Filling Station Coffee

a Kansas City coffee shop founded in the mid-2000s inside a converted Midtown gas station. Founder Robin Krause sold her majority interest to Messenger Coffee Co. in 2014; the brand is now one of several coffee labels held under FairWave Holdings, a Kansas City coffee holding company whose largest shareholder is the local private-equity firm Great Range Capital. Three locations: Midtown (flagship), Westport, and Overland Park. Tier 3 — the brand is no longer independently owner-operated and sits under a private-equity-backed parent.

Description

Filling Station Coffee is a Kansas City coffee shop whose flagship occupies a former gas station at 2980 McGee Trafficway in Midtown, in the Union Hill area near Martini Corner.¹ The building’s automotive past is the brand’s signature — the converted-filling-station concept gives both the name and the design language, with the locations styled to evoke vintage auto garages.²

The business operates three cafés: the Midtown flagship, a Westport location at 1010 Westport Rd, and an Overland Park location at 7420 Johnson Dr.¹ Its coffee program is run in partnership with Messenger Coffee, the Kansas City roaster that acquired the brand.¹²

Ownership and history

Period	Owner / operator
c. 2004–2005 → 2014	Robin Krause (founder, owner-operator) — grew the concept to multiple locations
2014 → 2020	Messenger Coffee Co. (Matt Matsch and partners) acquired controlling interest
2020 → present	FairWave Holdings (Messenger became a FairWave brand following the 2020 consolidation)

Filling Station was created by Robin Krause, who opened the original Midtown café in the mid-2000s and built it into a small group of locations.³ In 2014 Krause sold her majority interest to Matt Matsch and Messenger Coffee Co. and went on to launch other Kansas City ventures (the Unbakery & Juicery concept in Brookside).³²

In September 2020, Messenger Coffee — along with The Roasterie, Blackdog Coffeehouse, Ibis Bakery, and the Filling Station Coffee Garage — was consolidated under FairWave Holdings, a Kansas City holding company. FairWave’s largest shareholder is Great Range Capital, a KC-area private-equity firm; the company is led by CEO Dan Trott, with The Roasterie founder Danny O’Neill and Messenger partner Ron Matsch on its board.⁴ FairWave’s stated model is to preserve each brand’s individual identity and coffee sourcing while sharing operational functions.⁴

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-24 · Source: official site (fillingstationcoffee.com — About/Cafes; no standalone menu page — /menu returns 404), Incentivio online-ordering (JS app, prices not exposed), third-party aggregators/reviews (cross-check only) · URL(s): https://fillingstationcoffee.com/about-us/ · https://fillingstationcoffee.com/cafes · https://order.incentivio.com/c/messengercoffee · Confidence: Item categories — Medium; prices — unverified.

Re-verification note (2026-07-24): official site still publishes no itemized menu page (/menu → HTTP 404; /cafes lists the three locations only). Online ordering remains on Incentivio, a JavaScript app that does not expose item prices to retrieval. Item categories below re-confirmed against the official About page and corroborating aggregators; no primary-source prices obtained — status held at partial.

Filling Station’s coffee program is run in partnership with Messenger Coffee, the Kansas City roaster that owns the brand, and the cafés serve a full breakfast/lunch menu, fresh-pressed juice, and pastries alongside the espresso bar. The official site states they “revisit [the] menu regularly but always continue to serve up the house favorites,” making items in-house and partnering with local businesses (e.g., pastries from Ibis Bakery, a sister FairWave brand) for the rest.⁵⁶

Pricing note (price-tier honesty): Filling Station has no published menu page on its official site, and the online-ordering platform (Incentivio) is a JavaScript app that does not expose prices to scraping. No verifiable per-item prices were obtained from a primary source. Items below are corroborated by the official site, aggregator listings, and customer reviews, but specific prices are unverified — do not publish dollar figures until confirmed in-store or via a live ordering session. Customer-review price signals place a typical visit in the $1–$10 per drink / ~$10–$20 per meal range.⁷

Espresso & coffee

• Drip coffee, Americano, Espresso, Cappuccino, Gibraltar/cortado, Macchiato, Latte, Mocha (incl. the locally noted mocha made with chocolate milk), and Toddy / Toddy Au Lait (cold-brew).⁶⁷

Tea, matcha & non-coffee

• Chai latte, Hot Tea, Iced Tea, Maté, Hot Chocolate / flavored steamer, and matcha drinks. Seasonal/signature specials have included a blueberry-lavender matcha latte and a spiced cookie-butter latte.⁶⁷

Fresh-pressed juice

• A fresh-pressed juice program (e.g., the “Go To Kale” juice) is a longstanding house feature.⁵⁷

Food — breakfast & lunch

• Breakfast sandwiches (incl. a sausage/croissant sandwich), bagels and bagel sandwiches, the “Chorizo Clutch” breakfast burrito, and a rotating breakfast/lunch menu, plus pastries (Ibis Bakery).⁶⁷

Menu items are corroborated across the official site and multiple third-party sources but should be treated as representative, not exhaustive; the operator states the menu rotates. Prices are.

