MJP –
By now, Ça Va should have reopened.
The Champagne bar, which had a weekend-long celebration in March to celebrate its tenth anniversary, intended to close for six weeks to refurbish its Westport location at 4149 Pennsylvania Ave. and revise its menu.
Ça Va has remained idle since then, with the exception of some minor re-openings that took place in April.
Owner Howard Hanna announced this week that it will not be reopening.
“Even though we were in a precarious financial position when we shut down for renovations, I had faith that Ça Va could still have a promising future if we could give it a facelift and revitalize it,” Hanna explained to The Star last week.
“I had never intended to handle the business side of it, and really never needed to until the last year or so,” he noted, adding that he had never planned to be the one to do. I have to admit, I bombed at that.
Both Hanna and Ça Va have left a wake of unpaid invoices and disgruntled investors. Among these are employees who, earlier this year, purchased bar shares from Hanna and were shocked to discover about Ça Va’s financial problems. Both their jobs and the money have vanished.
Meghan Wheelock, who has been the general manager of Ça Va since February 2023, expressed her belief in Howard, but more significantly, in the ethos and culture of the establishment, as well as the team’s genuine caring for visitors and the community. “It was simply not an option for me to remain silent and allow him to dismantle Ça Va in the manner that it occurred.”
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Ça Va was founded, in many respects, on Hanna’s family tree. Before founding the acclaimed Crossroads eatery The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange in 2010, he was a seasoned chef in Kansas City’s culinary scene, having worked at exclusive establishments such as 40 Sardines, Room 39, and the River Club. Among 2014’s James Beard Award contenders, he was named Best Chef: Midwest.
In the same year, Ça Va (pronounced “sah-vah”) was opened by Hanna, Justin Norcross, and Jim Coley. The bar had a limited menu of French-inspired small plates with a focus on boutique wines and Champagne.
In 2018, Hanna began construction of a mixed-use complex at 1989 Main St., just across from The Rieger, and signed a 10-year lease to open two additional restaurants on the ground floor. This move was prompted by the success of The Rieger and Ça Va.
His schemes were audacious. Hanna would launch a wine bar named Afi and an upscale diner named Small Axe through his newly formed restaurant group, Manaia Collective. The group’s mission was to revolutionize the restaurant industry by providing employees with living wages, health benefits, and chances to own their own businesses.
The goal, according to Hanna, was to have her professional life and her political beliefs be in harmony. “I reasoned that (Manaia Collective) might provide an alternative to exploitative business practices that would be good for all parties involved.”
Hanna tried to reach a $100,000 goal on Mainvest, a crowdfunding site that allows local investors to back small businesses, so that she could open more restaurants.
In Hanna’s case, the pandemic ruined a lot of plans. At first, he considered turning The Rieger into a shared kitchen for the neighborhood. The restaurant, however, shut down for good in the autumn of 2020.
Construction expenses were skyrocketing across the street as a result of supply chain problems.
“We encountered every possible obstacle during the pandemic,” Hanna stated. “We could never catch up with the building costs of Afi and Small Axe, which more than doubled.”
In 2021, he intended to launch the eateries. The original date was later changed to 2022. For unpaid rent and other charges, City Club Apartments sued Manaia Collective in 2023 in the Jackson County Circuit Court. After a while, a judge decided that City Club Apartments owed Manaia Collective over $275,000, and Hanna was told to leave the apartments.
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A separate lawsuit was brought against Manaia Collective, City Club Apartments, and two of the venture’s investors by Allied Retail Concepts in 2023, claiming that it was still owed over $200,000 for work that had been done at the development. That case has not concluded yet.
The majority of Manaia Collective’s $139,000 in funding came from modest-sized investors, as reported by the Kansas City Business Journal. After hearing about Manaia Collective’s financial and legal issues, Mainvest decided to make a message to the investors of Manaia Collective.
