Up Dog

Up Dog is a specialty hot-dog shop on the Independence Square, opened in 2011 by Ken and Cindy McClain — the husband-and-wife team widely credited with the decades-long revitalization of the historic Square — and themed as a 1950s-style diner.

Description

Up Dog is a counter-service specialty hot-dog shop on the Independence Square in Independence, Missouri. The shop is fitted out as a retro 1950s-themed diner and built around a menu of dressed, named-by-city hot dogs — including a Chicago Dog (pickle, tomato, relish, onions, sport peppers, mustard, celery salt on a poppy-seed bun), a Missouri Dog (pickle, bacon, cheddar, mustard), a New York Dog, and the signature Rio Dog (bacon, onions, jalapeños, mustard and cream cheese). Beyond the dogs, the kitchen also serves smashburgers, Philly cheesesteaks, and chicken tenders.¹

The shop sits among the cluster of restaurants and retail the McClain family operates on and around the Square, a short walk from sister concepts such as Square Pizza and the family’s flagship, Ophelia’s. Up Dog was included by Southern Living in a regional roundup of notable / “legendary” hot-dog joints, the press recognition most often cited for the shop.²

Ownership and history

Up Dog is owned by Ken and Cindy McClain, who opened it in 2011.²³ The McClains are the husband-and-wife developers and restaurateurs behind the long-running revitalization of the Independence Square: beginning with the 1998 purchase of their first boarded-up building on the then-blighted Square and the opening of their flagship restaurant, Ophelia’s, around 1998–1999, they have grown a locally owned portfolio of roughly 15–18 businesses there, including nine food concepts.³⁴ Up Dog is one of those food concepts. The business is independent and locally owned — there is no national or franchise corporate parent; it operates under the McClains’ family of Independence Square enterprises (referred to in some listings as “McClain Enterprises”).¹³

For full context on the ownership group and its civic role, see the sister Registry page ophelias-restaurant-inn.

Links

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatupdog/ (active page found in research) — note: the intake-listed URL https://www.facebook.com/updogindependence/ could not be confirmed as the live page; “
• Website: https://eatupdog.com
• Phone: (816) 836-2900 — per the official website. “

See also

• independence-mo
• independence-square
• ophelias-restaurant-inn
• mcclain-family-independence-square
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Up Dog — official site — https://eatupdog.com/ — accessed 2026-05-31. Concept (1950s diner; specialty dogs, smashburgers, Philly cheesesteaks, chicken tenders), address 114 N Liberty St, phone (816) 836-2900, parent “McClain Enterprises.” ↩ ↩²

2. Yahoo News / The Kansas City Star — “This KC area hot dog place was just named one of the best in ‘the South’” — https://www.yahoo.com/news/kc-area-hot-dog-place-185006103.html — accessed 2026-05-31. Founded 2011; owners Cindy and Ken McClain; Southern Living feature; address 114 N Liberty/Independence St; signature Rio Dog; also own Square Pizza. ↩ ↩²

3. City of Independence, MO — visitors / places to eat (Up Dog listing referenced in search index) — independencemo.gov — accessed 2026-05-31. “ ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Ophelia’s Restaurant — About Us — https://opheliasrestaurant.com/about-us/ — accessed 2026-05-31. McClain Independence Square revitalization, 1998 first building, portfolio of food concepts. ↩