Links

• Website: https://fillingstationcoffee.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fillingstationcoffee/ (handle: @fillingstationcoffee — “Filling Station Coffee Garage”)
• Phone: (816) 768-8610 (Midtown flagship)

See also

• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Filling Station Coffee — official site, About Us and Cafes pages. Lists all three locations: Midtown (2980 McGee Tfwy, (816) 768-8610), Westport (1010 Westport Rd, (816) 960-6448), Overland Park (7420 Johnson Dr, (913) 831-3326); states “Our coffee program is run in partnership with Messenger Coffee.” https://fillingstationcoffee.com/about-us/; https://fillingstationcoffee.com/cafes/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Feast Magazine, “Filling Station Flagship Location Launches New Menu Developed by Chef Josh Eans” — notes the Union Hill / former-gas-station setting, the original location’s longevity, and that founder Robin Krause sold her majority interest to Matt Matsch and Messenger Coffee Co. in 2014. https://www.feastmagazine.com/the-feed/kansas_city_news/article_a9e8ddfa-e0e3-11e7-8059-dfec2b3fe20d.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. IN Kansas City Magazine, “Robin Krause Expands with a New Restaurant Concept and a New Product Line” — Krause as founder/creator of Filling Station and her subsequent ventures. https://www.inkansascity.com/style-shopping/health/robin-krause-expands-with-a-new-restaurant-concept-and-a-new-product-line/ — Founding year stated variously; a 2017 Feast reference to the original’s “12th year” implies an opening of roughly 2005. Exact founding year. ↩ ↩²

4. Daily Coffee News, “KC’s Messenger Coffee and The Roasterie Now Part of FairWave Holdings” (2020-09-24). FairWave brands include The Roasterie, Messenger Coffee, Blackdog Coffeehouse, Filling Station Coffee Garage, and Ibis Bakery; largest shareholder is Great Range Capital (KC-area private equity); CEO Dan Trott. https://dailycoffeenews.com/2020/09/24/kcs-messenger-coffee-and-the-roasterie-now-part-of-fairwave-holdings/ ↩ ↩²

5. Filling Station Coffee — official site, About Us page. https://fillingstationcoffee.com/about-us/ — Asserts: coffee program “run in partnership with Messenger Coffee”; menu is revisited regularly with house favorites; in-house kitchen plus local-business partners for a “full menu of quality goods”; references breakfast sandwiches and fresh juice (“Go To Kale”). Online ordering is hosted on Incentivio (https://order.incentivio.com/c/messengercoffee), a JS app that did not expose item prices to retrieval as of 2026-06-23. No standalone menu/price page exists on the official site. ↩ ↩²

6. Aggregator menu listings — Sirved (“Filling Station Coffee – Midtown,” https://www.sirved.com/restaurant/kansas_city-missouri-usa/filling-station-coffee-midtown/571436/menus) and joe.coffee location pages (https://joe.coffee/locations/mo/kansas-city/filling-station-coffee-kansas-city/). Assert: drink lineup — drip, Americano, espresso, cappuccino, Gibraltar, macchiato, latte, mocha, Toddy / Toddy Au Lait (cold brew), chai, hot tea, iced tea, maté, hot chocolate/steamer, matcha; serves Messenger coffee, fresh-pressed juice, full breakfast/lunch menu and pastries (Ibis Bakery). Aggregator data; prices not verified (joe.coffee returned HTTP 403 on retrieval 2026-06-23). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Customer reviews / listing aggregators — RestaurantGuru (https://restaurantguru.com/Filling-Station-Kansas-City-Missouri-2) and Restaurantji (https://www.restaurantji.com/mo/kansas-city/filling-station-coffee-midtown-/). Assert (from reviews): vanilla latte, oatmilk latte, hot mocha latte (mocha made with chocolate milk), blueberry-lavender matcha, spiced cookie-butter latte, “Chorizo Clutch” breakfast burrito, breakfast/everything bagel sandwiches, sausage croissant, fresh juices, iced tea; review price signal ~$1–$10 per person / ~$10–$20 per meal visit. Review-sourced; not a price list. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