Hayward's Pit Bar-B-Que

Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que is Johnson County’s oldest family-owned BBQ restaurant — founded in 1972 by Hayward Spears Sr. and now run by Eric Sweeney, who grew up in Overland Park and first stoked Hayward’s fires at age 13. 100% hickory-smoked burnt ends, brisket, and St. Louis ribs at 10901 W. 75th St. in Shawnee.

Description

Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que has been firing hickory logs in Johnson County longer than any other family-owned BBQ restaurant in the area. Hayward Spears Sr. came to Kansas City from Hope, Arkansas in 1972 with the American Dream and opened the county’s first BBQ restaurant — a room no bigger than a living room at 95th and Antioch. The restaurant moved corners, expanded, and eventually landed at 10901 W. 75th St. in Shawnee. When Hayward Spears Sr. died in October 2022 at the age of 88, the pit had already been in new hands for nearly a decade. Eric Sweeney grew up in Overland Park and stoked Hayward’s fires for the first time at age 13 — his first job. He spent years in classic Kansas City kitchens (Houston’s, Plaza III, Joe’s Kansas City when it was still Oklahoma Joe’s) before purchasing Hayward’s in 2013, determined to return it to its heyday. His wife, son, and daughter-in-law all work in the business. The menu runs the Kansas City BBQ canon: burnt ends, brisket, St. Louis–style ribs, sausage, half chicken, pit-smoked wings. Every ounce of smoke comes from 100% hickory logs.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-25 · Source: Hayward’s online ordering (SpotOn)¹ · menu_status: verified · Confidence: High (full priced menu captured from the restaurant’s own SpotOn ordering platform).

Platters

• Burnt End Platter — classic platter of beef burnt ends ($32.00)¹
• Burnt Ends & Wing Platter — over a quarter pound of burnt ends with five wings ($30.00)¹
• Ends & Ends Platter — smoked-and-fried pork-belly burnt ends with beef burnt ends and two sides ($30.00)¹
• Rib & Burnt Ends Platter — most popular platter pairing ribs and burnt ends ($33.00)¹
• Full Slab Platter — $44.00 · Half Slab Platter — $26.00¹
• Half Chicken Platter — $16.00¹
• Sausage Platter — house-recipe smoked sausage (same recipe since 1972) with sides ($19.00)¹
• Variety Platter for 1 — a pound of up to three meats with two sides ($32.00)¹
• Variety Platter for 2 — about 1½ lb meat with two sides ($44.00)¹
• Wings & Fries — $20.00¹
• Family Platter — 4 lb meat and three pint sides ($160.00)¹
• 1/2 Chicken Platter (daily special) — $14.99¹

Specialty Sandwiches

• The Royal — most popular sandwich: burnt ends, brisket, or both with melted cheese and an onion ring ($22.00)¹
• Burnt End Cheddar Melt ($21.00)¹
• DJ’s Mushroom & Swiss — smoked brisket with mushroom and Swiss ($21.00)¹
• Haywards Special — open-faced original style ($20.00)¹
• The BIG Piggy — $18.00¹
• Turkey Royal — $18.00¹
• Hash Sandwich — chopped brisket, burnt ends, and pork rib bits, sauced, on a sesame hoagie ($16.00)¹
• Sweeney’s Southern Pulled Pork Sandwich — pulled pork with coleslaw and an onion ring on the sandwich ($15.00)¹
• Regular Sandwich — on a round toasted bun ($16.00)¹
• Large Sandwich — on a toasted sesame seed hoagie, cut in half ($20.00)¹

Ribs & Chicken (à la carte)

• St. Louis Ribs — Full Slab — $33.00 · Half Slab — $20.00¹
• Whole Chicken — $18.00 · Half Chicken — $14.00¹
• Build-Your-Own BBQ Bowl — pick base, meat, toppings, and sauce ($18.00)¹

