Help us get this Açaí Cafe open for business!

Ethan and I are asking for help to fund the opening of our cafe.

In 2015, we visited Costa Rica for the first time and totally fell in love with the culture and people. We made it our dream to move there one day. Being self employed for most of our lives as fitness professionals has left us on our own as far as retirement money. We decided to reinvest the money we did have saved in to a new business and Pura Vida KC was born. Our goal was to bring a little bit of our love for and experiences in Costa Rica to share with the people of Kansas City.

Three years later we have found our following and the demand has grown well beyond a single food truck going out on weekends, so we decided a store front would be ideal. Initially we had a bid from a contractor and had worked that into our financial plans, we signed the lease, hired an architect, submitted our plans to the city and began the wait for our permit. The city took two months to grant our permit and in that time our contractor quit.

We began searching for another contractor and found that the bids coming in were WELL over the initial estimate (approximately 3-4 times what what figured in to our finances) due to the supply chain issues and prices and availability of materials sky rocketing. We eventually found someone and began work.

We have been trying to do as much as we can ourselves to cut the cost. We have tried to get loans, but no one wants to invest in a “new business”. Since it is a brick and mortar, it is considered a new business even though our food truck has been successful and shown growth over three years. We have all of the decisions and plans in place currently and could finish the cafe in 3-4 weeks if we had the funds.

We know how much you guys love us and want the place to be open too, so we thought “what the hay?” and decided to start this Go Fund Me. Any little bit would help at this point and be GREATLY appreciated. We fully believe in the success of our cafe and can’t wait to share it with you all.

~Pura Vida! <3

Liz & Ethan