Jay's Grocery and Restaurant

Jay’s Grocery and Restaurant is an African and international grocery with a restaurant side at 2605 Independence Ave in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast, opened in December 2021.¹ Its owner is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and spent 19 years in a Tanzanian refugee programme before moving to Kansas City in March 2016; both his mother and his uncle had run businesses in Congo.¹ Northeast News quotes his reason for opening plainly: “I saw a problem and came to solve it” — African and halal groceries that Northeast residents otherwise had to drive a long way to reach. About 85% of the customers come for African food.¹ The business trades as Jay’s Grocery & Restaurant LLC on its Kansas City business licence and keeps its own domain at jaysgrocery.com.²³ Tier 1 — owner-operated, single location, immigrant resident owner.

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Description

Jay’s occupies a storefront on Independence Avenue and does two things at once, which is why the trading name carries both words.

The grocery is the documented half. Northeast News reports it stocks beans, cooking oil, lotion, fresh and dried sardines, tilapia, cassava leaves and flour, sourced through suppliers in Chicago.¹ The shop’s own About page describes the range as “authentic African and American foods, as well as quality general merchandise” — African spices and specialty ingredients, everyday American groceries, and household goods including cookware and blankets.³ Roughly 85% of customers are there for African food and a diverse grocery range.¹

The restaurant is named in the legal entity, on the Kansas City business licence, and in the Northeast Kansas City Chamber’s category list for the business (Grocery, Restaurant).²⁴ Northeast News headlined its profile “Central African Native Brings Regional Cuisine to Independence Avenue.”¹ But no source read for this page describes a single prepared dish, a kitchen, a menu or a service model on the restaurant side. The own website is built entirely around retail. That gap is recorded rather than papered over: the restaurant’s cuisine, dishes, hours and prices are “.

The online store. jaysgrocery.com runs a working e-commerce storefront with grocery categories — fresh produce, dairy and eggs, meat, fish and poultry, beverages, grains and baking, snacks, spices and condiments — alongside cookware and consumer electronics. Its contact and about pages carry the correct Kansas City address and phone numbers.³⁵ However, much of the merchandising on the storefront reads as unmodified platform template content: heavily featured Sonex cookware sets, a generic electronics aisle, a “Music Box” and an “X-Box” at $175, and a free-shipping threshold of $3,050.⁶ Those are not credible Kansas City retail listings. No price from this storefront is carried on this page.

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Ownership and history

The owner is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He lived in a refugee programme in Tanzania for 19 years before moving to Kansas City in March 2016. Northeast News reports that both his mother and his uncle owned businesses in Congo, which is where his own path to business ownership began.¹

He had opened other grocery stores at various Kansas City locations before this one; those earlier stores have since closed.⁷ Jay’s Grocery and Restaurant at 2605 Independence Avenue opened in December 2021.¹

His account of why is short and unhedged: “I saw a problem and came to solve it.” The problem was distance — Northeast residents needing African food and halal groceries were travelling a long way for them, and he set out to supply them locally.¹ On hiring, he told the paper: “I don’t discriminate; I work with all races, usually [employees] come with an African [background] to help with communication skills.”¹ The shop gives out free product samples to customers.¹

Names note — read this before citing the owner’s name. Two forms appear in sources, and they are not reconciled here:

• Northeast News prints Oredi Jay.¹
• The Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce directory lists the owner/contact as Jay Mtambala, with the contact email 1995oredimusa@gmail.com.⁴

The email address suggests a fuller name containing Oredi and Musa, and “Jay” is plainly the trading shorthand that gives the business its name. No source read states a full legal name, and none is assembled here from fragments. Both printed forms are reproduced exactly as their sources give them; the full name is “. No other family member, partner or employee is named in any source read.

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Menu

menu_status: partial. For a grocery the product list is the menu, and the product list below is documented — but no first-party price was obtainable. The own online storefront publishes prices, but its merchandising is substantially unmodified platform template content (see Description), so none of its prices is carried. No delivery-platform or aggregator prices are carried either.

Grocery — African and international

Item	Price
Cassava leaves	“
Dried sardines	“
Fresh sardines	“
Tilapia	“
Beans	“
Flour	“
Cooking oil	“
African spices and specialty ingredients	“
Halal groceries	“

Grocery — everyday American

Item	Price
Fresh produce, fruit and vegetables	“
Dairy and eggs	“
Meat, fish and poultry	“
Beverages	“
Grains, baking and cooking essentials	“
Snacks and packaged foods	“
Spices, sauces and condiments	“

Non-grocery

Item	Price
Lotion and personal care	“
Cookware	“
Blankets and household goods	“

Restaurant side

Item	Price
No dish, cuisine style or service model documented in any source read	“

menu_price_tier: $ — assigned on the neighbourhood-grocery category, not on any observed price. Treat as provisional.

