the ticket is the expensive part.”
He also said the political climate in the U.S probably scared away some fans.
More transit options to places other than the airport and the stadium would have helped, Vasquez said.
“When you look at how the city is built, you know, everyone gets confused, and they just have to stay where they are,” he said.
He also would have liked organizers to create a website that featured local businesses.
Vasquez enjoyed talking with a group of boisterous Peruvians.
“I can be loud myself sometimes,” he laughed.
He and the group members shared a connection to Maryland, so they bonded over that.
“It was a good feeling to kind of like connect, and yeah, they were very happy people.”
The Europeans Vasquez has encountered have tended to be more reserved than his Latino brethren.
“It’s fun to see people that are excited to just, you know, watch the game or feel the energy of the game,” he said.
The Littlest Bake Shop, 5511 Troost Ave.
Iris Green, owner/baker
Green had “measured expectations” given her experience when Kansas City hosted the 2023 NFL Draft.
Businesses then complained that expected crowds never materialized.
“I was eager to see new people,” she said, “because we are such a niche place.
We get a lot of tourist activity in our business, because there’s no other gluten-free, vegan place for people to go to in town, and so when it comes to that kind of stuff, we get a lot of tourism business as a result.
If you’re coming through the Midwest and you have allergies, we’re pretty much a location for you to stop at.”
Her business comes mostly through word of mouth and through websites like HappyCow and Find Me Gluten Free that help people with special food needs find spots when they are traveling.
So, Green said, “I didn’t have any expectation that we were going to see any excessively ramped-up business.”
Given her niche, Green expected to continue seeing her regulars.
“I know a lot of people expressed anxiety over traffic and how things would affect them, and I did see that during the weekdays — it’s been a little bit slower for us,” she said.
Green likened the experience to what happens during bad weather.
“You get no people coming into the shop for two days, and eventually people get bored of the bad weather, and they start coming back in again,” she said.
“I think it’s the same thing with what’s going to happen with the World Cup, because for us, at least, it’s like this is going on from June until July.
People are gonna get bored of not going out.
So, I think that a lot of people who’ve maybe been afraid to go out because of traffic or parking or concerns … are going to realize that that’s not really the case.”
She has had World Cup customers, including fans from the Netherlands, and that has made up for the ebb and flow of regulars.
“We’re not really seeing any surge” from the World Cup, Green said.
“But I haven’t taken a hit because I didn’t overestimate how things are going to be.”
“I haven’t felt like we have suffered at all,” Green said.
So, she did not think there’s anything the city could have done to make things turn out any differently for her.
“I don’t think that people who are coming to town for the World Cup are necessarily looking to hang out a lot of places,” she said.
“They’re probably staying more localized, so I don’t think there’s much they could do.”
She would have liked to see less “unintentional fearmongering” about the crowds of people that likely prompted locals to remain at home.
She said those fears are unfounded unless you’re near Fan Fest or the other hotspots.
“I live in northeast Kansas City.
I drive between here and there,” Green said.
“I have not seen a stitch of difference in traffic for me when I’m coming and going to work.
It’s been fine.”
“There’s definitely a sweet crowd enthusiasm around soccer,” Green said.
“So it’s been cute seeing people come into the shop wearing jerseys and things like that, and it’s nice to see people be excited about things.”
High Hopes Ice Cream, 536 Troost Ave.
Jonathon Bush, co-owner
While business remained busy, Bush said, the shop did not experience the dramatic increase in customers that many anticipated.
“It’s busy,” he said.
“But that’s summer.”
Bush said High Hopes Ice Cream was simply not located close enough to the primary World Cup destinations to benefit from increased visitor traffic.
He suggested that businesses nearer the fan festival and major event locations likely saw greater impacts.
Bush said it was not necessarily the city’s responsibility to increase business for local establishments.
Bush said business slows during games, but picks up after the match concludes.
He enjoyed the excitement surrounding the event and said Kansas City deserves recognition for hosting an international event of this scale.
From The Earth, 6200 Troost Ave.
Catriona “Trini” Apps, general manager
“We got a little bit of a boost, but we didn’t get a huge chunk,” Apps said.
“We did expect it to be busier than it has been at this location.”
She said they had been prepping for a month or two and hoped to see additional business from their special advertising, which included airplane flyover banners above the stadium.
Given her location, Apps had hoped people would “take a little bit of an adventure to Troost” from Brookside.
Apps said From The Earth locations closer to Fan Fest and Union Station — in downtown Kansas City and along Southwest Boulevard — met expectations of increased business during the World Cup.
“I think Kansas City just could have done more with promoting this area,” Apps said, “because most of the transport that they provided is to the Plaza or the downtown area.”
She said visitors were likely more used to public transportation, and that the streetcar was right there for them.
“They’re obviously going to take what’s available to them and what’s easier for them instead of having to deal with a headache.”
Apps said the city could have helped by getting the word out about the Troost corridor.
“Troost isn’t that bad compared to how it was, like, five-something years ago.
It has changed for the better,” she said.
“The people are great around here.
It’s just a lot of fearmongering right now about this area, and I feel that they could have (provided) a little bit more reassurance about it.”
She also said the city could have provided some sort of transportation, such as a shuttle, to serve Troost businesses.
“We had some Argentina fans come in,” Apps said, “and they were just like a ball of energy.”
She said fans from other countries are happy to find out they can walk into a retail shop and purchase marijuana products.
Apps said the Argentinians might have found the shop from the stadium flyovers or through a Google search.
“They were just really excited.
They loved the energy in Kansas City, how everyone is so welcoming,” Apps said.
“And honestly, they were just really excited for the game that was coming up.”
Niecie’s Restaurant, 6441 Troost Ave.
Denise Ward, owner
“The World Cup and all the hype is good,” Ward said, “but I haven’t seen any of it.
I might have had some stragglers in here, but nothing overwhelming, like they kind of hyped it all up to be.”
Ward said that, if anything, the World Cup has been detrimental because it seems like Fan Fest is drawing away some customers.
She has been at this for 41 years, so for the most part, she was just keeping on keeping on.
The World Cup, Ward said, “had an impact on me, not a positive one, probably more negative.
I’m a little slower than normal.”
Ward noted later in the conversation that the economy and gas prices could also have caused business to drop a little.
It might have been helpful for someone to help her figure out advertising, she said.
Other than that, she couldn’t think of anything else the city could have done.
It seemed like the World Cup was the only thing on television news of late, but she wasn’t swayed by all the attention.
“It’s not like I got all hyped up and hired a bunch of people,” Ward said.
“I didn’t expect too much anyway, and you know what?
I was right.”
Ward doesn’t deal a lot with customers one on one, so she hadn’t interacted with any fans, and none of her servers had mentioned anything either.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
Documenters Sarah Bleha, Jordan Gloor, Connye Griffin, Joshua Hale, Hunter Hill and Masha Mackey contributed to this report.
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