Crown prime location: How two KC foodies are creating Museum of BBQ in one of the world’s barbecue capitals

A new museum — showcasing Kansas City as a barbecue capital of the world, as well as how meat takes on its famous flavors — is set to open in spring 2025 the Crown Center Shops, led by two veterans of the local food scene, and complete with barbecue baked beans ball pit.

The aptly named Museum of BBQ is expected to offer a taste of “everything barbecue,” playing off the rich legacy of a hometown sauced with more than 90 barbecue restaurants, said Jonathan Bender, a cookbook author and food editor who teamed with Local Pig chef restaurateur Alex Pope on the venture.

A rendering of the planned Museum of BBQ in Crown Center; courtesy image

The former Function Junction at the Crown Center Shops

The duo is taking over a 4,223-square-foot space at 2450 Grand Blvd., Suite 231, in the Crown Center Shops that previously housed Kansas City retailer Function Junction, which closed the location this summer.

“We saw this as a natural fit, for kids and adults to experience it together,” Bender said. “Pairing Kansas City’s iconic food with an iconic space.”

Museum of BBQ is expected to have rooms dedicated to the elements of barbecue, and the most famous barbecue regions — along with a gift shop featuring rubs and sauces from those regions, and barbecue-themed goods such apparel, aprons and hats.

Jonathan Bender; photo courtesy of Brad Austin

Museumgoers will learn the elements of barbecue — cuts of meat, different rubs and spices, the various woods, fire, smoke, and sauces — “how meat becomes barbecue.”

“Teaching people how barbecue gets its flavors, all of the things that go into making it delicious,” Bender said.

Another exhibit will take them through the main American barbecue regions: Kansas City, the Carolinas, Memphis and Texas. It also will have a ball pit — an oversized crock of “barbecued beans.”

The museum will feature timed tickets that can be purchased online or on-site. (Pricing has not yet been announced.)

Leading up to the opening, the founders are offering a “sneak peek,”  a miniature vignette of the museum set up near the second floor Crown Center space.

Bender has been writing about Kansas City barbecue for 15 years and has been a certified judge at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue. He created “Burnt Legend,” a 30-minute documentary on Kansas City’s signature burnt ends; won a Mid-America Emmy for “Call of The Sandlot,” for Kansas City PBS; and was media outlet’s food editor. He also is the author of three books: “LEGO: A Love Story”; “Stock, Broth & Bowl”; and “Cookies & Beer.”

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He left PBS in 2018 to work on plans for the museum. But the pandemic pushed back the opening.

Pope is chef and owner of Local Pig, a whole animal butcher shop, and Pigwich restaurant in the City Market. A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, he was nominated as one of the best new chefs in the Midwest by Food & Wine magazine in 2011.

The founders are funding the museum through private and corporate sponsorships.

They said the museum is ideally located in Kansas City, citing the number of barbecue restaurants in the metro, and its famed fall event, the American Royal World Series of Barbecue, which features about 500 barbecue teams, and attracts about 40,000 attendees. It also hosts the Barbecue Hall of Fame.

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They wanted to join the other family-friendly attractions in the Crown Center Complex, including LEGOLAND Discovery Center, Sea Life Kansas City aquarium, The Coterie Theatre, Hallmark Visitors Center and Kaleidoscope, as well as other nearby attractions.

“As Kansas Citians, we are fortunate to enjoy a great variety of barbecue restaurants and events,” Stacey Paine, president of Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation, said in a statement, “And we believe the broad appeal of barbecue will make this unique museum a destination for local and national visitors alike.”

Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follower on X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.

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