Collection: PLOWBOYS BARBEQUE
"Award Winning BBQ since 2001"
2001 The heart of Plowboys BBQ is competition-style barbecue. It began in 2001 when Todd Johns and his brother-in-law, Randy Hinck, started Pork Pullin Plowboys, their competition team. For the next six years, Todd and Randy would travel all over the country, participating in competitions, perfecting their craft and learning what makes truly great barbecue. Hint: It’s all about the “low and slow.”
2007 was a big year for the Pork Pullin Plowboys. They won their first Grand Championship in Kearney, MO and were named the Show Me State Team of the Year. Todd also began selling his Yardbird Rub, an award-winning blend of spices that balanced sweet and salty with a bit of heat.
2008 introduced a new spice rub, Bovine Bold, and a series of wins. Plowboys won 1st Place Pork at the Great American BBQ Contest. They also participated in the American Royal Invitational World Series of Barbecue for the first time and took home 1st Place Pork! The year finished with Plowboys placing fifth in the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) Pork Team of the Year.
2009 There’s a period of time for every great competition barbecue team where everything clicks. The recipes are perfect, the barbecue is mouth-wateringly delicious to every bite and the awards start coming fast and thick. That was 2009 for Todd and Randy. It involved 22 KCBS-sanctioned competitions in seven states and five championship wins. The most sensational moment of 2009 was when Plowboys returned to the American Royal Invitational. After placing 5th in Chicken, 8th in Pork and 1st in Brisket, Todd was crowned the American Royal Grand Champion.
2010 After winning the most important and respected barbecue competition in the world, Todd and Randy continued to compete and win contests over the next two years. In 2010, Plowboys returned to the American Royal, placing 8th in the Invitational, 5th out of 503 teams in the Open and winning 2nd in Open Chicken. After placing in the top ten of the 2011 American Royal Invitational, Todd released his third rub, Fin & Feather.
2012 Two sauces, Sweet 180 and En Fuego, followed in 2012. Sweet 180 takes its name from the perfect 180-point score it helped chicken receive the first time the sauce was used in competition. En Fuego is described by Todd as the “kicked-up cousin of Sweet 180…starting sweet and ending sassy.”
2013 In September of 2013, after over a decade of competitive barbecue, Todd opened Plowboys BBQ in Blue Springs, MO.
2014 The Travel Channel’s BBQ Crawl show featured the restaurant in 2014 and The Pitch awarded Plowboys with Best Burnt Ends in KC.
2015 continued the restaurant’s success with an additional location opened in downtown Kansas City, MO. In the last couple of years Plowboys became famous for its BBQ nachos, a knockout combination of freshly fried tortilla chips, sour cream, jalapenos, cheese sauce made in-house and (of course) slow-smoked pulled pork or brisket. The Pitch awarded it runner-up for “Best Only-in-KC BBQ Dish” and INK Magazine listed it as one of the items on its “BBQ Bucket List” and “Best Things We Ate in 2015.”
2016 The success of the initial downtown Kansas City, MO location inspired a move from Petticoat & Main St one block South to 12th St & Main St. in October, Plowboys relocated to the space once occupied by Ingredient expanding from a 54-seat location to 145 seats with two outdoor patios on a major downtown intersection.
2017 As the Kansas City Chiefs were looking for new, local BBQ options to replace the void left by Jack Stack BBQ at Arrowhead, Plowboys BBQ was their first call. Having seen the Plowboys model both in the restaurants and outside venues, the Chiefs knew the Plowboys team could be their anchor BBQ brand. Plowboys BBQ nachos became one of the top 10 items at the stadium.
2018 Plowboys BBQ proved once again that they can compete with the best in the world. At the 38th American Royal BBQ, the boys took home a World Championship in the sausage category with a perfect, perfect score. This is where all six judges independently give perfect scores. Plowboys BBQ returned to Arrowhead for a second Chiefs season providing BBQ to hungry fans in the Chiefs Hall of Honor.
2019 Maybe the most ambitious year of all, 2019 saw the opening of a second concession stand at Arrowhead. The success of Patrick Mahomes and the team meant record breaking sales. Nacho sales approached 600 in a 4.5-hour period. The first Plowboys BBQ franchise opened at Barry's Husker Bar in Lincoln, NE. After two years of searching, Plowboys finally crossed the KS state line opening a 5000 sq ft location at 75th & Metcalf in Overland Park, KS. 435 Magazine declared Plowboys the first KC BBQ joint to operate in three states: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska.