McGonigle's Market

McGonigle’s Market was a beloved, family-run Kansas City meat market and grocery at 79th Street and Ward Parkway, founded in 1951 by WWII bomber pilot William “Bill” McGonigle and run for its final decades by his son Mike McGonigle. Famed for premium custom-cut meats (the family meat trade traces to the 1882 Burnett Meat Co., birthplace of the Kansas City Strip), holiday turkeys, and a smoker-and-trailer barbecue operation in the parking lot, it was sold to Iowa-based Fareway Stores in February 2020 and folded into the Fareway Meat Market brand. This page honors it as a KC institution that closed on its own terms after nearly 70 years — a legacy handed forward, not a failure.

Description

McGonigle’s Market was a small, single-store operation in the Ward Parkway neighborhood on the Missouri side of Kansas City, providing high-quality meats and perishables from a roughly 5,000-square-foot store at 1307 W 79th St.¹² It was best known as a full-service butcher shop — with seven full-time meat cutters at its peak — carrying custom cuts, house-made sausages, and premium beef, and was widely regarded as one of the best places in the metro to get a Thanksgiving turkey.¹³ The store shipped its steaks across the country, leaning on a family meat heritage that traced back to the Burnett Meat Co., which the family connects to the 1882 origin of the strip steak known as the Kansas City Strip.¹ General manager Chris Doering summed up the store’s focused ethos: “We don’t have everything to get you through life, but we have everything you need for dinner.”¹

More than a decade before the sale, the family added an outdoor barbecue operation — a smoker and permanently parked food trailer in the parking lot at 79th and Ward Parkway — branded as McGonigle’s BBQ Kitchen & Catering, serving smoked and grilled fare alongside the meat counter.³²

Ownership and history

The store was founded in 1951 by William “Bill” McGonigle, a World War II bomber pilot who was working as a food salesman when he bought the existing neighborhood grocery (Martin’s Grocery) rather than let it relocate to the new suburb of Leawood, Kansas.¹ Through the 1960s, as larger supermarkets pressured neighborhood grocers, Bill differentiated the store by specializing in the highest-quality meats and perishables — the strategy that defined McGonigle’s for the rest of its run.¹

Mike McGonigle, the youngest of Bill and Joan McGonigle’s nine children, managed the store from the mid-1980s onward, with his sister Joanie McGonigle Weber as business partner handling accounting.¹ The business remained family-owned as McGonigle’s Food Store Inc. until Mike sold it to Fareway Stores Inc. in a deal announced February 4, 2020.⁴⁵ At the sale, Mike McGonigle said Fareway’s “core values align well with my commitment to quality, integrity and personal service,” and reflected: “I am proud of the business that I built. I am proud of the employees I have supported and who have supported me.”⁴⁵ Some coverage of the barbecue operation described Mike as a third-generation meat man, reflecting the family’s deeper meat-trade lineage, while Mike himself framed the store as spanning two generations of family ownership.

After a brief closure to integrate Fareway’s meat operations, the store reopened as “Fareway Meat Market and McGonigle’s Kitchen + Catering BBQ,” with longtime McGonigle’s employee Randy Ross heading kitchen and catering.⁵⁴ As of 2023, KCUR reported that Fareway “took over McGonigle’s meat counter and continued the BBQ side of the business.”³ In 2026, Fareway (an Iowa-based chain of 140-plus stores) began building a new 10,500-square-foot store immediately south of the original at Ward Parkway and 79th, with the original building to be demolished afterward; CEO Reynolds Cramer said the new store honors “the legacy of McGonigle’s Market that has meant so much to this community.”²

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-24 · Source: fareway.com store #202 catering/BBQ pages (successor operation, still branded “McGonigle’s BBQ”; site blocks live crawlers — captured via 2026-04-18 archived copy of the official page)⁶; local press for the original-era counter program¹³ · URL(s): https://www.fareway.com/meatmarkets/202/catering/menu/bbq-to-go · Confidence: Medium (successor BBQ menu is a full official capture; the original McGonigle’s-era itemized menu was never published online and is unrecoverable)

Original-era counter and market program (1951–2020, historical)

McGonigle’s built its reputation on the meat counter — no published price list survives:

• Premium custom-cut meats (seven full-time meat cutters at peak)¹
• Kansas City Strip steaks, shipped mail-order nationwide (Burnett Meat Co. 1882 lineage)¹
• House-made sausages¹
• Holiday turkeys — widely considered among the metro’s best Thanksgiving sources¹³
• Rotisserie chicken³
• Weekend smoker-and-trailer barbecue: ribs, brisket, burnt ends, Italian sausage rolls, sandwiches, sides (McGonigle’s BBQ Kitchen & Catering)³²

Continuation menu — “McGonigle’s BBQ” under Fareway Meat Market (current, same corner)

Fareway’s official store page still markets the trailer as McGonigle’s BBQ, “a local Kansas City BBQ tradition… since 1951.” BBQ trailer open seasonally ~April 1–October 31, Mon–Sat 11am–6:30pm; sweet or spicy sauce on all sandwiches and meats.⁶

