Interview with Joe’s KC BBQ’s Joy Stehney about her restaurant journey, building a sustainable business, and offering to cater Taylor Swift’s Wedding.
Joy Stehney, co-founder of Joe's KC Barbecue, exemplifies the true spirit of entrepreneurial grit and passion. Alongside her husband Jeff, a BBQ Hall of Famer, they transformed a modest gas station kitchen into a legendary barbecue destination that now stands as a beacon of excellence in Kansas City’s storied culinary landscape.
Joy Stehney, co-founder of Joe's KC Barbecue, exemplifies the true spirit of entrepreneurial grit and passion. Alongside her husband Jeff, a BBQ Hall of Famer, they transformed a modest gas station kitchen into a legendary barbecue destination that now stands as a beacon of excellence in Kansas City’s storied culinary landscape.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers.
00:07I am your host, Sean Walchef.
00:09This is a Cali BBQ Media production in life, in the restaurant
00:14business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through lessons
00:18and stories. I am very excited about today's guest because we get
00:23to talk about the barbecue business.
00:25As you know, we've turned our barbecue business into a media
00:29business, which has allowed us to launch this show on Entrepreneur.
00:32Thanks to Toast, the technology company for sponsoring the show,
00:37allowing us to reach over 30 million people in two years.
00:40I have to pinch myself because we get to interview incredible guests,
00:44legendary guests in the restaurant space, the hospitality space,
00:48and the creator space.
00:49And today I have Joy Staney, who is the owner of Joe's Kansas City BBQ.
00:57And if you don't know about Kansas City BBQ, you most likely have
01:02heard about them.
01:03I have heard about them when we turned our breakfast business in
01:07San Diego into a barbecue business.
01:10The legendary Gene Goichea, he taught us how to slow smoke barbecue,
01:14how to use old hickory pits, how to cook Kansas City style barbecue.
01:18And we brought it to the West Coast in San Diego back in 2008, 2009.
01:23And he told me about this legendary place in Kansas City that
01:27served the best barbecue in the world out of a gas station.
01:32And I said, Gene, there's no way that people are serving incredible
01:35barbecue out of a gas station.
01:37He said, absolutely.
01:39It is Kansas City bar.
01:41It is Joe's Kansas City BBQ, and we will go there.
01:45And lo and behold, September 12, 2016, my wife, Rosita, myself, and Gene,
01:52we went on our barbecue Mecca to Kansas City.
01:54First place that we went was to Joe's Kansas City BBQ.
01:58We met with Carolyn Wells, who is the founder of Kansas City BBQ Society,
02:05good friend of Gene Goichea's.
02:06And she brought us into the gas station,
02:08into the legendary establishment.
02:11We got a tour of the entire place.
02:13We got to see the old hickory smokers.
02:15We got to see the team.
02:16We got to see the commerce.
02:17We got to taste the incredible barbecue.
02:19And here we are today with joy to hear the real story
02:24behind the scenes.
02:25Joy, welcome to the show.
02:27Thank you, Sean.
02:28It's nice to meet you.
02:29I am so excited to have you here to learn
02:32about how you and your husband got into this crazy, incredible, amazing,
02:38beautiful world of barbecue.
02:39So let's start at the beginning.
02:41Can you tell me where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
02:49So we started in competition barbecue.
02:52My husband and I did right after we were married in 1991.
02:54We married in 19, I think our first contest was 91.
02:58And so I'm going to tell you that my favorite stage venue
03:02is the American World Barbecue Contest in Kansas City, which is the world's
03:06largest barbecue contest.
03:08We've won it twice.
03:09We were the open champion, grand champion one year.
03:11We were also the amateur grand, they used to have an amateur grand champion
03:15one year.
03:16So now it's just two open titles because they did away with that.
03:21But when we started this, it's because we did it
03:27out of a love of competition.
03:29We both love to compete.
03:31My husband is a great cook.
03:32He's an amazing cook.
03:33I can't cook to save my life, but he is the cook in the family.
03:37And so out of our love of competition, there
03:41were these local barbecue contests in Kansas City, which is pretty much where
03:44I want to think that barbecue contests started with the Kansas City Barbecue
03:48Society and Carolyn and Gary Wells, her husband, who's since passed away.
03:53They are amazing people.
03:56Also, my opinion, they're the founders of barbecue.
03:59I'm sure there are a lot of arguments out there against that,
04:02but they started this barbecue contest thing and kept it going.
04:08And now it's thriving.
04:09It's all over the world.
04:11And that's because of them, basically.
04:13So we started competing, met them.
04:15They've been wonderful cheerleaders for us from day one.
04:19And we fell in love with competition barbecue.
04:23We were really good at it.
