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Barbecue is Kansas City’s true culinary treasure, and we’re lucky to enjoy some of the best restaurants around, including Q39 since 2014. Their chef-driven barbecue with award-winning flavors and barbecue sauce is exploring new horizons—most notably your next holiday party, office lunch, corporate meeting, or wedding—because, let’s face it, barbecue’s something best left to the experts.
The catering program was brought to life during the beginning of the pandemic, according to catering manager John Beddall, who joined the team in February of this year. With restaurants shutting down and more customers looking for food delivery, that area of business started to come to life. A few years in, the catering operation is thriving. “We really cover a whole scope of events,” Beddall says.
When ordering catering from Q39, the menu is tailored to an event’s needs. “If you think of it like a house,” Beddall says, “we kind of have the foundation built. Each event is a little different, so we construct the house on the foundation that we have.” Beddall worked to create the catering program with Kelly Magee, owner of Q39, and Q39 president Randy Piebes. “We’ve been working really closely together with our executive chef, Philip Thompson, to create a robust menu,” he says.
Full Service – China Optional, Staff Included
The full-service party packages available differ depending on the style of service, including additions for the china, flatware, and linens often used at weddings, but each package includes the same barbecue-based foundation: a choice of two meats, four sides, rolls, pickles, and delicious, award-winning barbecue sauces.
While Q39 is renowned for its barbecue, don’t sleep on the sides. Beddall describes them as “bright” and “herbaceous,” and they include potato salad, apple coleslaw, an orzo pasta salad, and more. All full-service events are handled from start to finish by an on-site, uniformed Q39 catering staff, which means the only thing left for you and your guests to do is relax and enjoy.
Drop-Set-Eat
Lunch, dinner, and corporate catering deliveries are also increasingly popular. “One of the things I really like that we do is what we call drop and sets; we don’t ever just drop anything off,” says Beddall. “We always set the food up the way it’s supposed to go and make sure you have everything you need. Once that’s completely ready to go—that’s when the staff will leave.” The dishes are labeled and served in heavy but disposable containers, leaving the clean-up simple and dividing the leftovers (if there are any) a treat.
Private Event Space
Private dining events are done family-style through two reserved rooms at Q39’s Midtown location. “You choose whatever meats you want, add wings or ribs—you have the same catering package plus a bit more—because it’s in the restaurant, you basically have access to much more of our menu,” says Beddall. “There are some things that don’t travel well for catering that do travel well just across the restaurant.”
Q39’s passion for barbecue is rivaled only by its appreciation for Kansas City. “We love showing off the city to people from all over the country,” says Beddall. “A current trend with weddings that I’ve seen, and am seeing more and more of, is couples wanting to create an experience for their guests. We have a lot of great partnerships with distilleries, breweries, and event spaces around town, so we’re able to leverage that to create unique, elevated barbecue events.
“Our goal is always to make people see barbecue a little bit differently,” Beddall says. Check out Q39’s catering options for yourself and your next event today.