Article by Anna Long
Video by Kate Boles and Nathan Miller
A heated competition is erupting between the coffee businesses of Lee’s Summit. Love Coffee and the soon to open Scooters are right next to each other. To add to the fire, Costentino’s Price Chopper is opening a Starbucks in months to come.
The new Scooter’s location is expected to open around the first of March. Megan Basic, a regional manager at Scooters says that the company has been wanting the new location for nearly two years.
“We have been looking to add a location in Lee’s Summit for quite a while now and we were so excited when the opportunity opened up for us,” said Basic. Lee’s Summit has experienced a lot of development over the last few years making companies such as Love and Scooters interested in becoming a part of the growth.
“It’s always hard to know what traffic will be like at any new location but, based on the excitement and buzz we’re already hearing from the community, we are gearing up for a very busy location,” said Basic.
Although Scooters and Love both serve coffee, Robbin Craddock, the owner of Love consider the two very different.
“We are local and we focus on our customers and we plan on continuing to do just that,” said Craddock. Scooters and Love were both unaware of each others arrival which, as Craddock called “a bit of a surprise”.
“When I first found out about Scooters, I was honestly taken aback but now I just think that we are each so different,” said Craddock.
Many students from West have enjoyed Love Coffee the few months it has been open. Freshmen Macy Smith said she makes an appearance there at least twice a week.
“I feel like I am attached to the people at Love Coffee but I could potentially like the food at Scooters more. I just love the environment Love has created. All of the workers there are so nice and I like the way their coffee tastes,” said Smith.
Craddock said she believes the employees are one of the most important parts of a good business.“We really people to feel welcome here and we want this to be a warm, inviting place where people like to be. We start with our employees. We always look at people skills,” said Craddock.
Scooters coffee places high focus on the quality of their coffee beans and Basic said she believes a good cup of joe always begins in the rainforest.
“We have a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, so all of the beans we use are shade grown. In 2017 alone, Scooter’s Coffee has preserved more than 2.4 square miles of rainforest through our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation,” said Basic
Scooters coffee is shade grown meaning that the beans are produced under the shade provided from a canopy of rainforest trees. This requires less chemicals throughout the growing process.
“Shade grown coffee isn’t only great for the environment, but also, the bean actually creates a richer flavor from being grown under the canopy of the rainforest. We also roast our own beans at our roasting facility so we have a hand in the quality from start to finish,” said Basic.
In addition to these two coffee locations, Cosentino’s Price Chopper is adding a new Starbucks. However, the Starbucks will not be open until Price Chopper is completely finished renovating which is expected to take many months according to Cosentino’s customer service.
