Slap's BBQ

Award-winning, brothers-owned Kansas City, Kansas barbecue restaurant founded by Mike and Joe Pearce, grown out of their competition team Squeal Like a Pig and opened on Central Avenue in 2014.

Description

Slap’s BBQ is a barbecue restaurant on Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. It was founded by brothers Mike and Joe Pearce and grew out of their competition barbecue team, “Squeal Like a Pig” — the source of the restaurant’s name (an acronym, S.L.A.P.). The restaurant is known for a competition-style approach to barbecue and has a reputation for selling out of meat on busy days, a function of cooking in limited daily quantities.

Menu staples include brisket, pork ribs, burnt ends, and pork-belly burnt ends, with the kitchen carrying its competition methods over to the daily service. The restaurant competes on the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) circuit, reportedly entering on the order of 25–35 contests per year, which is unusual for an operating brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Ownership and history

Slap’s BBQ is owner-operated by brothers Mike and Joe Pearce. The two first built a reputation on the competition circuit with their team Squeal Like a Pig, founded in 2013, which appeared on the television program BBQ Pitmasters (reported as a second-place finish in the show’s fifth season). They translated that competition success into a restaurant, opening Slap’s BBQ on Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, in June 2014. The business operates under a parent entity tied to the Squeal Like a Pig name.

Since opening, the restaurant has earned national and regional attention — including Food Network coverage — and is frequently ranked among the top barbecue restaurants in the Kansas City metro. Reporting from The Pitch has covered the restaurant expanding its space and adding dinner service over time.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-02 Source: Official website + active Toasttab Source URL(s): https://slapsbbqkc.com/menu/, https://www.toasttab.com/slaps-bbq/v3/ Confidence: High

Award-winning KC BBQ with strong competition roots. Famous for ribs and burnt ends (often sells out early). Daily specials (e.g., Taco Tuesday with burnt end street tacos).

Highlights

• Burnt ends (highly popular)
• Ribs (famous, often sells out)
• Brisket, pulled pork, jalapeño cheddar sausage, Texas sausage
• Combo plates (Cattleman’s, Three Little Pigs, etc.)
• Strong sides (cheesy corn, baked potato casserole, pit beans)

Full details and current specials in 99_Archive/2026-06-02_slaps-bbq-menu/capture.md. Earned tags added for burnt-ends, ribs.

Tier classification

Tier 1. Slap’s is owner-operated by its two founders, the Pearce brothers, and is a homegrown Kansas City, Kansas operation that grew directly out of the local/regional competition-barbecue scene — the heart of KC’s defining food culture. While it does not yet have a 20+ year tenure (founded 2014), the combination of direct founder ownership, deep roots in the KC barbecue tradition, and clear local-rootedness makes the Tier 1 case strong. (Born-and-raised status of the Pearce brothers is not yet verified; the founder-operated + KC-barbecue-rooted case carries the Tier 1 determination regardless.)

Sources

1. Slap’s BBQ — official “About Us” — https://slapsbbqkc.com/about-us/ — accessed 2026-05-30
2. The Pitch — “Slap’s BBQ adding dinner service, expanding restaurant” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/slaps-bbq-adding-dinner-service-expanding-restaurant/ — accessed 2026-05-30
3. Yelp — Slap’s BBQ, 553 Central Ave — https://www.yelp.com/biz/slaps-bbq-kansas-city-2 — accessed 2026-05-30
4. Food Network — Slap’s BBQ — https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/ks/kansas-city/slaps-bbq-restaurant — accessed 2026-05-30

Verification

Drafted 2026-05-30 from web research; 4 independent sources (official site, The Pitch local press, Yelp, Food Network). Founders (Mike and Joe Pearce), team origin (Squeal Like a Pig, 2013), restaurant opening (June 2014), KCBS competition activity, and the 553 Central Ave KCK address are corroborated across multiple sources. Note: the base intake address (5531 Merriam Dr) was not confirmed by any source and has been corrected to 553 Central Ave — flagged above. The BBQ Pitmasters second-place-finish detail and the brothers’ birthplace are single-sourced/unverified and flagged.

Menu capture (2026-06-02): Added menu_last_verified, menu_status, menu_source_types frontmatter + earned tags (burnt-ends, ribs). Inserted standardized ## Menu section with current offerings + website/Toast sources + archive pointer (huge batch). Updated Edit History.