Museum of BBQ to Officially Open on April 12
Contact: 
Jonathan Bender
617.308.6421
Museum of BBQ to Officially Open on April 12
Kansas City to welcome world’s first museum dedicated to barbecue
March 26, 2025 – KANSAS CITY, MO – The Museum of BBQ, the world’s first museum dedicated to barbecue, is holding its grand opening on Saturday, April 12, in the shops at Crown Center (2450 Grand Boulevard, Suite 231) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Recently named one of Time Out’s best new things to do in the world, the highly anticipated immersive experience walks guests through the elements of barbecue and the main American regions of barbecue.
Priced at $10 plus taxes and fees, tickets are on sale now at museumofbbq.co with availability every 30 minutes. The Museum of BBQ will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
“The Museum of BBQ is a feast for your senses,” says founder Jonathan Bender. “Get ready to immerse yourself in the smoke and sizzle of the world of barbecue.”
The Museum of BBQ is made possible through dedicated sponsors, and is proud to partner with Bush’s® Beans, Prairie Fresh®, Southern Pride, Visit KC, and the National Barbecue & Grilling Association.
Guests enter the Museum of BBQ through an oversized door resembling a Southern Pride smoker door to begin their journey into ‘cue.
The first five installations (Meat, Rub, Wood & Fire, Smoke, Sauce) show visitors how meat becomes barbecue through interactive activities and exhibits:
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Identify butcher cuts by putting together the pig puzzle, pose with a butcher’s apron and (plushy) meat, or get tips and tricks at a listening station featuring Prairie Fresh ambassadors in the Meat room
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Continue the sensory experience with a spice guessing game in the Rub room before checking out different types of smokers and wood in the Wood & Fire room, brought to you by the National Barbecue & Grilling Association.
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Play the smoke ring toss in the Smoke room before you get ‘Lost in the Sauce’ in a room brought to you by Kansas City-based Sike Style.
In the final five installations (Carolinas, Memphis, Bean Pit, Texas, and Kansas City), folks get to travel across America to experience the wide world of barbecue variations. Each regional room has a host of information about the history, culture, and barbecue style that define a given place. There are also lots of fun moments to make memories and snap pictures:
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Pose with a championship mustard belt – a nod to the mustard-based sauce featured in central South Carolina – in the Carolinas room before getting your ribs tickled with barbecue-themed dad jokes in Memphis.
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Take a dip in our bean pit, brought to you by Bush’s® Beans, before learning how to order brisket in Texas and the legend of burnt ends in Kansas City.
The museum features art from a dynamic collection of creators, including Alice Ferns (England), Birdcap (Michael Roy of Memphis, Tennessee), Livy Long (Portland, Oregon), Andy J. Pizza (Columbus, Ohio), Katie Ford (Cleveland, Ohio), and Sike Style, Mary Nguyen, Chandler Johnson, Charlie Duber, Katie Lee, and the Carpenter Collective out of Kansas City, Missouri.
Visitors to the Museum of BBQ enter and exit through the retail store, stocked with a curated selection of barbecue sauces and rubs from across the country with a special emphasis on the four featured regions (Memphis, Carolinas, Texas, and Kansas City). The Museum of BBQ also carries meat spritzes, brines, injections, and butcher paper for wrapping brisket.
The store offers a selection of craft barbecue snacks, including hickory smoked cheese puffs, sunflower seeds, BBQ chips, and nuts. Grill masters will appreciate tools like meat claws, barbecue mops, and burger presses. And visitors can take home a little bit of the Museum of BBQ with our merch: stickers, sunglasses, hats, koozies, and t-shirts.
The Museum of BBQ takes its place in the Kansas City metro alongside more than 100 local BBQ restaurants and countless competitions of all sizes, including the American Royal World Series of Barbecue, known as the world’s biggest barbecue contest, attracting thousands of attendees and more than 500 barbecue teams from across the globe.
“Kansas City has such a rich history of barbecue,” says Bender. “This is the perfect place to bring the world’s first barbecue museum to life.”
The Museum of BBQ joins an impressive roster of family-friendly destinations within Crown Center, which is also home to the international headquarters of Hallmark Cards. After enjoying the Museum of BBQ, visitors can continue a day of exploration, entertainment and education at the neighboring SEA LIFE Kansas City Aquarium, LEGOLAND Discovery Center, Coterie Theatre and Kaleidoscope art-making space for kids. Kansas City’s historic Union Station (with Science City and renowned traveling exhibits) and the National WWI Museum and Memorial are just across the street, and two world-class hotels are also nearby.
“The Museum of BBQ is such a great addition at Crown Center. It’s perfect for our wide audience – hotel guests, other tourists to Kansas City and our local visitors and families,” said Stacey Paine, president of Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation, “and we look forward to welcoming everyone to this authentic Kansas City experience.”
About the Museum of BBQ
The Museum of BBQ is located in Crown Center. The Museum will be located on the second floor of Crown Center (2450 Grand Boulevard, Suite 231, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108). Visit the museum online at museumofbbq.co. Photos, logos, and additional assets are available here.
Jonathan Bender is the founder of the Museum of BBQ. He is an Emmy Award-winning writer who has covered the barbecue scene for more than 15 years. He's been a certified judge at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue and created Burnt Legend, a 30-minute documentary on Kansas City's signature barbecue dish: burnt ends. Bender is the author of LEGO: A Love Story, Stock, Broth & Bowl, and Cookies & Beer. He regularly tests kitchen products for national publications and was previously the food editor for Kansas City PBS. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Alex Pope is a partner in the Museum of BBQ. He is the chef and owner of the Local Pig, a whole animal butcher shop in Kansas City, Missouri that focuses on local and sustainable meat production. Before opening a butcher shop, he worked at The American Restaurant and created a series of pop-up dinners under the name Vagabond. A native of Wisconsin and graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, Pope was nominated as one of the best new chefs in the Midwest by Food & Wine magazine in 2011.