Every year, this is always one of our most popularly read blog posts – our annual roundup spotlighting our local KC small business clients around the holidays. Us small businesses have to work together to stand out among the sea of giant chains! We want to thank our customers for supporting our 4th generation family pest and lawn care business and considering “shopping small” for personal needs and gifts for loved ones this holiday.
If you haven’t heard the exciting news, for the second straight year, we were once again named Kansas City’s “best pest control company” in Kansas City Star’s list of “Kansas City Favorites” AND Gunter Pest & Lawn made Kansas City Business Journal’s Top 100 Family-Owned Business list!
We’re about as local as it gets…We’ve been around since 1950 when our current president Noah Gunter Besheer’s great-grandfather Reggie Gunter started the business. We’re a 4th generation family-owned and operated local Kansas City pest control company, and we want to recognize other family-owned and small businesses in our community who work hard every day to bring us products, food, and drinks that we love! We’re highlighting twenty of our amazing clients below, and we’d love to encourage you to dine and shop at small businesses in Kansas City this holiday season!
We try not to highlight different clients each year, so don’t forget to check out last year’s Kansas City small biz round up and previous years to check out more of our clients you can support!
local small business restaurants to eat In Kansas City This Holiday
Wolfepack BBQ
Known for the saying ,”Everything but the bun,” the Wolfepack BBQ team makes everything in-house, using a slow smoked method. Their old school offset smokers use Oak and Hickory wood, creating a unique yet classic KC barbecue flavor and texture. Located in the historic Columbia Park neighborhood, this spot has a super cool and unique history sitting on top of old prohibition basement tunnels. Stop by and take part in a piece of Kansas City history!
Swifts Cajun Cuisine
One of Kansas City’s newest restaurants, husband and wife duo Richard and Sheila Swift opened Swifts Cajun Cuisine in Midtown KC right on the streetcar line in the fall of 2024. Black-owned and 50% female-owned, this family-owned KC restaurant is about as local as it gets! With all of the Kansas City streetcar construction, this made their opening and visibility difficult from the start, but luckily their loyal followers from years of serving consistently delicious food at pop-ups over the years, they’ve had a great launch.
Harp BBQ
A Gunter employee favorite, we highly recommend a trip to their new Overland Park location. Featured in Food and Wine, Thrillist, Texas Monthly and voted Best BBQ Spot by KC Mag, we’re apparently not their only fans!
Barbacoa
With all this talk about Kansas City Barbecue, if you’re looking for a unique spin on non-traditional local barbecue, try Barbacoa. Barbacoa is a new concept that Kansas City has yet to see: Traditional Mexican cuisine elevated with American barbecue cooking methods. Barbacoa is the Spanish word for barbecue, or to cook with fire. “To us, barbecue doesn’t mean sauce like it does for so many Kansas Citians. It means fire. It means slow cooks using smoke. It means searing proteins with real flames. It’s a new kind of barbacue, but stemming from old roots and old worlds.”
Brookside Sushi
Located less than a mile from our Waldo KC headquarters, Brookside Sushi is regularly visited favorite by team members including our owner and past (3rd generation) president Jay Gunter Besheer and his wife. Chef Sal has dedicated over 35 years to mastering the art of sushi making, and Sal and his team make every guest feel welcome right when you walk in!
best local bars and coffee shops In Kansas City to support This Holiday
Twisted Fresh
Long before opening his first Twisted Fresh location back in 2010, founder and owner Alan Rust saw a need. The concept of fast-casual dining that offered a gourmet-quality full-flavor experience, while supporting a healthy lifestyle, simply didn’t exist. An opportunity to grab the perfect starter storefront opened up, and Twisted Fresh was born. Thirteen years and six stores later across Lee’s Summit, Lawrence, Overland Park and Kansas City, Twisted Fresh is known throughout the Kansas City area as the perfect inexpensive dining option for eating healthy without sacrificing flavor.
Mean Mule Distillery and Bar
Looking for something made in Kansas City to gift this holiday? Check our Mean Mule where Agave Spirits (known as Tequila in Mexico) are distilled locally in the Crossroads.
The family-owned business started in 1920 when the prohibition began and owner Jeff’s great-great grandma and her son built a still to make moonshine and found a hiding place to keep the booze a secret. Jeff’s great-grandpa Fritz drove from mid-Missouri to Saint Louis where he sold the hooch for cash. Years later, Jeff Evans and his wife Meg decided to leave their careers as a teacher and mechanical engineers and follow in their family’s footsteps to breathe life back into their history as Kansas City distillers.
Uniquely and very rare in this industry, Jeff built their still by hand – all of the piping, everything. Meg’s brother Tyler moved his family from Arizona to join the team as a fifth-generation brewer, and Meg’s mom also joined the crew. A few years ago, you’d catch Meg and Jeff’s whole family bottling Agave spirits in the distilling room as one family unit.
