Bowling Green Couple Takes Second Crack at Kickstarter for Flatlands Coffee

Ben Vollmar cupping.

An Ohio couple is hoping to build out what they say is Bowling Green area’s first craft-focused multi-roaster cafe, Flatlands Coffee.

For funding, former barista Ben Vollmar and interior designer Cassy Vollmar are turning to Kickstarter with hopes to raise $20,000 for startup costs. The campaign is the couple’s second after a $60,000 Kickstarter campaign goal was not met for Flatlands last year, but Ben Vollmar says new investment partners have since come forward to help drive the startup number down.

(related: Ohioans Hope to Bring Midwestern Hospitality to Astoria Coffee Shop)

“With the third wave segment growing rapidly, we expect a strong welcome in this college town and we have already seen excitement growing,” the Vollmars say in the Kickstarter.

Renderings of the proposed downtown shop show abundant seating with multiple brew stations, and the campaign video shows the Vollmars brewing with various manual and intensive systems including Chemex, Aeropress, and a siphon brewer. Ben Vollmar says a goal is for every aspect of the business to be “very intentional.”

“Our values of taking an experimental approach to coffee and pairing that with coffee competitions is really what will help us achieve this unsurpassed quality,” he says. “We want to bring our customers the best, and participate in the progression of the specialty coffee industry as a whole.”

(related: First Look: Cincinnati Micro Carabello’s Lovely New Roastery and Bar)

As part of the Kickstarter rewards program and the couple’s curation-driven approach to their rotating coffee selection from multiple roasters, the Vollmars have also created co-branded packaged coffee tins under a Flatlands logo.

For more on Flatlands Coffee, check out their Kickstarter.

Flatlands Branded tins from participating roasters.