04:24A couple of years into it, we had people asking us to cater.
04:27And we had a tiny house in Westwood, Kansas.
04:29So we were doing it out of our kitchen, which was not great
04:33because we were catering big parties for 600 people occasionally.
04:37So we had to.
04:39There was a little gas station down the street
04:42that had a little fried chicken restaurant, and it had gone out of business.
04:45And it was seriously like seven blocks from our house.
04:49So my husband went one day and he said, I'm going to go talk to them.
04:52We both had full time jobs.
04:53I'm going to go talk to them and see if we can lease their kitchen.
04:57So we did that for about a year.
04:59We leased our kitchen from them.
05:01And but then people would walk in.
05:02They'd smell the barbecue and they'd walk in.
05:04And so he decided we had a good friend named Oklahoma Joe.
05:08I don't know how much research you've done,
05:09but when we first started, we were Oklahoma Joe's barbecue.
05:12We had a very good friend, Joe Davidson.
05:14He had actually started Oklahoma Joe's.
05:16He had his own sauce. He had a smoker company.
05:19And so we partnered with him.
05:21My husband had the crazy idea to quit his job
05:23and we're going to go into business and start and go into the restaurant business.
05:25And at the time, I was in a full blown panic.
05:28And I thought this is never going to work.
05:30But OK, he will tell you now that it never occurred to him that it wouldn't work.
05:34So he's he is
05:39has more faith in himself or us than I did at the time.
05:42But so we opened our first restaurant with Joe Davidson in Stillwater, Oklahoma,
05:47and we opened our second restaurant in Kansas City in the gas station in 1996.
05:52And we've been going ever since about a year into it.
05:56Joe was going to get all the smoker business.
05:58He want to get all the restaurant business.
05:59So we split up and we we kept the name Oklahoma Joe's for a while
06:04until we were brave enough to turn to Joe's Kansas City because we thought,
06:07well, now we're established.
06:09We had three restaurants. We finally changed the name.
06:10So but it didn't faze anyone.
06:14They some people still call it Oklahoma Joe's.
06:17So that's what we got to start.
06:18That's what we end up in the gas station.
06:20Can you bring me back?
06:21Because this is a show for entrepreneur and so many people
06:26that are going to listen to this.
06:27Some of them have restaurants.
06:28Some of them want to have restaurants.
06:31Bring us back to working.
06:32What what jobs were you guys doing when you were working full time?
06:36Before we started our restaurant company?
06:38Yeah, I worked for I worked for the Black Eyed Pea,
06:41which was a it's a franchise out of Texas.
06:44We had there was a local franchisee in Kansas City.
06:46His name was John Lenscock, and I was his assistant.
06:49I helped him open restaurants.
06:51I then I worked in his office.
06:53And then my husband worked for we met working at Shredded Fruit and Vegetable.
06:58We were both he was in outside sales.
07:00I was an inside sales.
07:01And then he went on to work for Kraft,
07:04which was at that point a grocery company.
07:07And then Cisco.
07:09And so that's pretty much where where he got his start selling.
07:15He never really he never outside of waiting tables when he was in college
07:19and in high school, he never worked in a restaurant, nor actually did I,
07:22except for opening restaurants.
07:23So that was that was how we that was what we did
07:26before we put our jobs to open a restaurant company.
07:29So when you opened up the restaurant, you weren't running the gas station.
07:32It was just the rest of you were leasing.
07:34We were just renting this space.
07:35A year later in September of 1997, we bought the entire corner.
07:39The gentleman that owned it wanted out.
07:41There was a liquor store and a gas station, a much bigger convenience store.
07:45That is now we've got it down to like very little
07:47because the restaurant takes needs so much more space.
07:49But and there's no money in the candy business.
07:51So or gas, unless you're a quick trip.
07:54But so we shrunk.
07:56We shrunk that part down.
07:57We eventually closed the liquor store and we put our offices down there.
08:01We built a catering commissary out of it,
08:03which made it easier for us to open other restaurants
08:06because we can do a lot of things from our catering commissary,
08:09i.e. make bean sauce, do a lot of the prep work
08:13that we don't have enough room for in our other restaurants.
08:16That's amazing.
08:17I was going to ask you now that you have three restaurants, why?
08:20Why? Why did you open up three restaurants and not three gas stations?
08:24And well, the gas station, like I said, doesn't make much money.
08:29So it's but it's we keep it because everyone loves to do.
08:32Everyone loves to come in and see the gas station.
08:35So and honestly, just after COVID, we opened a little patio
08:40in between the gas pumps.
08:41That's the funniest thing you'll ever see, because people on a nice day.
08:45It's like 60 today.
08:46And I bet there are people sitting outside of my gas to my gas pumps.
