No ribbon cutting when a business closes, Plowboys founder says: Know how to start (and stop) on your own terms

A year and a half after Todd Johns closed his restaurants to focus instead on Plowboys-branded retail products, Johns would rather leave a legacy that’s felt within the Kansas City barbecue community than be known as a legend, he shared.

“I’d rather know that I helped someone here,” the president of Plowboys Foods told attendees Thursday at Mid-Continent Public Library’s Food Business Conference. “I mentor a lot of the barbecue community folks who are even competing with me on the shelves. Because I’d rather be that legacy to Kansas City barbecue — and the Kansas City retail food scene; I’d rather have our ocean rise and all boats lifted instead of just being super competitive.”

“I’d rather be known for that than any crowns or trophies or anything like that,” added Johns, who started in competition barbecue in 2001 with his brother-in-law. “I don’t care to be celebrated. I’d rather leave a legacy.”

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While this week’s two-day food conference at the Ennovation Center in Independence aimed to provide resources for entrepreneurs who are starting or are interested in starting a food business, Johns — who also hosts a radio show called BBQ Radio Network — didn’t shy away from discussing the tough decisions entrepreneurs often face, like shuttering the Plowboys restaurants after nearly a decade in business.

He and his business partners opened in Blue Springs in 2013, adding a downtown Kansas City location in 2015, and Overland Park in 2019 (although the latter location closed in 2021). When it came time to renew the lease for the downtown restaurant in 2022, he noted, they decided it was time to call it quits for all remaining locations.

“It just became a decision of, ‘Let’s end on our terms,’ which most small businesses — especially restaurants — don’t get a chance to do,” Johns explained. “Let’s end on our terms and not somebody else’s because we can’t afford to continue or something like that or something catastrophic.”

“My original partner — he and his wife — were turning 70 at the time, too,” Johns continued. “They have grandkids out in Virginia that they didn’t have when we started. So we just used the lease ending downtown as a point to step back and go, ‘Do we want to continue or not? Our lives are different.’”

Todd Johns, Plowboys Foods, speaks during Mid-Continent Public Library’s Food Business Conference at the Ennovation Center in Independence; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

For five years, Plowboys was also the official barbecue partner at Arrowhead Stadium.

Todd Johns, Plowboys Foods, outside Arrowhead Stadium in 2021; photo courtesy of Plowboys

“I think we’re all tired,” Johns added, noting he would walk around seven miles per game. “After 10 years, you’re 10 years older; your body’s 10 years older. Five years at Arrowhead was really, really, really hard. I loved doing that and glad we did it. It’s one of the feathers in my cap.”

Pulling back from the stadium partnership opened the door to another set of local food entrepreneurs, Cade and Seth Colson of SMOAK Craft Barbecue+, who began serving barbecue at Arrowhead for the 2023 season.

RELATED: These brothers SMOAK’d gameday concepts at Kauffman, Arrowhead; now their craft BBQ, burritos are delivering downtown

Johns — who is now focused on Plowboys’ 10 sauce and dry rub retail products which are sold in more than 30 countries around the world — was also candid about his conscious choice to commemorate the end of the restaurant era.

“When you’re first starting, there’s a ton of energy and there’s a ton of adrenaline and a ton of excitement,” he explained. “There’s ribbon cuttings and there’s all this celebration. We don’t do that when we end something.”

“The owners opened the door the last day,” Johns continued. “We locked the door the last day. I cooked everything for the last two weeks. Because I knew it was the last time I was gonna get the chance to do that. I wanted to have that experience and I wanted to celebrate it.”

Todd Johns, Plowboys Foods, speaks during Mid-Continent Public Library’s Food Business Conference at the Ennovation Center in Independence; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

But Johns’ remarks to “foodpreneurs” gathered at the conference weren’t all about endings. He shared his experiences with formulating his rubs and sauces — including how his team unintentionally came up with Yardbird, the brand’s best selling rub — and designing labels and bottles, plus partnerships with co-packers and learning to tell the story of his brand.

Johns — who considers himself a farm boy from Iowa and said he moved to Kansas City 30 years ago and thought barbecue was his dad burning sauce on a piece of chicken on a grill in the backyard — also shared the origin story of Plowboys. After watching a 1998 episode of “Kansas City Crossroads with Bill Kalahurka” about the history of barbecue in KC, Johns said he was drawn in by the romanticizing of the pitmaster and his craft.

“The pitmaster says, ‘Our briskets take 18 to 20 hours,’” he recalled. “Let that sink in for a second. I was like, ‘18 to 20 hours? That is a huge commitment to a meal. Who does that? It’s ridiculous.’ Then immediately, ‘I gotta learn how to do that.’ And that’s what got me started in barbecue. It’s my Peter-Parker-got-bit-by-a-spider moment. It’s when I got the bug.”

It all came full circle for Johns before the restaurants closed, he noted, recalling how he reached out to Kalahurka and invited him to Plowboys for lunch. Johns wanted to make sure Kalahurka knew how that late 1990s episode inspired Plowboys Barbeque.

“It set a course for a total change in my life that I had absolutely no idea I was about to embark on,” Johns explained. “And it hired and employed hundreds of people over the years. It is a brand that’s worldwide — it may not be world famous — but we’re sold around the world.”

“If I hadn’t told Bill about myself and my connection to something he had done, he never would have known that something in his life became a legacy to somebody else,” Johns continued. “So from that point on — these last couple of years — I’ve been very, very purposeful about, ‘how do I become a legacy to somebody else?’”