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Small Biz to Watch: Matchless Cabinet throws ‘BBQ nerds’ onto national spotlight’s grill
Editor’s note: Startland News is showcasing five Kansas City small businesses this week through the newsroom’s first-ever Small Biz to Watch series, presented by Bank of America. The following highlights one of the 2025 honorees, curated by editors from Kansas City’s wide array of hard-working entrepreneurs and business owners.
Selection criteria is based on factors like business leadership, product or service fit, market strategy, expansion and scaling efforts, and likelihood of making news.
Click here to check out more companies featured in the Small Biz to Watch series.
Jason Taylor, Matchless Cabinet; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Business Name: Matchless Cabinet
Founder: Jason Taylor
Founding year: 2021
Current employee count: 6
Headquarters: Overland Park
Business type: Retail/manufacturing
Company description: Direct-to-consumer modular aluminum cabinetry, with a focus on outdoor kitchen and patio spaces.
On moving day, Jason Taylor’s house stood empty except for one TV tuned into “The Price Is Right,” the founder of Matchless Cabinet shared. He wasn’t about to miss his Inferno Grill Cart’s debut as a prize on the popular daytime game show.
“We had movers in our house and I had one TV up on the wall, like, ‘Don’t touch the TV,’” explained Taylor, who launched the direct-to-consumer modular aluminum cabinet company in 2021 while working at Microsoft but is now doing it full time. “I wish it hadn’t been on a day where we were so busy. We didn’t find out until the week before that it was airing.”
Meet the small businesses — and the Kansas Citians who make them thrive: Join Startland News Tuesday, Aug. 19 for a reception recognizing their accomplishments and potential, with support from Bank of America, the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund (NTDF) program, and Spark Coworking Kansas City.
“For me, just the call that they wanted us was pretty exciting,” he added, “because I remember calling and texting friends like, ‘Hey, listen, you’re 10 years old; you’re home sick from school. What’s the highlight of the day?’ I used to love watching ‘The Price is Right.’ I think everyone gets a kick out of it.”
Matchless Cabinet — launched by Taylor when he wanted a grill cart on wheels to hold his Big Green Egg — offers made-in-the-USA cabinets made of durable, powder-coated aluminum that are perfect for outdoor kitchens, garages, workshops, utility rooms, and even interior kitchen and bath areas.
The Price is Right isn’t Taylor’s only opportunity to see Matchless Cabinet in the national spotlight. This month, he noted, one of his products will be featured in an outdoor kitchen setup on HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU” with Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott, who — according to a producer — loved it.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure you say it to everyone,’” he recalled. “She goes, ‘They are very particular and selective.’ She said, ‘This time it was, Why haven’t you brought this to us earlier?’ We’re really flattered. That was awesome.”
While national TV is exciting, that’s not the only momentum that Matchless Cabinets is seeing, he said. The company is selling all across the country, recently expanded to Canada, and is receiving interest from as far away as Europe and Australia.
“We’re selling fun, we’re selling experience, we’re selling family, we’re selling togetherness,” he explained. “People are coming to us wanting our product.”
“From a volume basis, we’ve been able to handle it really well,” he added. “We’ve got a great manufacturing partner, great team. We’ve built this as a technology-first company, which means that we’re really streamlined, really automated, and we can handle a lot more than I think people expect.”
Startland News went deeper into Matchless Cabinet’s origin story and Kansas City roots. Check out the Q&A with Jason Taylor below.
QUESTION: How does your business stand out amid a crowded marketplace?
ANSWER: Matchless is a first and only of its kind in the outdoor kitchen space. Operating entirely online, we offer fully transparent pricing, design tools, and self-service checkouts. Along with that, we offer free design-consult services (virtually) to assist customers.
Q: To what do you credit your business’ success so far?
A: Starting this as an industry outsider allowed us to think about the business in completely different ways. We aren’t constrained by the same legacy and operating models that our competitors carry. Bringing my tech background allowed us to approach problems in ways that I believe we are uniquely equipped to address.
RELATED: Flipping from side-hustle to full-time requires grind, says Matchless Cabinet founder
Beyond that, we have an enormous focus on customer service. Many of our customers are making one, giant purchase with us. Our approach to this is to “create fiercely loyal, happy, one-time customers.”
Q: What role has Kansas City played in shaping your business?
A: We sell across all of North America (including Canada), but our location here, and love for barbecue are foundational to this business. In a roundabout way, we exist today only because of my need to find a better solution for building the outdoor kitchen that I wanted, centered around a kamado grill. I can trace our entire story back to learning KC barbecue when we first came here and nights spent at barbecue competitions with friends, picking up a hobby that is so unique to this city.
When we speak to customers, and tell them our story, that KC root lends credibility. In a recent Reddit thread, I saw the comment to the effect of “the guys over at Matchless are all barbecue nerds and love helping people like me build the perfect space.” With so much of the outdoor grilling/barbecue space coming out of the KC area, it’s great to be seen as a source of authority in that way.
Q: Describe a significant recent turning point for your business or for you as an entrepreneur.
A: For me, the biggest turning point was a call we received late last year from “The Price is Right,” wanting some product for the show. The fact that they called us — that was a little hard to believe at first. I had to independently verify it wasn’t a scam!
Then, the next week, a call from an HGTV producer. We have an upcoming episode in July on a really cool show that involves some well known celebrities.
It was a great moment of affirmation, that our marketing/branding strategy was paying off, and we had established a brand that is now at the top of the list when people are thinking about their outdoor spaces. It shows me that there’s really no limit to how far we can go.
Q: What should Kansas City be watching for next?
A: Clearly, KC has been a great hub of growth in technology for the last decade or longer. I’ve been a part of so much amazing work from my early roles at Ascend Learning, then Stackify, and moving on to time at both Microsoft and Google, where I was able to work with dozens of KC area companies on strategic parts of their businesses.
That will continue to grow only stronger in the economy we are looking at. KC will continue to be a hub of stability, due to our location central to the country, and large pool of talent.
I think you’ll see a lot of our industries such as transportation and manufacturing continue to make investments in AI and technology to advance their businesses and drive cost efficiencies.
Q: Anything else should we know?
A: Our products are entirely manufactured in the United States (Indiana).
The Small Biz to Watch series is presented by Bank of America. Additional support has been provided by the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund (NTDF) program and Spark Coworking Kansas City.
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