Wichita incubator space debuts with cafe ‘to share not just coffee but a culture’

A coffee shop is returning to the Lux at First and Market downtown, this time with a twist.

The first floor corner space, which previously was home to Espresso to Go Go and Placeholder Coffee most recently, is going to become the second incubator space for what’s now known as the Garages.

Janelle King, with the support of the Wichita Foundation via funds from the Knight Foundation and Fidelity Bank, started the singular Garage at Cleveland Corner in a garage next to her Workroom at First and Cleveland in 2019. The program now is expanding to other spaces to help more businesses.

“We seek out innovative ideas and people,” King said. “We really emphasize the person behind each idea.”

What makes the new Las Adelitas Cafe by Esperanza Coffee Roasters different is the Hispanic culture that owners Oscar Pineda and his wife, Vanessa Pineda Olguin, are infusing not only in their coffee but in the experience they’ll provide.

Pineda said it’s about “creating flavors and experiences through coffee.”

“Our goal is to share not just coffee but a culture.”

Their eventual goal is to find a permanent site on the North End.

In the meantime, they can have mentorship and funding in a high-visibility space and make adjustments to their business model before finding a permanent site.

‘We all have hope’

Pineda and Olguin are both natives of Mexico who have lived in Wichita almost all their lives. The two met in high school and now have four daughters ages 6 to 16 and a son, who is 1. It’s quite a bit to handle along with two businesses.

“I get that a lot,” Olguin said.

After being in the coffee industry for almost two decades, Pineda said he has roasted more than 250,000 pounds of coffee.

In 2021, the couple started Esperanza Coffee Roasters, a pop-up business.

Esperanza translates to hope, Pineda said.

“I named my business Esperanza because we all have hope,” he said. “We’re building hope through coffee — creating experiences through a cup of coffee.”

Olguin said they’ve named their new business Las Adelitas after the female soldiers who fought in the Mexican Revolution. She said it is traditional in Hispanic culture for men to work outside their homes and women to be homemakers, but she wants to inspire her daughters and show them they can work in society, too.

Their oldest, Yoselin, will work at the cafe when she can.

“She’s training to be a barista, and she’s loving it,” Olguin said.

Esperanza Coffee Roasters will provide coffee beans, including ground ones, for customers to buy and for Las Adelitas to use in drinks.

That includes its best-selling coffee, Rico Espresso and Buenos Dias, and top-selling other drinks, including horchata, which is flavored coffee with a cinnamon rice base along with a splash of vanilla, and mazapan, a buttery cream-based coffee.

There also will be pastries.

Las Adelitas will open March 20.

The incubator program is flexible depending on the needs of a business, so how long Las Adelitas will stay at the Lux remains to be seen.

In addition to sharing Hispanic culture through his businesses, Pineda said he wants to be an example for other Hispanic business owners now and when he moves to the North End.

“We want to be part of that economic growth in that part of town.”

One of the many partners helping Pineda and Olguin is Empower, which helps North End businesses and is working on its own incubator space.

Though that space isn’t quite ready, Empower executive director Ariel Rodriguez said he still wants to help Pineda and Olguin.

“They are just committed to the community,” he said.

“They are truly setting a dream that other people can follow.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 12:50 PM.