Session Taco Shuts East Crossroads Doors, Exits Kansas City After 9 Years

Session Taco is closing its East Crossroads restaurant this Sunday, Aug. 30, ending a nine-year run at 409 E. 18th St. and marking the Kansas City-area brand's complete exit from the metro. The closure comes after the chain, formerly known as Mission Taco Joint, already shut down its South Plaza and Leawood locations, leaving the East Crossroads spot as the last one standing before it, too, goes dark.

Co-owner Adam Tilford said the business had, in his words, an amazing run despite its hurdles, according to The Kansas City Star. He told the paper that Session Taco made it through COVID, a federal trademark lawsuit, rising cost of goods and a slowing economy — a list that captures just how much the St. Louis-founded chain absorbed before finally pulling out of Kansas City. Tilford also said the East Crossroads was the perfect community for the brand's first Kansas City-area Mission Taco Joint location back when it opened there in 2017.

That trademark fight looms large in the company's history. Texas-based Gruma Corp., the parent company of Mission Foods, sued Mission Taco Joint for trademark infringement in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in October 2023, according to KSDK. Gruma alleged consumer confusion between its retail grocery products and the restaurant chain as it expanded across state lines. The case settled confidentially in early 2024, and the brand officially rebranded as Session Taco that September — a name derived by simply dropping the letters M and I from Mission, as Sauce Magazine reported at the time.

A Chain Built From San Francisco Inspiration, Undone By Kansas City Economics

Brothers Adam and Jason Tilford launched Mission Taco Joint in St. Louis in 2013, per KCUR's telling of the brand's history. The concept grew into an eight-location regional operation spanning St. Louis and Kansas City before the retrenchment of the past two years began.

In Kansas City, the brand expanded to South Plaza in 2019 and later to Leawood's Park Place in 2023. The South Plaza restaurant closed in 2024 after five years in business and was later replaced by local coffee and breakfast chain Mildred's. Facing underperforming sales at Park Place, the Tilfords converted that Leawood space into an upscale, modern, full-service Mexican restaurant called Lapez Mod Mex in the fall of 2025, according to Startland News. Lapez closed in 2026, with Tilford attributing the closure to the economy and saying there's not much disposable income for dining out.

Historic Building, Now Losing Its Longtime Tenant

Session Taco operated at 409 E. 18th St. for nine years, known locally for its Cali burritos, Baja fish tacos and signature margaritas.

Tilford said Session Taco loved the East Crossroads neighborhood, even as the corridor's dining scene keeps shifting. Kansas City-based Tiki Taco is set to open a new restaurant directly across the street at 412 E. 18th St., in the former Double Shift Brewing Co. building, with an opening targeted for September, per a Facebook post cited by Startland News. The rapidly expanding local chain's arrival underscores that East Crossroads remains an active taco destination even as Session Taco departs it entirely.

Broader Retreat Extends Into Missouri Real Estate

The Kansas City closure lines up with a wider contraction of the company's footprint. Session Taco sold its Webster Groves, Missouri property for $1.55 million, according to the St. Louis Restaurant Review. The company also closed its Kirkwood location in January and its Town & Country location in late 2025, leaving it with two locations remaining in St. Louis.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, advance U.S. retail and food-services sales totaled $763.6 billion in July 2026, down 0.6% (±0.4%) from the previous month, offering broader context for the restaurant sector's economic pressures. The Federal Reserve reported that the price index for personal consumption expenditures rose 4.1% over the 12 months ending in May, up substantially from a 2.5% pace a year earlier, reflecting broader inflationary pressure on consumers and businesses.

During the 2024 rebrand, chef Jason Tilford had tried to reinvigorate the menu with lighter coastal additions such as Baja tuna ceviche and lobster tacos alongside longtime staples like the Cali burrito, pairing those changes with staff training and operational upgrades, Sauce Magazine reported. Those efforts weren't enough to keep the Kansas City locations open. Session Taco's East Crossroads restaurant will serve its last plates this Sunday, closing the book on nearly a decade of business in the neighborhood.