| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Website | www.jackstackbbq.com |
Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue is a small chain of barbecue restaurants, catering, private dining facilities, and nationwide shipper of barbecue located in the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Missouri.
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Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue was originally a part of the Fiorella family-owned chain of Smoke Stack Barbecue restaurants, with the original restaurant located in south Kansas City on Prospect Avenue. Founded by family patriarch Russ Fiorella in 1957, it eventually leads to the opening of four more restaurants for the Fiorella family. One of these restaurants, Smoke Stack Barbecue of Martin City, was opened in 1974 by the eldest son Jack Fiorella and his wife Delores.
It was sometime in the mid-1980s, after a failed attempt to expand into a second location under the name of Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, Jack and Delores realized they needed to make some changes in order to stand out in the competitive Kansas City barbecue market. It was at this moment they set about expanding their menu selections. To the chagrin of barbecue purists, they also began offering a higher level of comfort and service than most people were accustomed to experiencing at a barbecue restaurant. They added non-traditional barbecue menu items like hickory-grilled steaks, lamb ribs, Crown Prime Beef Short Ribs, along with an extensive wine and bar selection. From an idea acquired from their travels along the Yugoslav coast, they also started offering fresh seafood grilled over a hickory wood fire.
In the mid-1990s, Jack and Delores opened their second restaurant location by expanding into neighboring Overland Park, Kansas. It was at this time they decided to change their name to Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue to set themselves apart from the family chain of Smoke Stack Barbecue restaurants. They also opened a full-service catering operation in Martin City, along with Private Dining facilities in both Martin City and in their third restaurant location in the historic Freight House building across from Union Station in mid-town Kansas City. In October 2006, they opened a fourth restaurant on The Country Club Plaza.
Seizing upon the opportunity to expand their Kansas City-style barbecue beyond the borders of Kansas City, Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue began shipping their barbecue nationwide in 2000. Media exposure on The Food Network and Modern Marvels on The History Channel has helped to introduce the rest of America to Jack Stack's Kansas City-style barbecue. The Jack Stack Shipping division is located in the world's largest underground office complex, the Hunt Midwest SubTropolis. Fiorella's Jack Stack has also been rated as some of the best barbecue in the United States by several national organizations and magazines. Most notably, the Zagat Survey has named it the "#1 Barbecue House in the Country."[1]
Jack Fiorella has passed restaurant operations along to his son-in-law Case Dorman.
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