This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters is a Kansas City-born specialty roaster, café, and coffee-by-day / cocktail-by-night brand founded in 2012 by KC native Bo Nelson and co-founder Bill Holzhueter — who met at Nelson’s family business, Family Tree Nursery. Born in a garage, grown through the Crossroads Arts District, and named for the line of choice in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (“thou mayest” — the way is open), the brand now roasts wholesale and runs cafés across the metro, including an outpost inside the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. This record is anchored to the Nelson-Atkins café but profiles the brand. Independent and owner-operated.

Description

Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters is one of Kansas City’s defining specialty-coffee brands of the 2010s. It began in 2012 as a garage roasting operation supplying fresh-roasted beans to local businesses and online customers, then opened a retail café in the Crossroads Arts District in 2014 that quickly became a scene anchor — known for exacting coffee by day and a craft cocktail program by night, set in a design-forward space.123

The name comes from a passage in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden centered on the Hebrew word timshel — rendered “thou mayest” — which the novel reads as an affirmation that the way is open and that people are free to choose. The brand treats the phrase as a call to take responsibility for its city, its product, and its global supply chain.2

Beyond its own cafés, Thou Mayest roasts coffee wholesale, hosts cuppings and roastery tours, and operates Café Equinox — a “caffeine + chlorophyll” café concept set inside Family Tree Nursery greenhouses, a store-within-a-store owned by the Nelson family and operated by Thou Mayest.45 In 2019 the company acquired Quay Coffee, absorbing its River Market and Nelson-Atkins Museum locations, and launched a short-lived experimental Crossroads shop, “Thee Outpost,” at 519 E. 18th St. inside Collective EX.67

Ownership and history

PeriodOperator / event
2012Bo Nelson + Bill Holzhueter found Thou Mayest as a garage roasting operation; the two met at Family Tree Nursery, Nelson’s family business12
2014Opens first retail café in the Crossroads Arts District — coffee by day, cocktails by night3
Feb 2019Launches Café Equinox inside Family Tree Nursery (Shawnee), a Nelson-family / Thou Mayest collaboration45
Apr–May 2019Acquires Quay Coffee (River Market + Nelson-Atkins locations); opens “Thee Outpost” R&D café at 519 E. 18th St. in the Crossroads6
Jun 30, 2020Closes the Crossroads “Thee Outpost” café amid the pandemic; Nelson pitches a modular, caster-mounted “café on casters” model7
Present (2026)Operates Thou Mayest River Quay (flagship, River Market) and Thou Mayest Nelson-Atkins, plus three Café Equinox locations (Shawnee, Overland Park, Liberty)8

Bo Nelson grew up working his family’s nursery — Family Tree Nursery, established 1965 by his grandfather Ron Nelson — and describes himself as “farm raised, KC native.”49 He runs the brand alongside his brothers within the broader Nelson family enterprise (notably on the Café Equinox side, debuted with brothers Jonah and Jessie Nelson).4 Co-founder Bill Holzhueter is credited as a fellow roaster and co-founder.1

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Feast Magazine, “One On One: Bo Nelson, Co-Founder and Roaster, Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters” — confirms co-founders Bo Nelson and Bill Holzhueter and that they met at Family Tree Nursery. https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/one-on-one-bo-nelson-co-founder-and-roaster-thou-mayest-coffee-roasters/article_94ca3196-606a-11e4-95bc-0017a43b2370.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters — About Us (founding 2012, garage origin, East of Eden / “thou mayest” name meaning, mission). https://thoumayest.com/pages/about-us ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. VoyageKC, “Exploring Life & Business with Bo Nelson of Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters” — 2014 Crossroads retail space, coffee/collaboration ethos. https://voyagekc.com/interview/exploring-life-business-with-bo-nelson-of-thou-mayest-coffee-roasters/ ↩ ↩2

  4. Startland News, “Thou Mayest sprouts fresh coffee concept in the suburbs: Café Equinox” (Feb 2019) — Café Equinox at Family Tree Nursery; Nelson family (Bo, Jonah, Jessie); store-within-a-store owned by Nelson family, operated by Thou Mayest. https://www.startlandnews.com/2019/02/thou-mayest-cafe-equinox/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Johnson County Post, “Family Tree Nursery, Thou Mayest create botanically-inspired coffee shop in Shawnee” (Feb 2019). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2019/02/25/family-tree-nursery-thou-mayest-create-botanically-inspired-coffee-shop-in-shawnee-77256/ ↩ ↩2

  6. Startland News, “Thou Mayest acquires Quay Coffee; three new locations…” (Apr 2019) — Quay acquisition, River Market + Nelson-Atkins locations, “Thee Outpost” at 519 E. 18th St. https://startlandnews.com/2019/04/thou-mayest-quay-coffee-thee-outpost/ ↩ ↩2

  7. Startland News, “Thou Mayest closes Crossroads shop…” (Jul 2020) — 519 E. 18th St. closure June 30, 2020; “café on casters” modular concept. https://www.startlandnews.com/2020/07/thou-mayest-crossroads-closes/ ↩ ↩2

  8. Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters — Locations (River Quay at 412 Delaware St B; Nelson-Atkins at 4525 Oak St; Café Equinox in Shawnee, Overland Park, Liberty). https://thoumayest.com/pages/location ↩

  9. Bo Nelson — LinkedIn (“Farm raised. KC native.”); Family Tree Nursery established 1965 by Ron Nelson. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bo-nelson-0abab068/ ↩

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Coffee
  • Crossroads