08:49They love it.
08:50That is amazing.
08:52Yeah. Bring us.
08:53We love talking about branding on the show.
08:56When we first opened, we were California Comfort Restaurant
08:59and Sports Bar back in 2008.
09:01Now, all of a sudden, we're Cali BBQ.
09:03So we've gone through multiple names and iterations.
09:06And we're Cali BBQ Media for you.
09:09Oklahoma Joe's to Kansas City Barbecue
09:12was a huge, huge deal for the community.
09:17I mean, there's Fox Business articles about your name change.
09:20Like that is. Yes, that is amazing.
09:22Can you can you bring us back into the branding?
09:24The we had so many people come to us when we were Oklahoma
09:28Joe's and say, but you're from Kansas City.
09:30Why are you doing that?
09:31So many Kansas City people.
09:32I mean, we literally got that question every day.
09:35And so and and Joe Davidson got back into the restaurant business.
09:41And so and he so he has a couple of Oklahoma Joe's and
09:45I in Tulsa Bixby.
09:48So he did that.
09:50And when he was doing that, it was really confusing for people.
09:53Well, now. So because we weren't we have a lot of the same recipes,
09:57but we aren't you know, we're not the same company.
09:59So at that point, we decided, you know, it's time to make the jump.
10:02And we were a little nervous about we just took the Oklahoma part out.
10:06We still get the Joe's Kansas City Barbecue.
10:07But we were a little nervous because we did get a lot of people,
10:10maybe some of the same people that said, why the Oklahoma part?
10:13We can't go. So you switched owners, right?
10:15We're like, nope, everything's the same.
10:17We just dropped the word Oklahoma.
10:18So it was it was a little scary to make that change,
10:23but it didn't slow anything down.
10:26And now a quick break from restaurant
10:28influencers to welcome our newest sponsor to the show.
10:31It's Zach Oates, the founder of Ovation.
10:34Ovation is helping restaurants to improve operations with the human touch.
10:38We are a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants
10:42like Friendly's, Muya, PDQ, Taziki's and even Cali Barbecue
10:46with thousands of others that starts with a two question survey
10:49and drives revenue, location level improvement and guest recovery.
10:53So here's how it works.
10:54The guest answers two questions.
10:56The first one is, how is your experience?
10:58And then from there, happy guests are invited to do things
11:01that are going to drive revenue and unhappy guests share privately what went wrong.
11:05So you and your team can resolve that concern in real time.
11:09Our A.I. will even help you do that.
11:10Then the magic happens. We take all the public reviews.
11:14We take all the Ovation feedback.
11:15We categorize it using our A.I.
11:17and give you detailed feedback in 34 restaurant
11:21specific categories to improve your operations.
11:24So we make sure that guests feel good, that you look good.
11:26And if you're interested in learning more, visit OvationUp.com forward slash Sean,
11:31because any listener of Sean's is a friend of Ovation's.
11:41Can you tell us a little bit about the opening the second restaurant?
11:47When did that happen?
11:49It happened.
11:50We opened our first restaurant in 96 and we opened our second restaurant
11:54in 2014, so almost nine years later.
11:59In the beginning, it was just my husband, myself.
12:01We had a handful of good employees, but great employees.
12:04But he ran the back of the house.
12:06I ran the front of the house. I did all the books.
12:09And we honestly didn't have time.
12:11We were open six days a week.
12:13We took Sundays off.
12:14We gave our employees Sundays off.
12:16We had to do that for our sanity.
12:18And so it wasn't until I think we were five years into it
12:22that we hired our first general manager.
12:24And his name is Steve Corey. He's still with us.
12:27He had a lot of restaurant experience.
12:29And we hired him with the hope that he would help us open
12:33restaurant number two and restaurant number three, possibly,
12:37and which he did.
12:38He came in and he was able to take us to that next level.
12:40I don't know how we would have done it.
12:42We know when we opened our first restaurant, we, you know,
12:45we could count the customers the first, you know, six months, you know, like,
12:49well, we had 10 customers today, you know, or whatever.
12:51And then I remember the first day we had like a really big day.
12:55We were actually had gone to a barbecue kind of in Las Vegas.
12:58And I called the restaurant and one of our managers answered the phone.
13:02He goes, the line was to the sunglasses case in the convenience store,
13:05which is like a huge deal.
13:07That may have been 20 people in line back then.
13:08But to us, we were like, wow, that's great. Yeah.
13:11But so it was slow.
13:13But then, you know, by the time that we got to year five,
13:15we were really doing well.
13:17Our catering business was starting to grow.
13:19The restaurant was really busy.
13:20And so we started.
