At 2914 N. Buchanan St., the bar at Provis Coffee Roasters spans 25 feet of white quartz and hand-milled oak, with a Slayer Steam LP set beside a Poursteady brewer. Provis Coffee Roasters North Kansas City cafe is now open, bringing the roaster’s first brick-and-mortar counter into more than 6,000 square feet across two levels.
The grand opening was slated for Sept. 26, and the cafe now lists itself as open. Provis arrives with an upstairs cupping lab, a slow bar, and a roasting program currently run by Co-Founder Randall Buchanan on Probat equipment at StoneX Specialty Coffee in Riverside.
Provis's first cafe changes how a roaster meets regulars. Customers can drink coffee in the same room where bags are sold. Green buying choices become questions at the counter. A wholesale blend can sit beside a single-origin coffee from Ethiopia or Colombia.
Provis Coffee Roasters Opens in North Kansas City
Provis Coffee Roasters occupies more than 6,000 square feet across two levels, split roughly between a ground floor with the main bar and seating, and an upstairs level with more seating, a cupping lab, and a slow bar. The upstairs level gives customers room to stay longer.
The two-level setup gives Provis room to teach coffee at the slow bar and in the cupping lab. Espresso can hold the main bar while filter coffee moves through the Poursteady. The slow bar can give staff time to talk through origin, process, or roast approach without blocking the next cappuccino. Upstairs, the cupping lab gives Provis a dedicated place for tasting, education, and customer services, which Buchanan has named as part of the cafe’s purpose.
Buchanan has pointed to wholesale growth, custom blends, and education for other coffee programs as active priorities for Provis. A cafe with a cupping lab can support those conversations with samples on the table instead of descriptions over email.
Customers can drink coffee in the room where the roaster’s choices are explained. The counter can connect what was roasted on the Probat in Riverside, which coffee is on filter, and which green buyer or producer name is attached to the bag. The counter has enough room for that conversation.
The 6,000-Square-Foot Space: Oak, Quartz, and Books
The interior pulls its identity from books, saturated color, and visible equipment. Buchanan gave the clearest shorthand for the room: "It's like a 1930's literary vibe. There's just books everywhere," said Randall Buchanan1. Hundreds of books line shelves against dark blue walls on the lower level.
Kristen Kurtz, a Provis co-owner, led the cafe’s interior design. The 25-foot main bar carries the white quartz and hand-milled oak that give the working surface its weight. Sconce lighting and a wood-burning fireplace warm the lower level. Upstairs, deep green lounge walls echo the powder coating on the Slayer Steam LP at the main bar, while clear glass globe pendants hang over the grinders. The upstairs conference room uses deep red walls, with the color palette drawn from Provis packaging.
Ronni Kurtz, a Provis co-owner, is an author and assistant professor of theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The room's books reflect an ownership team where reading, teaching, and coffee service overlap.
The Provis Coffee Roasters North Kansas City space gives remote workers and slow drinkers several seating options. The main bar carries espresso and filter service, and the upstairs level can serve the slow bar when it is in service. The two-level layout lets the cafe separate first-cup urgency from longer tasting and work sessions.
Randall Buchanan’s Roasting Line Runs Through Riverside
Randall Buchanan brings roughly 16 years in coffee to Provis. His Kansas City path runs through St. Louis experience and several coffee roles: management work with Kaldi’s Coffee and Sump Coffee, wholesale work with Coma Coffee Roasters, and roasting and wholesale work with Teleo Coffee before Provis.
The setup keeps the roasting work close to North Kansas City while Provis builds its first public cafe. A dedicated Provis roastery remains a longer-term goal, but the current arrangement gives the brand access to professional roasting equipment while the cafe becomes its main public room.
The buying side gives the bar its range. Provis works with importers such as Balzac Brothers and Ally Coffee. Colombian coffees come from Ventola Coffee, owned by producer Felipe Trujillo, and directly from Edwin Noreña’s Finca Campo Hermoso. Moii Coffee supplies Provis with coffees from Ethiopia.
