Sway Coffee Roasters

Sway Coffee Roasters is the in-house roasting arm and flagship café of McLain’s Bakery + Markets, owned by the Hirleman family. Founded in 2019 to roast the coffee served across McLain’s locations, Sway opened its own 4,000 sq ft roastery-and-café at 2700 W 43rd Ave in Kansas City, Kansas (Rosedale/Westwood area) in September 2022. Local, owner-operated under a heritage KC bakery group.

Description

Sway Coffee Roasters is the coffee-roasting operation and flagship café of McLain’s Bakery + Markets, the Kansas City bakery group owned by the Hirleman family. The Hirlemans launched Sway in 2019 to gain greater control over the coffee served in their bakery and markets, beginning with a small roaster in a corner space near the original McLain’s in Waldo.¹²

As the roasting program grew, it moved to the back of McLain’s Market in Shawnee, then in February 2022 into a dedicated 4,000-square-foot roasting-and-café space in the Rosedale/Westwood area of Kansas City, Kansas. In September 2022, Sway opened its flagship roastery and café at 2700 W 43rd Ave, KCK 66103, where staff roast beans behind a transparent barrier as a showpiece for the room.²³

Today Sway roasts the coffee served across all McLain’s locations — the Waldo bakery and markets in Overland Park, Shawnee, Lawrence, and others — and is developing wholesale accounts. Its sourcing leans on quality-focused producers and smaller farms; the house blend draws from a non-profit cooperative in the village of San Lucas, Guatemala.¹⁴

Ownership and history

Period	Operator / event
1945	McLain’s Bakery founded in Waldo by the McLain family
March 2014	Hirleman family acquires McLain’s Bakery
2019	Hirlemans launch Sway Coffee Roasters as an in-house roasting program (small roaster near the Waldo bakery)
~2020–2021	Roasting moves to the back of McLain’s Market Shawnee
February 2022	Sway moves to a dedicated 4,000 sq ft roasting/café space (Rosedale/Westwood area)
September 2022	Flagship roastery-café opens at 2700 W 43rd Ave, KCK 66103

Sway is not an independent standalone business but the roasting arm and a café brand of the Hirleman family’s McLain’s group. McLain’s was founded in 1945 by the original McLain family and acquired by the Hirlemans in March 2014; under Hirleman ownership the group expanded from the original Waldo location to markets in Overland Park, Shawnee, Stanley, Lawrence, and North Kansas City, and developed Sway as its captive roaster.¹⁵

Manager/roaster Nick Cacy is identified in press coverage as leading the roasting operation; whether any member of the Hirleman family or the long-time McLain’s employee who helped start the program holds a named operating role at Sway specifically is.³⁵

Links

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swaycoffeeroasters/
• Website: https://www.swaycoffeeroasters.com/
• Phone: (913) 961-1446

See also

• mclains-bakery
• kansas-city-kansas
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Sway Coffee Roasters, “Our Story.” https://www.swaycoffeeroasters.com/our-story (accessed 2026-05-31) — founding 2019, location/opening history, Guatemala San Lucas blend, hours. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. McLain’s, “Sway Coffee Roasters.” https://www.mclainskc.com/sway-coffee-roasters (accessed 2026-05-31) — McLain’s ownership of Sway; roaster-serves-all-locations; wholesale development. ↩ ↩²

3. KCtoday (6AM City), “Sway Coffee Roasters: new café in KCK” (Sept. 2022). https://kctoday.6amcity.com/sway-coffee-roasters-new-cafe-in-kck — Sept. 6, 2022 opening; open-roasting showpiece; manager/roaster Nick Cacy quote. ↩ ↩²

4. Sway Coffee Roasters home page. https://www.swaycoffeeroasters.com/ (accessed 2026-05-31). ↩

5. McLain’s, “Local Bakery since 1945” (Our Story). https://www.mclainskc.com/story (accessed 2026-05-31) — McLain’s founded 1945; Hirleman family acquisition March 2014; expansion; “With love, The Hirlemans.” ↩ ↩²