13:23Thinking about it, which is why we hired Steve,
13:25and then Steve was able to my husband started looking for new locations
13:28and Steve was able to take us from the mom and pop organization
13:32that we'd become to letting go.
13:36So we weren't I mean, basically we were such a tight knit little little group.
13:41And as much as I hated letting that go, we had to do that to be able to grow.
13:45We couldn't stay in that one building.
13:46We had to be able to go out and open other locations.
13:49So he was able to take us to that next level and get the right people in place
13:53to let us move on to the next location and open it
13:56because the little gas station is so tiny
13:59that I don't I think at some point people would have gotten tired
14:02of standing in line if we hadn't opened two and three.
14:06What have you learned about you said you started getting some traction
14:10on the catering side of the business?
14:11What what do you attribute to the growth in the catering side?
14:15Good food and good service.
14:19It's it's so important when the food's going to leave the building.
14:27If. I hate to get I hate to get take out as myself as a person,
14:32I hate to get take out because once it leaves the building, I always say
14:35once it leaves the building, nothing great happens to it, you know, but but we did.
14:40We do a lot of testing.
14:41We have great people that work for us, great smokehouse managers.
14:44And so we know now after years of experience,
14:47but we've been doing it for a long time now,
14:49how we can get the food to the exact right point,
14:53get it to where it's not going to keep cooking too much,
14:56keep it hot, but not keep it cooking so that it doesn't get overcooked.
15:00We have great quality control of our restaurants.
15:02And the food quality is the most important thing.
15:05That's what keeps people from coming back.
15:07And we're now in the shipping business.
15:08After we opened our third restaurant, we started Sinjos, which is our shipping.
15:13We can ship worldwide now.
15:14And so we were able to we spent a lot of time researching that
15:19and getting our techniques right so that we could make sure
15:22that the product we ship is also is also wonderful.
15:26How do you go about choosing your vendors, especially like technology vendors
15:31when we're talking about barbecue, you know, your shipping partners,
15:34the online ordering, things like that?
15:36How do you go? How do you go about that process?
15:40It's it's been a lot of trial and error, pretty much.
15:43I mean, honestly, as far as the partners go, but
15:49we have really good food vendors that are grocery vendors
15:52that we've been with for a long time and loyalty has to has to.
15:59Be in play at some point, because if you're not loyal,
16:01then they're not going to be loyal to you, and so you really need that.
16:05The same thing goes with our smokers.
16:08We now use we ship ourselves also, but
16:12we use Gold Belly.
16:14We have a company called Smart Warehouse in Kansas City, and they actually
16:19they take care of Gold Belly for us.
16:20So we we send so much product to them every week
16:23and then they take care of that shipping.
16:25We also they do our shipping for us, too.
16:28So Smart Warehouse has been a great partner for us.
16:32That's great. Can you talk a little bit about the pits?
16:36It was one of the one of the coolest things was I
16:39I will remember it for the rest of my life.
16:41The fact that, you know, your team let Carolyn and myself and Gene and my wife
16:46go through and see how many pits you guys put in, like a very tight space.
16:52But they're all there.
16:53One of the coolest things was seeing the Sharpie
16:55that you guys actually just use a Sharpie on the old Hickory to
16:58to write down and communicate.
17:00You know, that that's low tech.
17:02It's literally but it's so smart.
17:04Such as it is.
17:06You know, one guy puts them on and he goes on break or he leaves for the day.
17:10Then someone else is there and they know when they get checked next.
17:12So we primarily use old Hickory's and they've been really good to us.
17:18I'm going to say that.
17:19And someone's going to call me when they see this and go, no.
17:22And and believe what we use something else.
17:24But but that's where we got our start.
17:26And I do believe I may I may text you after this conversation and go
17:30or Michelle and say, hey, we also use these.
17:33But to my knowledge, it's pretty much all Hickory's is what we stick with.
17:37And that's a great product.
17:39We have a couple on trailers that we use on off-site events.
17:43And they they've never done this wrong.
17:46It's a good product. And that's what we know.
17:48So once you learn how to do it one way, it's hard to switch back.
17:52If it works for you.
17:53How do you create a legendary sandwich like the Z-Man?
17:58We had a guy in Kansas City that was a sportscaster
18:02on a local station, and his name was Mike Zurich.
18:04And he called himself the Z-Man.
18:08And and so we needed a new sandwich.
18:11And again, my husband is a great cook.
18:14And so he was playing around.
18:16We didn't even have onion rings in the restaurant at the time.
18:18But he was you know, he was like, we should think about onion rings.
18:20That's like a whole new thing.
18:23So he was playing around with this sandwich.
18:25And Mike Zurich was in one day.
18:27And I believe that we ran a contest on his radio station
18:33and it was named the sandwich.