The sourcing names matter for drinkers who follow specific origins. A Colombian coffee from Ventola or Finca Campo Hermoso may be brewed as espresso, filter, or on the slow bar. A coffee from Ethiopia supplied by Moii Coffee may run through different brew methods. The grinder may hold a Colombian coffee from Ventola or Finca Campo Hermoso, or an Ethiopian coffee from Moii Coffee.
The permanent cafe lets customers connect Probat roasting in Riverside, named importers and producers, and each cup on the bar. A bag on a shelf can list origin and process. A barista at the slow bar can explain why that coffee was chosen for that brew.
What to Order at the Main Bar and Slow Bar
Espresso gives the shortest read on Provis’s roast style. The Slayer Steam LP gives the main bar a precise espresso platform, and espresso removes hiding places. Dose, grind, water, pressure, and extraction all show up in a small cup. The hopper holds a coffee that the barista pulls according to that morning’s espresso approach.
The slow bar is another ordering point. The upstairs slow bar is the part of the cafe most tied to Provis’s educational aim. It gives staff a setting for slower brewing and longer explanations, especially when a coffee comes from one of the named Colombian or Ethiopian sourcing relationships. A slow bar cup can make producer, importer, and roast decisions easier to taste because the service is built around attention rather than speed.
The Poursteady brewer at the main bar adds another lane. Automated pourover systems can help a busy cafe keep filter coffee consistent across rushes, provided the recipe is set with care. At Provis, that means the same green buying and roasting decisions can reach someone who has ten minutes before work and someone who plans to stay with a book upstairs.
The recommended order is espresso at the main bar, followed by a brewed coffee tied to one of the single-origin offerings if staff recommend it that day. One espresso and one brewed coffee can be split between two people. The barista can identify which coffee best explains what Provis is roasting right now.
The Ownership Group Behind the Counter
Provis’s full ownership team includes Randall Buchanan, Ronni and Kristen Kurtz, Jesse and Laura Worcester, Josh and Meagan Brown, and other minority investors. Josh Brown brings a finance background. Kristen Kurtz shaped the interior. Ronni Kurtz brings authorship and teaching into a cafe whose walls carry hundreds of books. Buchanan anchors the coffee side through roasting, buying, and wholesale work.
The two-level buildout includes the main bar, upstairs seating, a cupping lab, a slow bar, and a conference room. The main bar serves daily traffic. The cupping lab supports education and wholesale conversations. The slow bar gives Provis a place to serve coffees that need explanation and time. The conference room adds another setting inside the two-level buildout.
Provis plans to expand into made-to-order sandwiches and light bites developed by culinary director Caleb Wattenschlager after the grand opening. A cafe with this much seating will draw people who want more than a single cup before leaving. A sandwich program can extend the room’s working hours without changing its coffee-first identity.
For now, Buchanan roasts at StoneX Specialty Coffee in Riverside. The cafe at 2914 N. Buchanan St. already gives the brand a customer-facing room for cuppings, education, and wholesale relationships. The public counter arrived first.
When to Show Up at 2914 N. Buchanan St.
Early service offers the cleanest read on the bar. Morning service shows the grinders being adjusted, the espresso recipe settling, and the filter program before the day’s traffic scatters attention. At a new cafe, the first hour can show how staff pace the room and how the equipment sits in the workflow.
One person can take espresso at the main bar while the other asks what is brewing as filter or slow bar coffee. Split the cups, compare them, and ask which green source each one came through: Balzac Brothers, Ally Coffee, Ventola Coffee, Finca Campo Hermoso, or Moii Coffee. The names connect the drink to the buying decisions behind it.
The practical pointer is direct: Provis Coffee Roasters is now open at 2914 N. Buchanan St. in North Kansas City. Order an espresso at the main bar, then ask what single-origin coffee belongs on the slow bar that day. Watch the food program next, especially the made-to-order sandwiches and light bites from Caleb Wattenschlager, because the room already has the scale for a longer morning.