Also documented: the shop gives out free product samples.¹

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Links

• Own site: https://jaysgrocery.com/
• Own site — About: https://jaysgrocery.com/about-us/
• Own site — Contact: https://jaysgrocery.com/contact-us/
• Northeast News profile: https://northeastnews.net/pages/central-african-native-brings-regional-cuisine-to-independence-avenue/
• NEKC Chamber directory listing: https://nekcchamber.com/directory/jays-grocery-and-restaurant/

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Sources

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Footnotes

1. Julia Williams, “Central African Native Brings Regional Cuisine to Independence Avenue,” Northeast News, May 7, 2025 (accessed 2026-08-13 via the r.jina.ai text proxy; northeastnews.net returns HTTP 403 to direct automated fetches). Asserts: Jay’s Grocery and Restaurant, 2605 Independence Ave., Kansas City, MO; opened December 2021; owner printed as Oredi Jay; owner originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, lived in a Tanzanian refugee programme for 19 years, moved to Kansas City in March 2016; his mother and uncle owned businesses in Congo; owner quote “I saw a problem and came to solve it”; the aim was to supply African food and halal groceries locally rather than making residents travel long distances; approximately 85% of customers seek African food and diverse groceries; products include beans, cooking oil, lotion, fresh and dried sardines, tilapia, cassava leaves and flour; suppliers based in Chicago, Illinois; owner quote on hiring “I don’t discriminate; I work with all races, usually [employees] come with an African [background] to help with communication skills”; free product samples offered. The article contains no phone number, no hours, no restaurant dishes and no prices — a second targeted read was run specifically for the restaurant side and returned none. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

2. City of Kansas City business licence record — JAY’S GROCERY & RESTAURANT LLC, via the OpenGov US open-data mirror (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: legal entity name JAY’S GROCERY & RESTAURANT LLC; address 2605 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64124; licence number 711082624; category “Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores”; issuing authority City of Kansas City Finance Department; expiration date December 31, 2023. Caveat: this is a third-party mirror of a municipal dataset and reflects the snapshot that dataset carries. No issue date or owner name is given in the record, and the 2023 expiry is not evidence of lapse. ↩ ↩²

3. Jay’s Grocery & Restaurant — official website, About page (accessed 2026-08-13 via the r.jina.ai text proxy). Asserts: business styled Jay’s Grocery & Restaurant; in-store address 2605 Independence Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64124; phone +1 816 457 8637; email info@jaysgrocery.com; range described as “authentic African and American foods, as well as quality general merchandise”, including African spices and specialty ingredients, everyday American groceries, and household products such as cookware and blankets; states “Customer satisfaction is at the heart of everything we do” and emphasises quality sourcing, competitive pricing and both in-store and online shopping. No owner name, no founding date and no restaurant detail appear on the page. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce — directory listing, Jay’s Grocery and Restaurant (accessed 2026-08-13 via the r.jina.ai text proxy; nekcchamber.com returns HTTP 403 to direct automated fetches; a duplicate listing at /directory/jays-grocery-and-restaurant-2/ was also read and matches). Asserts: business name Jay’s Grocery and Restaurant; owner/contact Jay Mtambala; address 2605 Independence Avenue, Kansas City, MO; phone 913-265-9578; email 1995oredimusa@gmail.com; categories Grocery and Restaurant; flagged “Popular” in the directory; current Chamber member. No hours, website or description text rendered on either listing when read. ↩ ↩²

5. Jay’s Grocery & Restaurant — official website, Contact page (accessed 2026-08-13 via the r.jina.ai text proxy). Asserts: showroom address 2605 Independence Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64124; showroom phone +1 816 457 8637; general phone +1 913 265 9578; a contact form. No email address or hours appear on the page. ↩

6. Jay’s Grocery & Restaurant — official website, home and shop pages and jaysgrocery.com (accessed 2026-08-13 via the r.jina.ai text proxy). Asserts: a live e-commerce storefront titled “Jay’s Grocery – Household Essentials” with categories for fresh produce, fruit and vegetables, dairy and eggs, meat, fish and poultry, beverages, grains, baking and cooking essentials, snacks and packaged foods, spices, sauces and condiments, beauty and personal care, and baby and home essentials, alongside cookware and consumer electronics; sample listings include Aashirvaad Atta 2kg, African Black Soap 1lb and African Fresh Banana 35lbs; promotional copy includes fee-free installments, express delivery in 2 hours and pickup in 15 minutes. Cited only as evidence that the own domain is live and carries the correct Kansas City contact details. Its prices are NOT carried on this page: the storefront is heavily populated with what appears to be unmodified platform template merchandise — featured Sonex cookware sets, a generic electronics aisle, a “Music Box” and an “X-Box” at $175, and a free-shipping threshold of $3,050 — which is not credible as the pricing of an Independence Avenue grocery. ↩

7. Report that the owner had previously opened other grocery stores at various Kansas City locations, all since closed. This detail was surfaced in search-result summaries attributed to the Northeast News profile, but did not appear in either of the two full reads of that article performed for this page, and no other source carrying it was opened. It is recorded here as an unconfirmed lead, not an established fact: “. ↩