Danny O'Neill

Danny O’Neill, known across Kansas City as “the Bean Baron,” is the founder of The Roasterie, the air-roasted specialty coffee company he started in his Brookside basement in 1993 and grew into one of the Midwest’s signature coffee brands.

Biography

Danny O’Neill was born and raised in Denison, Iowa, the middle of ten children.¹ As a high-school foreign-exchange student in Costa Rica, he spent several weeks picking coffee — an experience he credits with sparking a lifelong love of coffee.² He earned a B.A. (international studies and political science) from Iowa State University and, in 1993, an MBA through the Rockhurst University Executive Fellows Program in Kansas City.¹

In 1993, after a decade in sales and marketing, O’Neill bought an air-roaster, lined his Brookside basement with corrugated tin and blue tarps, and began roasting coffee.² He built The Roasterie on three premises: source the best coffees in the world, roast them as well as possible, and get them to customers as quickly as possible.³ His first sale was a ten-pound bag for a coffee cart at Children’s Mercy Hospital.²

Over the following decades The Roasterie grew into a regional institution — its West Side Factory Café is marked by a 1944 Douglas DC-3 (“Betty,” named for O’Neill’s mother) mounted on the roof since 2012 — and O’Neill became one of Kansas City’s best-known food entrepreneurs and a frequent civic and business-community voice.⁴ He has served as president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America and earned “Super Taster” certification.¹

Legacy

O’Neill helped define modern Midwestern coffee culture, championing specialty coffee in Kansas City well before it was fashionable. The Roasterie remains a homegrown KC brand and a fixture of the city’s café scene.

See also

• the-roasterie

Sources

Footnotes

1. “By The Numbers: The Roasterie’s Bean Baron Danny O’Neill,” IN Kansas City Magazine — Denison IA, middle of ten children; Iowa State B.A.; 1993 Rockhurst MBA; SCAA president; “Super Taster” (2001). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. “Roasterie founder Danny O’Neill takes historical look on Midwest coffee culture,” Startland News — Costa Rica coffee-picking; Brookside basement roaster (corrugated tin + blue tarps); first sale a 10-lb bag for a Children’s Mercy Hospital coffee cart. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. “As KC’s Roasterie turns 25, founder O’Neill reflects on roots, future,” Missouri Business Alert — founded 1993; three founding premises. ↩

4. SimpleFlying / The Pitch / KCtoday — the Roasterie Factory Café’s rooftop 1944 Douglas DC-3 (“Betty,” reg. NC5931), installed 2012 on the West Side café overlooking Southwest Boulevard. ↩