Meat / Wings by the count

• 25 Wings — $37.50 · 50 Wings — $69.99¹

Appetizers

• Smoked & Fried Wings — jumbo flats and drums marinated overnight in Helga sweet heat, smoked, then fried ($17.99)¹
• Loaded Totchos — tater tots with melted cheddar, pulled pork, and jalapeños; optional burnt ends add-on ($16.00)¹
• Portobello Shrooms — breaded fried portobello tops with creamy horseradish ($16.00)¹
• Buffalo Bites — smoked-and-fried pork-belly burnt ends tossed in buffalo sauce with bleu cheese crumbles ($15.00)¹
• Burnt End Mac n Cheese — $14.00¹
• Masa Battered Pickle Fries — masa-battered pickle spears with buttermilk ranch ($14.00)¹
• Corn Nuggets — $12.00¹
• Fresh Fried Okra — hand-breaded and fried ($11.00)¹
• World Famous Onion Rings — thick-cut, egg-battered, rolled in crushed cracker crumbs ($11.00)¹

Salads

• Pit Master Salad — $13.00¹
• Haywards House Salad — $10.00 · Caesar Dinner Salad — $10.00¹

Side Dishes

• Mac And Cheese — $7.00 · Cheesy Corn Bake — $5.00 · Beans — $6.00¹
• Coleslaw — $4.00 · Sweet And Sour Slaw — $4.00 · Potato Salad — $5.00¹
• Fries — $5.00 · Sweet Fries — $7.00 · Tater Tots — $5.00 · Fries/Rings — $6.00¹
• Onion Rings — $8.00 · Mushroom — $8.00 · Okra — $6.00 · Fried Pickles — $7.00 · Spicy Corn Nuggets — $7.00¹
• 1 Rib — $3.00 · 2 Ribs — $6.00 · 3 Chicken Wings — $7.00¹

Kids Menu (each $8.99)

• Reilly’s Jr Ribs · Scoops Grilled Cheese · Sween’s Jr Sammy · Kids Mac N Cheese¹

Desserts

• Carrot Cake — $8.00 · Chocolate Cake — $7.00 · Banana Cream Pie — $6.00 · Key Lime Pie — $6.00¹

Sauce, Family Sides & To-Go

• Bottle of Sauce — $5.49 · Helga Jar — $4.99 (2 for $8.99, 3 for $12.99)¹
• Half-Pan Fries — $34.99 · Onion Rings — $44.99 · Okra — $49.99 · Salad — $19.99¹
• Full-Pan Fries — $59.99 · Onion Rings — $79.99 · Okra — $89.99 · Salad — $34.99¹
• Loaf of Toast — $5.99 · Pack of Buns — $5.99¹
• To-go extras: Add Cheese $0.69, Extra Bun $0.49, Xtra Sauce/Bread/Onion/Pickles/Ranch/Jalapenos/Horseradish $0.25¹

Note: burnt ends, brisket, and St. Louis ribs (the hickory-smoked signatures cited in press) anchor the platters and à-la-carte above; every ounce from 100% hickory logs.²

Sources

Links

• Website: https://haywardspitbarbque.com

Footnotes

1. Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que — official online ordering (SpotOn) — Confirms: full priced menu (platters, specialty sandwiches, ribs & chicken, appetizers, salads, sides, kids, desserts, family-size to-go) with per-item prices. First-party SpotOn ordering platform (reached from the “Order Online” link on haywardspitbarbque.com); rendered via Firecrawl. (Accessed 2026-07-25.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹ ↩⁵⁰

2. Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que — haywardspitbarbque.com — confirms address (10901 W. 75th St., Shawnee KS 66214), phone ((913) 451-8080), hours (Mon 11–7, Tue–Thu 11–8, Fri–Sat 11–8:30, Sun 12–7), 100% hickory log fuel, founded 1972, “Johnson County’s Oldest Family Owned BBQ Restaurant,” menu categories (burnt ends, brisket, ribs, sausage, half chicken, wings, fried portabella, sides). (Accessed 2026-06-29.) ↩