Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy. . , Downtown workers have come to believe that “wake up and smell the coffee” was a phrase coined right here in Kansas City. It’s all thanks to the local Folger Coffee Company Plant, which opened at 701 Broadway in 1938, at the suggestion of Folger’s salesman, Frank Atha. The aroma of coffee beans was always strongest in the morning, as it should be. Until the plant’s opening here, Folgers Coffee was roasted only in San Francisco, where the company had been founded in the late 1800s during the Gold Rush. By opening a second operation in the Midwest, Folger was able to expand its sales territory across the country. At the time of the plant opening here in 1938, coffee was going for 35 cents a pound, compared to the $5+ price tags today. Folger was purchased by Cincinnati-based Procter and Gamble Company in 1963. But, much to the pleasure of our city’s downtown office workers, P&G chose to keep the Kansas City-based plant that roasted the popular brew. Even non-coffee drinkers have agreed, the delicious fragrance provides a great way to wake up in the morning. Now that’s aromatherapy.