18:35And we got some off the wall names.
18:37But in the end, we said, well, we should name it after him.
18:39He's the Z-Man.
18:41And I mean, it just stuck.
18:43And it is it is a legendary sandwich.
18:45It's our number one seller.
18:47It comes in several forms.
18:49We ship it worldwide now.
18:52It's just and he's done that with well, with every sandwich we've had.
18:55It's pretty much been his creation.
18:57And he doesn't.
19:00We now have a vice president of our company.
19:03His name is Ryan Barrows.
19:04And so Jeff and Ryan work very close together to create new things.
19:07Now, we did last year at some point for just a short time.
19:11I think we're bringing it back.
19:12We did the buffalo chicken Z-Man.
19:14I was actually in California at the time, so I didn't get to taste it.
19:17But I heard great things about it.
19:19We now do a
19:22rocket pig sandwich, which is actually
19:26sausage, pulled pork, bacon
19:30pickle or fried jalapenos.
19:32And it's got this special sauce we put on it.
19:34And I mean, I it's an amazing sandwich, but it's so much going on in a sandwich.
19:39But so he always had to keep it fresh and keep looking for something different
19:43or something new anyway to keep people coming back.
19:46So one of the things we try to encourage restaurateurs is always to think
19:50differently and think of different ways that they can build revenue streams.
19:53We've been very fortunate here in San Diego, Cali Barbecue.
19:56We have barbecue at our local stadium.
19:59So Snapdragon Stadium, where the San Diego Wave play,
20:03which is women's professional soccer.
20:04I understand you guys recently launched in
20:09for the K.C.
20:09Current, the professional women's soccer.
20:11Now you can enjoy your barbecue in the stadium.
20:14Can you talk about the partnership there?
20:17Yes.
20:18We first of all, we're very excited to have K.C.
20:20Current and to have the current in Kansas City.
20:23And it's a beautiful stadium.
20:26I have not been in it myself yet.
20:28When I get back to Kansas City in May, I'm going to go and see it.
20:32Colby and Megan Geralds, who are really good friends of ours,
20:36they own Rye Restaurant Company in Kansas City.
20:39They were asked to be the culinary partners.
20:44And so they came to us and said, you know, a Z-Man,
20:49a Z-Man kiosk would be amazing.
20:52And we said that would be amazing.
20:54So they kind of got us started with that.
20:56And it kind of helped us because that's kind of where we
21:01that is the direction we want our restaurant company to go in the future.
21:04I think that the Z-Man restaurant
21:08and we're just now starting to like, I'm just going to give you a little
21:12something no one else really knows.
21:13But we're just now starting to put it in place.
21:16But the Z-Man restaurant company is kind of where we want to go next.
21:20Basically, just have the Z-Man sandwiches, fries,
21:22maybe another side dish or something.
21:24A lot of drive through, a little bit of dine in.
21:28So it kind of gave us the opportunity to practice with that
21:32in a small and much smaller level inside the stadium.
21:36And the first game came and went.
21:38I understand everything went beautifully and that it was a big hit.
21:42That's amazing. That's super, super exciting.
21:45I can't wait to go and and try a Z-Man at that at that stadium.
21:49I think that's one of the coolest things on a on an execution standpoint
21:53from where you started to where you are and where you're going.
21:58Right. Right. And we had done this before.
22:00When when Kansas Speedway first came to Kansas City,
22:02they came to us and asked us if we would
22:06open a small Joe's inside the speedway.
22:08And we did it for a couple of years.
22:09It's not it's hard for us because when something like NASCAR is in town,
22:15our restaurants are so busy anyway.
22:18So to take employees out of our restaurant or even ourselves and go work it.
22:22It's it's really it's very tough.
22:25And then on top of that, you know, you give so much money back to the
22:28you know, to the organization.
22:29And for us, it really wasn't a moneymaker.
22:32We took a lot of pride in it.
22:34But it was it was and also we were
22:39we had to we were trying to do too many things in a small space,
22:42whereas this I think this is why this is going to be so successful.
22:45We're just doing a couple of things in this tiny space.
22:47And if you offer too much, sometimes too much is not necessarily more.
22:52Yeah. Can you share about the 180 room?
22:56What does 180 mean for those that don't know?
22:58And tell us about.
22:59OK, the one eighty one eighty is a perfect score in competition barbecue.
23:04And that's what we all strive for when we go out there and compete.
23:08So when we were opening, we needed an event space.
23:11People, you know, and it's busy all the time now.
23:13But when we first opened it, we had a lot of people coming in saying,
23:16we'd like to bring out your restaurant,
23:17which we just couldn't do unless it was a Sunday when we're closed.
23:20So we're in the strip shopping center in Olathe, Kansas.
