Jones Bar-B-Q

Jones Bar-B-Q is a Kansas City, Kansas institution — a Black-owned BBQ restaurant that has operated on Kaw Drive since the 1970s, founded by Leavy B. Jones Sr. and carried forward by his daughters Deborah Jones and Mary Jones. The sisters became nationally known after appearing in Netflix’s Queer Eye Season 3 (2018). The business was listed for sale in 2022; current ownership status is but the restaurant confirmed operating as of February 2026 per Yelp.

** — Outreach target (dead-domain hook):** the official jonesbbqkc.com domain is expired (menu sourced from a directory listing on 2026-07-13). An expired/grabbable domain is both a hijack risk and a strong outreach hook — offer a maintained ks.city page. Add to the outreach program: Dead-Domain-Audit-And-Outreach-Hook.

Description

Jones Bar-B-Q is one of Kansas City, Kansas’s oldest surviving BBQ joints — a Black-owned restaurant on Kaw Drive operating since the early 1970s, when Leavy B. Jones Sr. started the business. His daughters Deborah (“Little”) and Mary (“Shorty”) Jones inherited and operated the restaurant after his death, keeping the family’s Kansas City-style BBQ alive for more than 50 years. The sisters achieved national recognition when they appeared in Netflix’s Queer Eye Season 3 in 2018, which brought a wave of attention to their decades-long BBQ operation and to the KCK BBQ tradition more broadly. In July 2022, Deborah and Mary announced their retirement and listed the business for sale at $600,000 (reduced to $300,000 by October 2022); as of the research date, no confirmed buyer has been publicly announced. The restaurant continues to operate — Yelp shows reviews through February 2026 and current hours posted — though the expired website and uncertain sale status make the current ownership picture incomplete. The Jones Bar-B-Q Sauce brand was explicitly retained by the sisters regardless of any building sale.

Tier classification

Tier 1 provisional — KCK daughters of KCK pitmaster, raised in the business. Deborah and Mary Jones are the daughters of Leavy B. Jones Sr., who started Jones Bar-B-Q in KCK in the early 1970s. Growing up in a KCK family with a BBQ restaurant strongly indicates they were born or raised in the Kansas City metro area — the prototypical Tier 1 profile (KC-metro raised, built their life and business there). “ — no press source explicitly confirms Deborah or Mary Jones’s birthplace; the Queer Eye connection (Season 3) and KCUR/KSHB coverage likely contain relevant background but would need direct review. Tier 1 provisional pending confirmation. Note also: if the restaurant was sold to a new operator, the tier of the current operator.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-13 · Source: goto-where.com directory menu listing (official jonesbbqkc.com expired) · URL(s): https://jones-bar-b-q.goto-where.com/ · Confidence: Medium (full priced menu via directory listing; official site lapsed, and the aggregator carries some duplicate/variant price entries)

Kansas City-style pit barbecue sold by the plate, slab, and pound, plus the sisters’ bottled Jones Sweet & Tangy sauce.¹

Platters

• Jones Platter — slab, beef, turkey, ham, rib tips, and sausage, with bread ($85.00)¹
• Sample Platter — rib bones, beef, turkey, ham, and sausage, with bread ($40.00)¹
• Pound Of Meat — beef, ham, turkey, pork, or burnt ends ($24.25)¹

Ribs & House Specialties

• Slab Of Ribs — full slab $28.00; short end, 7-8 bones $15.00; long end, 5-6 bones $14.00¹
• Rib Tips With One Side — $11.25¹
• Rib Tips And A Half With One Side — $14.25¹
• Sausage Link — $11.00¹
• Sausage Link And A Half — $13.35¹
• Burnt End Special — $8.75¹

Sandwiches

• Big Sandwich — choice of one meat (turkey, beef, ham, or pork) piled high on bread ($9.00)¹
• Combo Sandwich — choice of two meats (turkey, beef, ham, or pork) piled high on bread ($9.50)¹

Specials

• Weekly Special — turkey, ham, beef, or pork with one side, on bun or bread ($7.75)¹
• Lunch Special With One Side — $7.30¹

By the Pound

• Sliced Meat — pound $17.00, half pound $8.50¹

Sides

• Jones Baked Beans — $2.00¹
• Cole Slaw Salad — $2.00¹
• Potato Salad — $2.00¹
• French Fries — $2.00¹
• Sausage (side) — $6.10¹
• Rib Tips (side) — $6.25¹
• Bread Per Slice — $0.15¹

Sauce

• Jones Sweet & Tangy BBQ Sauce — by the serving ($0.25)¹
• Jones Bar-B-Q Sauce — bottled retail sauce; brand retained by the sisters per the 2022 sale announcement² ($5.00)¹

Cakes (per slice)

• Cakes — carrot, coconut, chocolate, or German chocolate ($4.00 each)¹

Drinks

• Sodas & Water — Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Strawberry, or bottled water ($1.00 each)¹

Sources

Footnotes

1. Jones Bar-B-Q — menu via goto-where.com directory listing (official jonesbbqkc.com expired), https://jones-bar-b-q.goto-where.com/ (accessed 2026-07-13). ↩ ↩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

2. Yelp — “Jones Bar-B-Q” — https://www.yelp.com/biz/jones-bar-b-q-kansas-city — active June 2026; current hours (Tue–Thu 10:30am–3pm, Mon and Sun closed); reviews through February 2026 (burnt ends, baked beans confirmed); “Try Our New Menu” description. KSHB — “Owners of Kansas City, Kansas Jones Bar-B-Q to retire after over 40 years of ownership” (July 2022) — https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/owners-of-kansas-city-kansas-jones-bar-b-q-to-retire-after-over-40-years-of-ownership — confirms sisters Deborah and Mary Jones retirement announcement; sale at $600K; sauce brand retained. KC Business Journal — “Jones Bar-B-Q slashes sales price” (October 2022) — https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2022/10/06/jones-bar-b-q-slashes-sales-price.html — sale price reduced to $300K; no buyer announced. (Accessed 2026-06-29.) ↩