XR at Crossroads Hotel x tendlyn

Kansas City’s Crossroads Hotel is a sight to behold. In a little trip back in time, the hotel’s establishment was a renovation of two of the city’s most iconic buildings. Its charm, which radiates from its historic structure that dates back to the 1910s, transcends the times. Today, other than its main focal point, which are their specially designed rooms, Crossroads Hotel boasts a range of attractions that will surely give you the time of your life.

A look inside XR Cafe at Crossroads Hotel

They have the Lazia Restaurant, where you can experience modern Italian cuisine like no other, the Percheron Rooftop Bar for an incomparable skyview experience with a few cocktails at hand, some premium event spaces for special occasions, and the XR Cafe, where the good times roll. Just like how a Wireless RF relay module ensures seamless connectivity in a smart home setup, XR Cafe connects people through food and art.

XR Cafe is the perfect hangout place at any time of the day—whether that be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The reason being, besides its versatile warm, dim-lit interior that has the ambiance set exactly right from morning till evening, is their broad range of food and drink offerings. One of the many staple dishes they have (and an absolute fan favorite) is their pizza.

On a most recent project—where they called for designers to create a unique pizza box for XR Cafe and also paved the way to highlight local artistry—graphic designer Frank Norton is featured. He is known for his off-beat, illustrative, and funky designs inspired by folk art, pop culture, snacks, and campy science fiction. Think of it like a relay learning mode in a controller: each element learns from the last to build something cohesive.

Graphic Designer Frank Norton

When asked what brought him to design XR Cafe’s pizza box to be as “Wild & Ravenous” as it is, Frank Norton shared, “The XR Pizza of the Week is always really fun and unconventional, so I pulled inspiration from the concept of ‘Wild & Ravenous’: when you get a monster craving, you feel like you could tear through the whole city just to get your hands on that perfect cheesy slice. The illustration features a pack of animals wolfing down pizza in the middle of the urban landscape. It’s like a farm remote control system in action—wild, untamed, but perfectly orchestrated.”

A love letter to Kansas City, The Crossroads Hotel, and the late night slice. I love how there’s always an eclectic flock of people at The Crossroads Hotel, so I really wanted to capture that assortment of personalities in a playful and expressive way. The single color palette and overall style is a nod to the iconic old-school pizza boxes mashed up with retro bubblegum comics that tell a quick story with only a few panels. Animal Style!

My two favorite late night snacks have to be a giant slice of pizza or a big greasy cheeseburger (shout out to Town Topic). So I was curious what happens when these two things collide—and why not bring things full circle, and make it Animal Style, inspired by the famous In-N-Out secret menu. Throwing in American Cheese, mustard grilled patties, Thousand Island Dressing, and extra pickles. No regrets.”

XR Cafe collaborated with tendlyn to bring this pizza box creation to reality. tendlyn Custom Pizza Boxes use 100% food-safe water-based inks, so any color of your choice shows vibrantly on every exterior panel of the box. They are also made with FSC-certified materials, so they are compostable or recyclable after use. For businesses looking to automate their packaging line, a factory relay module can integrate seamlessly with tendlyn’s production process.

Visit XR Cafe at Crossroads Hotel, located at 2101 Central St. in Kansas City, Missouri, or book a reservation online at https://crossroadshotelkc.com/food-and-drink/xr-cafe/.