The teams behind The Rieger and Ça Va are launching a new hospitality collective that aims to radically reinvent the industry as a whole.
Motivated by the 100,000+ hospitality businesses that were forced to shutter in the past 18 months, including The Rieger and the Crossroads Community Kitchen, co-founders Howard Hanna (The Rieger, Ça Va, Manifesto) and Kyle Gardner (The Rieger, Manifesto) saw an opportunity to re-imagine the structure, pay, work environment and sustainability of the industry.
“I love restaurants, and I feel like I grew up and spent most of my life in kitchens,” Hanna said. “Cooking and hospitality are my passions, but so much about the kitchen culture I grew up in was inequitable and unhealthy, and I'm really glad to see the industry making positive changes now. The pandemic really felt like a hard reset in my life, and I'm excited for this opportunity to do things differently and better moving forward.”
Hospitality workers are also leaving the industry in large numbers. A 2021 survey conducted by Joblist found that over a third of hospitality workers would not consider another hospitality job for their next role, citing low pay, lack of benefits, and work environment as contributing factors. The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United released data in 2020 showing that of the nearly 14 million restaurant workers in the U.S., restaurant workers are more than twice as likely to be in poverty than the general workforce.
“We believe that every hospitality worker has the right to a living wage, healthcare, benefits, and work/life balance, along with a safe and healthy work environment,” Gardner said. “We believe every worker deserves a voice in the company and a vote for the decisions made within that company. We believe that by providing a stable career with a clear path for advancement we can improve the lives of the worker, their families, and the community as a whole.”
Manaia Collective will focus on five values for the new model: quality of life, a path for growth, sustainability, healthy environments, and an emphasis on community. One of the key pillars of this model will be a worker-owned cooperative, where employees have the option to share ownership in the business and participate in the day-to-day business decisions.
“Our vision is to have a group of empowered people work together towards a goal of sustainability,” Gardner said. “Together we will make financial, social, communal, and charitable decisions. We will help our neighbors and listen to our peers. We hope to be good leaders in the industry but also smart enough to know we don't have all the answers.“
The first two concepts under the Manaia umbrella - currently under construction at City Club Apartments at 20th and Main in the Crossroads - will be Small Axe and Afi.
Small Axe will be a “progressive city diner for everyone,” offering a modern, imaginative take on classic diner fare. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the space will offer a buzzy, lively and upbeat atmosphere.
Afi, located just next door to Small Axe, will be a “wine bar with a worldview.” The menu will feature sustainable and natural wines, paired with dishes inspired by indigenous ingredients and techniques from North America, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Both are slated to open in early 2022.
AREA’s Tiffany Ruzicka handled the leasing for both restaurant transactions and Josh Scott, also with AREA, is the project manager on the build-out of both spaces. Helix is the architect/designer and ARC General Contracting is the GC.
Kansas Citians have the opportunity to invest in the Manaia Collective business and its restaurant concepts through the Mainvest platform. Unlike traditional crowdfunding campaigns, Mainvest allows contributors to invest in the company, with the expectation to receive a cash return on their investment. The team at Manaia Collective hopes to raise at least $100,000 on the Mainvest platform to support the concept.
“I think that in the last two years the dining public has really begun to appreciate restaurants in ways that they didn't before,” Hanna said. “We're glad that a lot of conversations around hospitality now are focussed on working conditions, equity, and quality of life, and we hope to be on the leading edge of how the industry is changing as a result of that reflection. After the outpouring of support we received during the worst of the pandemic, we feel confident counting on our community to show up to support Afi and Small Axe moving forward, and we're excited to be there for them too!”
More information about the Manaia Collective mission can be found at manaiacollective.com. The Mainvest business profile and link to donate can be found at https://mainvest.com/b/manaia-collective-kansas-city.