Find Mean Mule – including their new Agave-based Gin – at retail liquor stores, bars and restaurants in Missouri, Kansas, and New York.
King G. And Jim’s Alley Bar
Located just a few doors down from Mean Mule, for those traveling into the city you might consider hitting both local spots at once! Owner Eric Flanagan owns both bars, and he named Jim’s after his late maternal grandfather, Jim Pagliocco, “A veteran of World War II. Working class, family man, the rock of our family. Always there, very steady”, Flanagan said. I just thought this bar would speak to people who have people like that in their lives. Or if they are that person. Jim’s Alley Bar is a neighborhood bar in the Crossroads that doesn’t even have a sign – you may miss it walking by, but that’s kind of the point! It makes you feel nostalgic and very homey.
Other Great Bars and Coffee Shops in Kansas City
1. Casual Animal
3. Ph Coffee
local shops to buy holiday Gifts In Kansas City
Brookside Wine & Spirits
“Your friendly Brookside neighborhood liquor store.” Carrying rare bourbons, cigar offerings and weekly free tastings – who’s in?!
Better Cheddar
Ahh, a true Kansas City classic since 1983, The Better Cheddar offers its wide selection of cheese and other specialty foods in two locations in the Kansas City area. This is one of those nostalgic spots – like the beloved Houstons on the Plaza (RIP!) – that locals have been cherishing for decades.
KC India Mart
This family-owned Premier Indian Grocery Store in Overland Park has been open for over 20 years! The Indian and South Asian grocery store specializes in carrying organic groceries, fresh and boxed snacks, fresh produce, meat, bakery Items, frozen foods, plus even calling cards, appliances, incenses and Ayurvedic medicines!
Laura Little’s Candies
Similar to Gunter’s 75 years in business, Laura Little’s has been open a very long time, since 1970! On every holiday, Laura’s team gifts our office with the most delicious boxes of chocolate easter bunnies, fudge and more. They spoil us and because of that, they’re one of our favorite longtime clients! 🙂
local salons, spaS and studios to visit In Kansas City this holiday
Studio 7 Pilates
This woman-owned pilates studio with an entire team of women had grown quite a following in KC over the years and just expanded into a 3,000 sq ft facility just a few blocks from us in Waldo! Owner Jocelyn worked tirelessly to renovate and design (and preserve) the old beloved Waldo Bikes space (since 1984) after owner Dave Hirni passed a few years ago. How wonderful to have a local woman-owned pilates studio in Waldo!
Yoga Patch
Also woman-owned, the Yoga Patch is “more than a yoga studio” – their trademarked slogan summarizing their plethora of offerings in their Waldo space. Since 2009, they’ve been located just a few blocks from us, and we’re grateful to have these neighbors as clients. Offering yoga classes, workshops, retreats, teacher training, a coffee shop and cafe, sauna, cold plunge, a zero gravity float spa and more.
The Laya Center
Similar to Yoga, Patch, black-owned he Laya Center is “more than a spa” – they’re more like a well-rounded wellness club. I – the writer of this blog post 🙂 – have personally gotten a massage here and I have to say it was one of the best I’ve ever received in my life! Upon walking in, you’ll be met with an herbal tea cafe, a mercantile selling house-made supplements, smudge sticks, wellness books, looseleaf teas and more. They offer massages, facials, cryotherapy, yoni steam, sauna and more. You could spend a whole day here!
Woodside Tennis & Health Club
Looking for a health and fitness club to burn off those holiday calories and lean into a healthier 2024? With multiple outdoor pools, an indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, cold plunge, steam room, fireplace, and spa, what more could you want and need to get through a Kansas City winter? A membership (or gift card toward one) would be a great holiday gift. Or, if you’re already a member – check out the local small business vendor gifts featured in the spa gift shop, like jewelry from Sierra Winter.
local Kansas City event rental spaces to host a gathering this holiday
Loose Mansion
Looking to staycation at an historic Kansas City bed and breakfast or host family members coming in town for the holidays? Check out the Loose Mansion carriage house! The Loose Family, and the beautiful home they built, have historic significance in Kansas City. Proudly listed on the National Historic Registry, and still as in the past, home to very special events in Kansas City. The perfectly quaint and history locally-owned Kansas City event space to host a holiday event or an upcoming wedding.
28 Event Space
In contrast to the historic Loose Mansion, 28 Event Space takes a modern twist.
Located only minutes from downtown, 28 Event Space has two distinctly different spaces, both with top-notch amenities, modern style and impeccable service. The Kansas City Room & The Station both come equipped with overnight suites, catering kitchen, and sound system.
