Packages of barbecue nationwide every year
The Overland Park-based chain of barbecue restaurants launched a mail-order business in 2000 and now ships about 45,000 to 50,000 packages of barbecue nationwide every year. CEO Case Dorman said the mail-order section now generates about 15 percent of overall revenue and continues to be the company's fastest-growing sector.
Dorman said the business started with customer requests to ship Jack Stack outside Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas. After years of product development, Jack Stack has mastered a process for cooking, flash-freezing, packing and rush delivering about 70 percent of its barbecue menu to destinations throughout the country. The business is so large now, Dorman said, that Jack Stack has its own U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified production facility in Alma, Mo., a small town about an hour east of Kansas City.
The finished product, once properly reheated, is about 90 percent of the quality customers would expect from the restaurant, Dorman said. The average order is about $100, and Jack Stack frequently ships to customers in California, New York and Florida. He said beef brisket, spare ribs, baby back and burnt ends are among the most popular products.
Dorman said celebrities such as Bill Gates, Donald Trump and Peyton Manning all have placed orders with Jack Stack. The largest order he could remember, to feed a party of 220 at the 2012 U.S. Open in San Francisco, racked up a $35,000 tab.