As stated by Mainvest in October 2023, “neither investors nor the Mainvest team were made aware prior to a news article,” which is far more worrisome. “We are actively attempting to reach out to their team in order to gather additional information, particularly regarding the present status of the investor funds that were formerly stated as being utilized for the build-out. “
Later this summer, though, Mainvest itself filed for bankruptcy. Many would-be entrepreneurs were left confused about how to proceed with their crowdfunding campaigns after the abrupt closure, and those who had invested in Manaia Collective were left wondering what happened to their money.
“I’m personally out $1,000 that I invested because I believed in (Hanna’s) concept,” said one local investor who asked not to be identified. “He hasn’t messaged investors or done anything to rectify or apologize to the Kansas Citians that gave them their money. We’re not venture capitalists. I am not wealthy. I want my money back or, at least, an apology from Mr. Hanna for the people who have supported him through the years.”
Hanna told The Star that “every cent” raised for Small Axe and Afi went into the restaurant’s build-out. But with the costs of the project soaring, “we just could not get it over the finish line.”
“I didn’t mean to swindle anybody, and I didn’t profit in any way from this situation,” Hanna said.
In February, Hanna became the sole owner of Ça Va.
Norcross had long ago left as a partner and co-opened another bar, Lucky Boys, and Fortunati Pizza , both in the West Bottoms. Coley departed earlier this year prior to the March closing.
Business at the Champagne bar never bounced back after the pandemic, Hanna said, and bills had begun to pile up.
Wheelock, the bar’s general manager, said she and Hanna worked out a deal where she invested in Ça Va in exchange for equity in the company. The money went to pay past-due invoices from distributors and cover the cost of renovations earlier this year.
A second round brought in four more investors, Wheelock said, who would receive a piece of ownership in Ça Va in exchange for their contributions.
Soon after buying in, though, they learned that Ça Va’s liquor license was being held up due to what Wheelock called a “massive tax bill” that hadn’t been paid — one that, according to Wheelock and others, Hanna had not disclosed to the investors.
“I had disclosed that we were behind on taxes and that I wasn’t sure what the amount was,” Hanna said. “I was way off on my estimate of our total debt, but I never meant to withhold information, or deceive anyone. I just didn’t have a handle on the situation.
“All the money we raised to reopen was spent on new equipment, supplies and labor for the renovation work, and to pay down bills with purveyors or our landlord,” Hanna added.
In July, Ça Va defaulted on its lease and the new owner of the building, Colorado Springs’ Niebur Development, changed the locks. Investors and employees said they struggled to get answers from Hanna in the weeks that followed. A group of investors had again put their money into a Hanna project that had not materialized.
“We worked so hard for a place we love to crumble without a word,” said Lauren Lawler, a Ça Va bartender and one of its recent investors. “The lack of communication and uncertainty ultimately led to being unemployed and (losing our) investments.”
What’s next?
Amante Domingo, who owns Noka and The Russell, recently leased the space at 4149 Pennsylvania St.
He plans to open a combination coffee shop and wine lounge there this winter called Le Champion.
“It’s sort of inspired by Ralph’s Coffee ,” Domingo said, referring to the boutique coffee shop from fashion designer Ralph Lauren. “We’re doing a whole face-lift. It’ll have that signature heritage look that his places have. It’ll be beautiful and airy, with Champagne-colored curtains, sports memorabilia, vintage trophies.”
By day, the focus will be on coffee — Domingo recently bought a La Marzocco machine (“every coffee geek’s dream”) and has been doing training at Onyx Coffee Labs in Bentonville, Arkansas. Domingo’s former business partner Heather White (Tailleur, Cheval, Enchante) will make quiche and pastries for morning customers.
At night, Le Champion will transition to serving wine and cocktails, plus a limited food menu. “I see it as grown-ups having Champagne and small bites before or after dinner,” Domingo said.
If that sounds familiar, it’s intentional.
“I really want to try to celebrate and honor what Ça Va was for a long time — this cozy place that’s kind of just outside Westport,” Domingo said. “I even considered trying to buy Ça Va. But it was just too messy. It was going to be too complicated.”