23:24And the, you know, a couple of places went out of business next door to us.
23:28Our barbecue store was right.
23:29We also have a barbecue store.
23:30Our barbecue store was right next to our like the restaurant.
23:32But we moved it across the parking lot to the location.
23:35And then there was an army recruiter station next to it.
23:39So those with those spaces open up.
23:41We had a beautiful space to to create that shares the kitchen
23:45with our restaurant.
23:46So now it seats 100 to 120 people.
23:50It has a divider in the middle so we can do two smaller spaces
23:54or one bigger space, whatever you want to do.
23:56It's we're really blessed because if you don't want to,
24:00if you just want to, you know, go one place instead of dealing with
24:05an event space, then having a caterer come in.
24:07We've got it all there in the restaurant.
24:09And it's been very popular.
24:12Why no one knows what 80 rings means, though, unless they let you.
24:15That's true. Yeah, that's true.
24:18But it's good. You get to educate them.
24:20It is. Can you tell me why is it so important?
24:23I know we have restauranteurs that listen to the show.
24:26But for me being in the barbecue space, in the hospitality space,
24:31giving back is literally it's our lifeblood.
24:34It's the opportunity that we have to give back.
24:37You've created a foundation and you're doing some incredible work
24:40to give back to your community.
24:42Can you share a little bit about that work?
24:44I will. So giving back is so important.
24:47We are so blessed in the Kansas City community.
24:50We are loved by many.
24:53We almost don't even really have to advertise.
24:57So many of our customers do it for us, which is amazing.
25:02So when my husband, myself had the opportunity to start giving back.
25:07Well, I'll start. I'll back up a little bit.
25:09In 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer
25:12and I was I was very lucky it was caught early.
25:16I'm all good.
25:17But in going through the process, I
25:20I watched people in in hospitals
25:25getting chemotherapy, who didn't have daycare for their kids,
25:29you know, getting treatment.
25:30They didn't have a way to get there.
25:32And I learned so much about, you know, I think that.
25:36Maybe this is just my process and maybe not, maybe not everyone else.
25:39But for me, I had not thought about that aspect of it.
25:42I was very lucky. I had health insurance.
25:45You know, I I was able to get myself there.
25:48I had a great support team around me that that took care of me.
25:53But there are so many people that don't.
25:55And so, you know, I was about six months into breast cancer
25:59and a good friend of mine, Jennifer Roberts, came to me and she said,
26:02what if we started a charity event to raise funds for for breast
26:06cancer survivors or research, whatever we want to do?
26:09And so if I didn't say her name, it was Jennifer Roberts.
26:13She's my best friend.
26:14But when when she said that, I thought, I'm not ready for that yet.
26:19But then I was still going through through the process.
26:22And and after thinking about a little more, I thought, you know, I want to.
26:26There's got to be someone out there helping these helping people
26:29that that don't have the things that we're talking about.
26:32They don't have hotel rooms because they don't live close by and daycare
26:35and rides and whatever.
26:36And so there's first of all, there's Susan G.
26:38Komen, which we partnered with for the first couple of years
26:41with that particular with our charity.
26:43And then Susan G.
26:44Komen closed her Kansas City office in 2020 during COVID.
26:48And so I really wanted the money to stay local.
26:51I want to support the people that support us.
26:53And so we we then partnered with KU Medical Center, who has a
27:02process where they I'm going to draw a blank right now.
27:05I'll have to get back with you on that.
27:06But it's a it's a part of their facility.
27:08They also do research, of course, but they also have an entire
27:12organization within their organization that that just does exactly
27:16what we're talking about.
27:17So they're able to prove to us every year, you know, this is where the money went.
27:21And you can see that they're providing meals, they're providing hotels,
27:24our family, you know, they're doing all the things that that insurance
27:28doesn't cover that you just don't think about.
27:30And so when we started doing that, we were several years into it.
27:33And when we had to switch to KU, we really needed to start our own
27:38charitable organization just when we started Joe's KC Cares.
27:42And in doing that, that allowed us to also do other things.
27:45We have a golf tournament in Kansas City in June.
27:50We're doing a couple other events.
27:52We're working on a couple other events.
27:53We're trying to partner with.
27:54I'd love to partner with.
27:56I'm not going to throw this out there yet because this is a set in stone.
27:58But anyway, we we it became so important.
28:02It became so important to us to give back to our community.
28:04You you have to do that.
28:07I know that and we have so many good friends, partners
28:12that step up every year and make both of our charity,
28:15our charitable events amazing and give so much to us.
28:19And so to be able to turn back, I take a lot of my husband.
28:22I would take a lot of pride in that.
28:25Every business is a family business.
28:27What's the secret to sustaining a happy family business
28:31for as long as you have been able to?
