New venture focuses on Colombian food, coffee

Kelly Hayes is set to launch Casa Macondo this month.

A native of Colombia is bringing a taste of her home country to Springfield via a new food and beverage venture set to launch this weekend.

Casa Macondo LLC is on tap for an Oct. 11 debut at CultureFest, an annual Queen City festival on Commercial Street that includes food, dance and music from around the globe. It’s a first-time business ownership venture for Kelly Hayes, who co-owns Casa Macondo with her husband, Brian. She said the business will sell 100% Colombian coffee drinks as well as coffee beans and coffee grounds at the festival, along with a variety of traditional Colombian foods, such as empanadas, arepas and arroz con leche, which is rice pudding.

“We thought that it was a great opportunity just to be part of that event, since they are celebrating Hispanic culture,” Hayes said of CultureFest.

Following this weekend’s festival, Hayes said Casa Macondo will set up shop beginning Oct. 18 as one of the weekly vendors at Farmers Market of the Ozarks. While she began selling her coffee beans last month, Hayes said CultureFest serves as the kickoff for nearly all her menu’s lineup.

“It is something I have always wanted to do for so many years since I got to Springfield,” said Hayes, who was born in Colombia and came to Missouri State University in 2009 to study English. “At the time, I was pursuing my doctorate in education in Colombia and needed to learn a second language. That trip changed my life.”

Hayes has worked in international education since 2003 and as a graduate student at MSU in 2011 was hired as coordinator of the university’s International Leadership and Training Center. She worked at MSU until 2023, when she transitioned to her current role as partnership development manager with Intrax Inc., a San Francisco-based cultural exchange organization and J-1 visa sponsor. Hayes said she will maintain her remote position with Intrax in addition to Casa Macondo.

“Since we’re going to be in the market, initially we chose kind of like a limited menu that could showcase some of our snacks or food we eat for breakfast or light food, not big dishes or anything like that,” Hayes said of her upcoming weekly appearances at Farmers Market of the Ozarks. “I think there is so much that we can share with other people and especially through food. It’s a nice way to get people that don’t know much about it or have misconceptions about us.”

Declining to disclose startup costs, Hayes said it’s a relatively small investment as she currently has no brick-and-mortar location. However, she’s hopeful that will change in 2026.

Hayes said Casa Macondo will eventually be part of Tribecca Park, a development project planned at the southwest corner of Grant Avenue and Grand Street. Brian Hayes is listed as the organizer of Tribecca Park LLC. Andrew Doolittle, co-owner of GDL Enterprises LLC, with Willie Grega and Cameron LaBarr, told Springfield Business Journal last month all four businesspeople are part of the development project.

Details of the project along the Grant Avenue Parkway remain scarce, but Kelly Hayes said Tribecca Park will include some multistory residential buildings that will have a commercial component on the first floor.

“We don’t know yet. We’re still working on details,” she said of a timeline for construction on the project beyond “sometime next year.”

Casa Macondo is providing Hayes with the opportunity to expose some of her favorite Colombian foods to a wider audience.

“When you grow up in a Colombian culture, especially in my family, we were taught as kids to help in the kitchen and to do things with our parents or adults when they were cooking,” she said, adding she will cook all the food for sale. “Food is a big part of our culture, so you grow up helping them and then you start learning how to make things.

“When you get to Springfield and you cannot find your food, then you start experimenting and trying things and see if you can have a little piece of your country with you,” she added. “So yeah, that’s how I started and was able to come up with a few things that I know I can cook.”

She said most food prices will range $3-$8, while coffee beans are sold at $12 for a half pound and $20 for a full pound.