Zarda Celebrates 50 Years Serving Up KC’s Best Barbecue!

The Hickory-Smoked Beginning

What is now Zarda Bar-B-Q is here today thanks to a family of entrepreneurs, starting with patriarch Norbert Zarda, who built a collection of Zarda Drive-Ins throughout the Kansas City metro, along with several carwashes. Norbert’s three sons, Jerry, Mike, and Steve Zarda, spent a fair amount of their time while growing up working at these businesses, and along the way, picked up their father’s enthusiastic entrepreneurial spirit.

Jerry and Mike Zarda went to work in real estate development in the hills of the Ozarks before returning to Kansas City in 1976, where they opened the first Zarda Bar-B-Q in Blue Springs, Missouri. Their talent for smoking meat came from years of watching their father stoking the coals of his homemade block-pit. Learning from their experience watching their father, and combining their knowledge of the qualities of Ozark hickory, the brothers soon perfected their hickory smoked bar-b-q process. It wasn’t too long after that that Kansas City fell in love with the Zarda brothers’ delicious ribs, burnt ends, and sliced meats. A few years later, in 1979, the brothers expanded outside of Blue Springs, opening a second location in Lenexa, Kansas.

Top left: Suzanne Zarda, Terry Hyer, Mike Ronchetto. Bottom left: Mike Zarda, Steve Zarda.

Zarda Limited Reserve Favorites

Ribs, brisket, and burnt ends have been the mainstays of every BBQ joint in Kansas City – including Zarda’s delicious hickory-smoked options. What you can’t find at other BBQ joints is Zarda’s mouthwatering Limited Reserve menu! Zarda came up with the Ltd. Reserve lineup as what was intended to be temporary menu items that were back-of-house family favorites that Zarda would roll out to the public from time to time.

One thing led to another, and the Ltd. Reserve sandwiches kept coming – not a one of the sandwiches retired along the way as each had its own passionate group of customers who ordered them again and again. The Ltd. Reserve lineup includes crowd-favorite sandwiches like the Hog Wild – piled high with tender ham, the juiciest pulled pork, melted provolone cheese, and two crispy strips of bacon on a Roma bun. You’ll also find Zarda’s iconic Limited Reserve Burnt End Beans, a staple of the KC barbecue scene – delicious baked beans chock-full of smoky, succulent burnt ends.

And you can’t forget about Zarda’s limited-time sandwiches that are only here for the MLB and NFL seasons. Each year, Zarda partners with a player from the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City through the sale of the KC Takeaway and the KC Royale with Cheese. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these sandwiches is donated directly to BBBS-KC to continue their mentorship programs for Kansas City youths.

Giving Back to Kansas City

In addition to Zarda’s work with BBBS-KC, Zarda partners with numerous other local organizations, which, combined, offer a huge variety of support, services, and resources to strengthen the Kansas City community. Some of these partners include the American Royal, one of the nation’s leading organizations in providing food and agricultural education and engagement, and the Bishop Sullivan Center, a Kansas City organization that provides food and living aid, along with job resources to local families struggling through financial hardships.

In addition to the long-standing partnerships Zarda has with those specific not-for-profits, several years ago, Zarda launched its Hickory Smoked Good Deeds program to help raise funds for an even broader range of great causes and worthwhile groups around the city. For the Hickory Smoked Good Deeds program, Zarda works with individual groups to select a designated date where 10% of all sales made from 5-8 pm on that day are donated to the host organization. And the best news – most any organization can apply to be part of the program!

Say “I Do” With Zarda!

Over the years, the Zarda family has mastered the art of barbecue catering for weddings – and Kansas City couples are all in! (Which kind of makes sense – the Zarda family celebrating the beginning of hundreds of other families!) 2026 marks Zarda’s fourth consecutive year winning Best Wedding Caterer from The Knot magazine. The Zarda catering team brings the hickory-smoked flavor to the couple’s special feast, offering a wide variety of full-service catering options. Zarda wedding catering includes choices from the full menu of classic hickory-smoked meats, along with an impressive selection of delicious BBQ sides, Zarda sauces, and even a Limited Reserve Burnt Ends carving station.

Zarda makes planning your wedding catering simple, guiding you through every step and customizing the perfect menu to suit your reception celebration preferences – and stay within your catering budget. Every detail is handled to perfection, from designing a buffet layout suited to your venue to providing all the serving utensils, staff to monitor and restock food stations, to coordinating a quick and thorough clean-up at the end of the evening.

Whether your event is a one-of-a-kind wedding, a family reunion, a holiday get-together, or a business affair, the Zarda catering team is ready to roll out our fleet of red catering vans to most any events in need of Kansas City’s best barbecue! For a party or events serving 10 to 10,000, Zarda has your catering covered! Click here to view Zarda’s catering menu.