JOE'S KANSAS CITY BAR-B-QUE from Best BBQ in Kansas City

This is the story of Jeff and Joy Stehney and their company, Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que. In many ways, it is a quite ordinary story. People start successful businesses every day, after all. But Jeff and Joy’s company is anything but ordinary. In 1990, Jeff and Joy attended a barbecue contest for the first time, at the invitation of a friend. “We had a great time,” Jeff says. “I loved everything about it. The smoke. The smell of it. The camaraderie. The competition. The passion. And, of course, the food. I was hooked. I knew then and there this was something I had to do.” The Stehneys soon bought a competition-style smoker and, together with a few friends, formed a barbecue team. They called it Slaughterhouse Five.