28:34Well, I'll tell you, one of the best secrets is to open multiple restaurants
28:37because anyone can be in one restaurant and the other can be in the other one.
28:40The day we discovered that it was much better.
28:43We don't have to be on top of each other.
28:45Yes, exactly.
28:47I tell a lot of people that that first eight or nine years,
28:50there were times, well, in the beginning, especially we only had one card
28:54and we took one paycheck.
28:55We were living by the by the thread in our clothes, basically.
29:00And there were times when if there was an argument, one person walked home
29:02the seven blocks to the house
29:04because you weren't getting in the car with the other one.
29:06So you have to work through it and you grow up a lot.
29:10And if you can work with your spouse in a tiny restaurant,
29:15this is what I'll tell you in a tiny restaurant and and
29:1834 years later, still be together.
29:21I think that says a lot about I think you're going to make it then.
29:25So you guys do a phenomenal job.
29:27We started this show to talk about storytelling.
29:30We obviously were a barbecue business that turned into a media business,
29:33but we believe in social media and telling your story.
29:37We're going to put a link, Joe's Casey.
29:39You guys do a great job on Instagram.
29:40You do a great job on social.
29:42Thank you. One of the coolest things I can only imagine is having
29:46the amount of celebrities that are out there singing your praises,
29:51you know, from Travis Kelsey saying it's his favorite barbecue restaurant
29:54on the most popular podcast in the world.
29:57How do those things make you feel?
29:59I mean, they happen.
30:00They've happened since you since you started.
30:04It's it's it's.
30:06It's amazing.
30:07It's always fantastic to have people come in and sing your praises,
30:11but then celebrities that go online, that's what I meant by
30:14we don't really have to advertise.
30:15We have so many great customers that do us do it for us.
30:19Before I go any further, I do want to say this, Travis and Taylor,
30:22I'll cater the wedding.
30:24I'll cater the rehearsal dinner, whatever you want.
30:26OK, call me, OK?
30:27There it is. Yeah, I heard it here.
30:30Travis. Yes.
30:30Travis and Taylor.
30:32We've got it.
30:33We've got it fully, fully covered right here.
30:35Yes, exactly. I can do it.
30:37But it's it's fantastic to have them come in.
30:39Travis's mom has been in.
30:41She's wonderful.
30:44We've had two players.
30:45Royal play. Royal's favorite players.
30:47I'll never forget one year.
30:49I'm. Oh, gosh, I'm going to forget her name now.
30:52The Fargo, the original movie that was on.
30:58I'll think of her name.
31:00The actress came through and none of my employees recognized her,
31:03and it would seem like I would need her because I can't remember her name
31:05right now, but she said in line.
31:08Her husband's Joel Cohen.
31:10And he sat down and he saved his seat, which I was like,
31:14don't go out and yell at him because we don't like that.
31:15We don't really let that happen.
31:17Well, I don't go out and yell at him, OK?
31:19And so he went through the line and he ordered a ton of food
31:22for just the two of them.
31:22But she asked for a lot of it to go.
31:23They were on a road trip.
31:25They came through Kansas City.
31:26She explained to me at the cash register to stop in at Joe's.
31:29It was like the third time they'd done that on their way to somewhere.
31:32They got a bunch of stuff to put in the cooler
31:34in the trunk of their car to take with them.
31:36That was like and my employees, they kept going, who is that?
31:40And when she finally I didn't want to embarrass her, like, you know,
31:43call her out and let everyone have everyone about bother.
31:45But when she got to the cash register,
31:47I shouldn't tell where the fan I was.
31:48And she was like, oh, she goes, no, I'm a huge fan of yours.
31:52We're huge fan of yours.
31:52So it's always great to hear that
31:56from anyone.
31:57But then when people go on to talk about it,
31:59whatever the platform is that they have, that's even nicer.
32:02How many presidents have you catered for?
32:07At least a half a dozen.
32:08At least a half a dozen.
32:10That is amazing.
32:11Which which one was which one was the most memorable?
32:15Or did none of none of them have actually been in the restaurant.
32:20They've always sent people to get it for them.
32:24I'm not going to throw that out there.
32:26We don't have any political affiliations.
32:27So I'm not going to say that.
32:28OK, all of all of the presidents we take care of.
32:31Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
32:33Love them all. Yes.
32:34Team USA. There we go.
32:35Yes. Team USA loves barbecue.
32:38That's all that matters.
32:39Yes. Is there is there anything that you guys have that
32:44that's coming up that you that you'd like to share with the audience,
32:46anything that's on your mind, something that you've you've been doing?
32:52Well, I would like to say
32:54that we're really close to that seaman concept opening up, but we are not yet.
