The family behind one of Kansas City’s best-known barbecue brands is giving a long-vacant Harrisonville big box a very different future: a 72,000-square-foot facility built to cook, package and ship Kansas City-style barbecue across the country.
The new operation will be run by Kansas City Hickory Provisions, an independent business created by the Fiorella-Dorman family, which owns Jack Stack Barbecue. The Kansas City Business Journal reports that the company plans to produce both Jack Stack-branded and private-label barbecue products at the Harrisonville site.
The company announced Monday that the former Walmart building on North Commercial Street is slated to become a USDA-inspected and SQF-certified production and distribution facility, with full operations expected to begin in early 2027. Hiring is expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a release distributed through PR Newswire.
From Vacant Big Box To Smokehouse Supply Chain
This will not be another Jack Stack dining room with a host stand and a rib platter waiting at the table. The facility is designed for processing, smoking, packaging and warehousing meats and prepared barbecue products for retail stores, club stores, restaurants and foodservice operators nationwide.
Harrisonville approved the project in November 2025, when the city’s Board of Aldermen granted a special-use permit to JBQ Meats, the production arm associated with Jack Stack. KCTV5 reported that the former Walmart building had been vacant since at least 2008 and that the project would not include animal slaughter.
The latest announcement says the Harrisonville plant could bring more than 20 jobs to the community while putting a long-blighted property back into productive use. The family described the investment as a way to expand its commercial barbecue business while keeping the operation close to Jack Stack’s Martin City roots.
Jack Stack’s National Barbecue Push
Kansas City Hickory Provisions says its production model will pair commercial-scale equipment with hickory smoke and pitmaster oversight. The company describes itself as a production partner for retail brands and foodservice operators and says it will produce private-label smoked meats.
That expansion builds on a business that already ships barbecue beyond the Kansas City region. Jack Stack’s website promotes nationwide delivery, while the restaurant company continues to operate multiple dining locations around the metro.
The brand’s roots stretch back to 1957, when Russ Fiorella started the original barbecue business, according to The Kansas City Star. Nearly seven decades later, the family is betting that Kansas City barbecue’s next big serving window may be a former Walmart with enough room for smokers, packaging lines and a whole lot of brisket.
