When Waterloo, Iowa, native David Bryant visited Kansas City in 2019 to cater a family reunion with a childhood friend it didn’t take long before he wanted to bring his Iowa-based Big Head Burger to Kansas City.
“Visually and culturally Kansas City is a great city—and has fantastic food too,” says Bryant, who’s planning to open a Kansas City Big Head Burger location later this year. Until then, he’s giving KC a peek at his freshly made smash burger dressed with a proprietary tangy sauce, sliced onion, and pickles on a brioche bun with pop-ups at local breweries all summer long.
Bryant started Big Head Burger with a food truck in 2019 serving smash burgers, house fries, and handcrafted milkshakes before opening his brick-and-mortar restaurant in Waterloo, Iowa, in August 2021.
“My first food memory is of a burger and my menu reflects items that kids love—but elevated for adults,” Bryant says. “Burgers are a universal language.”
To date, Big Head Burger has been popping up at First Fridays in the Crossroads and local breweries since May, and the burger joint has 11 planned pop-ups on the horizon:
- June 10: Pathlight Brewing, Noon-7 p.m.
- June 11: Sandhills Brewing, 1-8 p.m.
- June 19: Pathlight Brewing, Noon-8 p.m.
- June 24: Sandhills Brewing, 1-8 p.m.
- June 25: Callsign Brewing Company, 1-8 p.m.
- July 1: First Friday
- July 8: Sandhills Brewing, 1-8 p.m.
- July 9: Pathlight Brewing, Noon-8 p.m.
- July 22: Sandhills Brewing, 1-8 p.m.
- July 23: Cinder Block Brewery, 1-8 p.m.
- July 29: Mean Mule Distilling Co., 1-8 p.m.
Follow Big Head Burger’s journey to Kansas City on Instagram @bigheadburgerKC for the most updated information on pop-ups and on the brick-and-mortar site expected to open later this year.