This new sandwich and coffee shop is coming to KC near KU Med

You can get many kinds of cuisine all over Kansas City in various pockets of the metro and just about any day of the week, but you better be hungry during normal business hours.

For shift workers, like hospital staff, who work atypical hours, it’s quite the hunt to find quality food options. It’s something Kory Roth (who’s cooked in kitchens at Stone Canyon Pizza and Gram & Dun) noticed when he would occasionally drive his nurse wife, Emily Roth, to work at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

“There are limited options for hospital workers other than just eating at the hospital,” Roth said.

So Roth is putting his professional cooking skills - and some administrative expertise he picked up while working at restaurant management solution company Rosnet - to use to solve the problem. He’s opening Marigolds at 1850 W. 39th St., where the old Panera Bread was inside the West 39th Apartments building and right next to KU Med.

He developed the menu around comfort food, meals that make guests feel at home even while they’re eating during breaks at the hospital - or for those seeking home-cooking before or after they visit loved ones there.

Marigolds’ mission is that it’s “built for the shift,” but it can’t be built for all shifts. Still, Roth said he plans to open the restaurant at 6 a.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, making it one of the earlier options available in the neighborhood. The eatery will close at 3 p.m. on those days.

Marigold’s all-day offerings will include sandwiches on homemade biscuits, made from a family recipe, that will be the base for every breakfast sandwich on the menu.

“It comes from my great-grandmother,” Roth said. “It’s just a really good, fluffy biscuit that we’re going to have for all our breakfast sandwiches.”

If guests aren’t as partial to homemade biscuits, however, they have an alternative bread choice with the English muffin, which can be used for the specialty breakfast sandwiches as well as customizable sandwiches. Customers can choose between proteins (bacon, sausage, a vegetarian option, eggs and egg whites), cheeses and sauces. A breakfast sandwich will cost around $10.

Breakfast will be available all day. But come lunch time at 11 a.m., the menu expands with cold sandwiches and limited hot sandwiches, which are priced around $16.

The cold-cut sandwiches will come chopped, meaning all the ingredients of a sandwich will be put onto a cutting board and chopped up before being put on six- or 12-inch toasted bread with cheese. These sandwiches are also customizable, though Roth is also developing specialty chopped sandwiches.

Of the sandwiches that come hot, one includes his mother’s meatloaf recipe, aptly named Mary’s Meatloaf and made with fried onions and a secret sauce. There’s also the Sunday Roast, made with slow-braised pot roast, caramelized onions, caramelized carrots and cheese.

“We really wanted to lean into the Midwestern heartland kind of vibe and bring people food that made them feel comfortable,” Roth said.

The specialty hot dishes will be featured on a menu board until they sell out of their limited supply. Marigolds will also offer pastries and baked goods from their likely daily-changing baker’s case, curated by their in-house baker, which might include treats like Danishes, doughnuts, bread or vegan biscuits.

For the busy hospital worker, there will be coffee, of course, from the new Provis Coffee Roasters, whose first café is also opening this year in the Northland. Roth said he’s keeping the coffee menu simple for the everyday worker who may come in, with basic lattes, cold brew and red eye coffee. The “fanciest” the menu may get is with turmeric latte offerings, which Roth said is for those shift workers getting off in the morning who need something to help them sleep.

The simplest order, a black cup of coffee, is expected to cost $1.50, Roth said.

“It’s a simple cup of coffee, and it doesn’t steal all the money in your pocket,” Roth said.

Lastly, he’s also crafting his own fruit syrups that can be paired with soda water to offer guests Marigolds’ house-made version of an Italian soda.

All the menu is made to be taken to-go, but customers can also stay awhile in a lounge space. Roth is still in the process of designing Marigolds, but he plans for it to have a fireplace, TV, bookshelf, around 30 seats for guests and a standing-room counter for guests also dining in. The space will be dimly lit, with moody green paint on the walls for a “calm and relaxing” feel, Roth said.

He also wants to dedicate a small part of the restaurant to retail for some guests who may visit patients at KU Med, offering similar items that you’d find at a hospital gift shop like greeting cards from Two Tone Press and small bouquets from a local florist.

Roth hopes to open Marigolds in October. Diners can find updates about Marigolds’ offerings and official opening date on Instagram.