Today we’d like to introduce you to Naveen Moinuddin.
Hi Naveen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We’re Naveen and Muhammad, the husband and wife team behind Nivi’s Minis, a bespoke snack cart business based in Kansas City. After moving to KC two years ago, we wanted to build connections in our community and create something together. Naveen has always had an eye for design and an interest in content creation, and a custom snack cart for parties, weddings, and corporate events where branding and design really mattered felt like a natural fit. Muhammad’s sister, Intisar, runs a snack cart business called Intis Minis in Houston, and her encouragement helped us take the leap.
We started in 2025 with one cart, serving mini pancakes made to order. From the beginning, we wanted the cart to feel like part of the celebration, not just somewhere to pick up food. We enjoyed creating custom signage, matching the event’s colors, and adding little details that made each setup personal.
Our early events helped us find our place in Kansas City. Local pop ups gave us opportunities to meet people, and led to our first corporate event opportunity. Our first apartment resident event opened the door to a whole new side of the business as well, and we’ve now served dozens of luxury resident communities through greater KC. We’re especially grateful to the people who booked us early, recommended us to others, and trusted us while we were still figuring things out.
As we grew, we expanded beyond mini pancakes. Today, we offer 12 different snack cart experiences, including soft serve, bubble waffles, açaí bowls, and more. Adding a second cart was another big milestone because it allowed clients to offer two different services at the same event. We also started Nivi’s Stickies, a separate sticker and temporary tattoo vending business that gives us another way to bring custom design and an interactive experience to celebrations.
Along the way, we’ve had the opportunity to serve weddings, resident gatherings, nonprofit events, and corporate celebrations, including events for Sporting KC, the Chiefs at Arrowhead, Burns & McDonnell, EY, CBIZ, and many more.
We feel fortunate about the timing of when we started our business because it genuinely feels like we’ve been growing our small business alongside the city’s growth on a national scale over these past two years. We have been hired by national brands like Adidas for influencer events and supported grand openings on the Plaza for big brands like LoveShackFancy. That, coupled with the recognition KC has received from the World Cup, has made us feel so grateful to start something in a city with so much potential, one we can now call home.
Now in our second year, one of our favorite parts is seeing familiar clients return and hearing that someone discovered us at another event. What began as a creative outlet has become a way to build relationships across Kansas City. We’re still learning as we grow, but making people feel welcomed and creating something personal for their event remain at the heart of what we do.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. When we first announced our business, we received a lot of initial attention, but that excitement faded pretty quickly. Without events to film, we struggled to keep putting out content that would keep us on people’s feeds and minds.
That’s where Naveen’s creativity really came into play. We constantly brainstormed ways to showcase our mini pancakes and help people picture the cart at their own events. Naveen put her camera and editing skills to work, and we even emptied out our living room to create space to film a lot of content that ended up going semi-viral early on. We made transition videos and content showing how the cart works and looks, then shared it on social media while reaching out to local planners and venues. Eventually, more consistent interest started building, and we’ve been steadily growing ever since.
Balancing the business with our full time jobs has also been a challenge. Naveen works nights as an ultrasound tech to leave time during the day for the business, and we’ve both had to be intentional about making time outside of work. There have been events we’ve worked right after long, tiring shifts. It isn’t always easy, but seeing the business grow and having a shared passion for bringing something special to Kansas City gives us the energy to keep going.
As we’ve grown, we’ve been fortunate enough to invest back into our community by hiring college students who now assist us with events. Having that help has made a difference, but being able to create opportunities and offer mentorship to young people in our community has been especially rewarding. That’s a part of this journey we’re really proud of!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Nivi’s Minis is our Kansas City based bespoke snack cart business, offering 12 services, including mini pancakes, soft serve, bubble waffles, and açaí bowls. We serve weddings, resident gatherings, corporate events, and brand activations, with a focus on making the cart feel like part of the celebration rather than just somewhere to pick up food.
Naveen’s creativity shapes everything from our custom signage and serving details to our photography and social media. We want each setup to reflect the client’s vision, whether we’re incorporating a company’s branding, a couple’s wedding mood board, or designing around a child’s birthday theme. Sharing that process online has helped people picture what we could create for their own events.
We’re especially proud of helping introduce more people in Kansas City to these possibilities. We made apartment resident events a consistent part of our business and have enjoyed showing KC how snack carts can become a recurring part of their resident events, opening doors for other carts to pitch to more clients. Along the way, we’ve built friendships with other cart businesses, planners, and vendors. Being part of that growing creative community has been just as meaningful as growing our own business.
Another personal touch is the content Naveen creates. When time allows, she photographs and films not only our cart, but also the decor and moments that make each event special. She loves sharing those photos and videos with clients and creating reels that celebrate the event as a whole. A client recently highlighted this in her review after Naveen offered to photograph her son and family in front of his birthday backdrop. Hearing how much that gesture and those photos meant to her stayed with us.
Those thoughtful extras are what we hope people remember. Beyond the food and design, we want our clients to feel that we genuinely care about the celebration they’ve worked hard to put together.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What we love most about Kansas City is how much people care about supporting local businesses. The way this community shows up has been incredibly encouraging and inspiring for us.
During our first year, we partnered with a beloved local restaurant called Baba’s Pantry for a fundraising pop up supporting Palestinian aid. We weren’t sure how many people would attend, but we were humbled when the community came pouring out to show their support. We were able to raise $1,000 for aid to Palestine by donating 100% of our mini pancake sales to a local charity. That experience really showed us how much this community can accomplish when people come together.
One challenge has been introducing a concept that was unfamiliar to many people here. Through Muhammad’s sister’s business in Houston, we had seen how readily people embraced snack carts. When we started in KC, though, we often had to explain what a branded snack cart customized to an event’s theme could bring to the experience beyond just the food.
We’ve put a lot of work into attending networking events, creating content, and consistently reaching out to venues and planners to help people understand and picture the concept. Building that awareness has been an uphill battle at times, but it’s been rewarding to see people start to recognize what we offer.
Along the way, Muhammad discovered a real passion for pitching and sales that he didn’t know he had before we started Nivi’s Minis. Paired with Naveen’s creativity and design skills, we’ve been able to carve out roles that complement each other and help us tackle challenges together.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/nivisminis
- Other: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hT4318wkWB6TJVCE7