Sandwiches:

• Ribeye Philly Cheesesteak — $12.00⁶
• Burnt Ends Sandwich — $12.00⁶
• Brisket Sandwich — $11.00⁶
• Saucy Southerner — $10.00⁶
• Italian Sausage Sandwich — $8.00⁶
• Pulled Pork Sandwich — $8.00⁶
• Burger with Cheese — $7.99⁶

Off the smoker:

• Baby Back Ribs — full rack $25.00 / half rack $13.00⁶
• Italian Sausage Roll — full $12.00 / half $5.99⁶
• Smoked Half Chicken — $6.99⁶

Sides:

• Famous BBQ Baked Beans — half pint $5.00 / pint $10.00⁶
• Cheesy Corn — half pint $5.00 / pint $10.00⁶
• Onion Strings — $4.99⁶
• French Fries — $4.99⁶

Full-service and carry-out BBQ catering (plus American and Italian menus: appetizer buffet, barbecue buffet, box lunches, party packs, a la carte) continues from the same store.⁶

Links

• Successor operation: Fareway Meat Market (Kansas City), 79th & Ward Parkway — https://www.fareway.com/ (parent chain; not a McGonigle’s-branded site)

Sources

Footnotes

1. Produce Business — “McGonigle’s Market” profile. https://producebusiness.com/mcgonigles-market/ — asserts: founded 1951 by WWII bomber pilot William “Bill” McGonigle, who bought Martin’s Grocery rather than let it move to Leawood; specialized in premium meats from the 1960s; run since the mid-1980s by Mike McGonigle (youngest of Bill and Joan’s nine children) with sister Joanie McGonigle Weber as accounting partner; seven full-time meat cutters; ~5,000 sq ft store at 1307 W 79th St; Burnett Meat Co. 1882 Kansas City Strip lineage; ships steaks nationally; GM Chris Doering quote. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. Martin City Telegraph — “Fareway Market, once known as McGonigle’s, begins expansion.” https://martincitytelegraph.com/fareway-market-once-known-as-mcgonigles-begins-expansion/ — asserts: McGonigle’s grocery established 1951 at 79th & Ward Parkway; address 1307 W 79th St; sold to Fareway (Iowa-based, 143 stores/7 states) by the McGonigle family in 2020; new 10,500 sq ft store built south of the original 5,000 sq ft store, opening 2026, original then demolished; barbecue (formerly McGonigle’s BBQ Kitchen & Catering) continues under Fareway with ribs, chicken, sandwiches, sides; CEO Reynolds Cramer legacy quote. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. KCUR — “Kansas City’s Cowtown legacy lives on in these great butcher shops and meat markets” (Sept 16, 2023). https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2023-09-16/kansas-city-butcher-shops-bbq-barbecue-meat-market-cowtown — asserts: McGonigle’s was a long-running Ward Parkway butcher shop, well-known for Thanksgiving turkeys; sold in 2020 to Fareway Meat Market, which took over the meat counter and continued the BBQ side; barbecue favorites include ribs, brisket, and Italian sausage rolls. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. Supermarket News — “Fareway Enters Kansas City With McGonigle’s Purchase.” https://www.supermarketnews.com/foodservice-retail/fareway-enters-kansas-city-with-mcgonigle-s-purchase — asserts: purchase date February 4, 2020; seller Mike McGonigle, owner of McGonigle’s Food Store Inc.; location 79th & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO; reopened continuing prepared foods as McGonigle’s Kitchen + Catering BBQ; Mike references two generations of ownership; Randy Ross to head kitchen/catering; Fareway president Reynolds W. Cramer quote. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. The Pitch KC — “What is happening with McGonigle’s Market?” https://www.thepitchkc.com/what-is-happening-with-mcgonigles-market/ — asserts: purchase by Fareway Stores announced February 4, 2020; store at 79th & Ward Parkway; brief closure to integrate meat operations; reopened as “Fareway Meat Market and McGonigle’s Kitchen + Catering BBQ”; longtime employee Randy Ross took over kitchen/catering; Mike McGonigle’s “proud of the business I built” statement. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Fareway — Store #202 “BBQ To Go” catering page, 1307 W 79th Street, Kansas City, MO 64114 (official successor-operation site; fareway.com returns 403 to automated crawlers, so content captured from the Internet Archive’s 2026-04-18 snapshot of the page: https://web.archive.org/web/20260418104727/https://www.fareway.com/meatmarkets/202/catering/menu/bbq-to-go). Accessed 2026-07-24. — Confirms: “McGonigle’s BBQ is a local Kansas City BBQ tradition” and “since 1951” branding retained under Fareway; seasonal trailer ~Apr 1–Oct 31, Mon–Sat 11am–6:30pm; full itemized BBQ To Go menu and prices as listed above; full-service/carry-out catering with American and Italian options; serving KCMO/KCK and surrounding suburbs. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