KCK BBQ restaurant owners retire after 40 years. Someone else will take over
It’s time for Rusty Quick, 67, and Gary Wright, 70, to retire.
The pair have owned Big Q Barbecue at 2117 S. 34th St. in Kansas City, Kansas, for 40 years. Since its inception, they’ve been serving customers pulled pork sandwiches, rib platters, burnt ends and more.
Now they’ve sold it to Matt Tolle, who owns The Snack Shack On Johnson Drive in Mission.
Tolle will take over the restaurant April 1. But don’t worry, Quick assured, he’ll keep everything on the menu the same.
“He wanted to make sure everything is as it was for 40 years,” Quick said.
To make sure the recipes and processes are carefully repeated, Wright and Quick will be hanging around Big Q for a few weeks, helping Tolle. This will bring about a smoother transition, Quick said.
The pair are eager for a break from the daily grind that being small business owners necessitates, but that doesn’t mean they won’t miss it.
“Does anybody want to stop doing what they’ve been doing for so long? Yes, but it’s also my way of life for so many years,” he said.
Before Quick and Wright opened Big Q, Quick worked at Quick’s 7th Street in KCK.
That barbecue restaurant was opened by Quick’s father in 1964. It lived not far away from the current Big Q site at 1007 Merriam Lane.
With so many family members working at Quick’s 7th Street, Rusty Quick decided to venture out and try his hand at a location of his own. That’s when he and his sister’s then-husband, Wright, opened Big Q.
Asked what he’ll miss most about his job, Quick swiftly answered: “the people.” Though he lives in the neighborhood, it’s not the same as getting to serve them every day.
“It’s not that I won’t see them anymore; I just won’t have as much contact with them,” Quick said.
Tolle’s other concept, The Snack Shack, offers a vintage diner experience at 6018 Johnson Drive. It sells burgers, shakes and more.