32:58We're still working out some kinks.
32:59We bought an onion ring factory a year and a half ago to support this.
33:03And so we bought it from the gentleman who was making our onion rings.
33:06And he just did a fantastic job.
33:08But we really needed that onion ring to work for our concept.
33:12And so we're pretty much to the point.
33:14We've got all the kinks worked out.
33:16We've got a couple of different grocery companies that are carrying them.
33:18And we just signed a couple of deals
33:21with a couple other big restaurant tours that are going to start using them.
33:24So getting that worked out, we can start to work on that concept.
33:30My husband, Jeff, always has something new going in his head
33:34that maybe he doesn't sometimes tell me because I I tell him he's got to slow down.
33:37I've got to work out this before we can go on to that.
33:39He kind of has it in his mind that he wants to make ice cream.
33:44There's a we have a building that's empty across from us,
33:48across from shows the gas station.
33:50So if you're out there and you're looking for a great location, call us
33:52because it's open and if we don't do something with it, my husband's
33:55words, he's going to start making ice cream there and selling ice cream.
33:57So I don't know.
33:59I really can't tell you what will come out of his mouth next or his head.
34:03What what do you do for yourself?
34:06One of the most difficult things as restaurant tours is
34:09we are very good at taking care of everybody else.
34:13We take care of our team.
34:14We take care of our village.
34:15We take care of our community.
34:16Very rarely do we go and go, oh, my gosh, I've been working for
34:20for years on it and I haven't done anything for myself.
34:23What do you do for yourself?
34:25Horses. We have a quarter horse business.
34:28My husband, I do, and we've been doing this for twenty two years.
34:32So it kind of came along after our restaurant company.
34:33But it's my passion.
34:36They're quarter horses, if I didn't say that already.
34:39And my discipline is halter.
34:41So I go to horse shows.
34:43We're always lost on the breeding end.
34:44We have a stud that just in his third breeding season this year
34:48has two sets of babies on the ground or two years of babies on the ground.
34:51And we have mares.
34:52And so that's that's my that's my passion outside of
34:57of barbecue in Kansas City and things we're doing in our community.
35:02I go to horse shows and it's my escape.
35:04I love it.
35:07I can't thank you enough.
35:08I we talked about it before the recording started that you said
35:11Jeff usually does all the interviews and you came to do this interview.
35:16And for me, I think it's so important to have voices,
35:19all of the voices in the restaurant business.
35:22And I know that I couldn't do anything that I did if it wasn't for my wife.
35:26And I wish that she would go on more interviews.
35:29And I wish that anybody that's listening knows that
35:31whether it's the husband, the wife, any any all all of the voices
35:35in the restaurant hospitality business, we all matter.
35:37So thank you for for taking the time to do this and give back.
35:42You guys are an incredible institution.
35:44What you've done for the barbecue community, the restaurant community.
35:47I can't wait to come back to Kansas City
35:49to come and see you and Jeff and come and visit to visit the shop.
35:52And if you or anyone from your team ever makes it to San Diego,
35:55please come for some California barbecue.
35:58I know it's not Kansas City barbecue, but we have a lot of love
36:01and we we love what we do and we're we would be grateful to see you out here.
36:05Well, thank you so much.
36:06I'll definitely reach out to you.
36:07We're going to come to San Diego.
36:08But if you're going to be in Kansas City, please call me.
36:11I will. I'll meet you there.
36:12We'll do a tour together.
36:13And I'd love to talk barbecue with you more.
36:16And maybe you can bring Jeff around this time.
36:18That would be awesome.
36:19Well, thank you so much.
36:20It's joy. You can find them.
36:21Joe's KC, you can buy it anywhere in the world.
36:24We'll put a link so you can enjoy some of that barbecue.
36:27Thank you so much for your time, as always.
36:30Thank you to Toast, our primary technology partner, for supporting these stories.
36:34We appreciate it.
36:35And you, the listener, please reach out to me.
36:37It's at Sean P.
36:38Walsheff, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
36:43Stay curious, get involved and don't be afraid to ask for help.
36:47Catch you guys next week.
36:48Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
36:50If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P.
36:54Walsheff, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
36:59Cali Barbecue Media has other shows.
37:02You can check out Digital Hospitality.
37:04We've been doing that show since 2017.
37:07We also just launched a show, Season Two, Family Style on YouTube with Toast.
37:12And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand
37:16and you're looking to launch your own show, Cali Barbecue Media can help you.
37:20Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds with Greg Majewski.
37:25It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality,
37:30into enterprise restaurants and franchise, franchisee relationships.
37:35Take a look at Room for Seconds.
37:37And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us.
37:39Be the show dot media.
37:42We can't wait to work with you.