About
After years of quenching the thirsts of his
friends and neighbors in the Northeast Kansas town
of Atchison where he grew up, Grandpa Tanner
decided to come to the big city and settled in
Johnson County.
He envisioned a bar and grill where the service
was always friendly, the food was tasty, the beer
ice cold, and you could find Grandpa himself
behind the bar chatting with the guests and
quenching thirsts.
The first Tanner's opened on 87th Street in
Lenexa, Kan., in 1985, with Grandpa Tanner and his
friends building it from the ground up. From the
very beginning, Tanner's Bar and Grill in Lenexa
was a place where Johnson Countians from near and
far traveled for an after-work drink and dinner,
to watch the local boys earn another victory on
TV, and to relax in a friendly atmosphere.
As you might expect, word traveled fast. Grandpa
Tanner was serving up tasty food, and Tanner's Bar
and Grill was THE place to hang out and watch the
big games on the big screens. It wasn't long
before people in other parts of the city wanted
Grandpa Tanner's famous Chicken Lips©, Boogas©,
and steak specials closer to their homes, too.
So Grandpa Tanner and friends opened up a new
location at 119th Street (right off 69 highway) a
few years later.
Not to leave out his friendly Missouri neighbors
who had come across State Line so many times to
visit the Kansas locations, Grandpa Tanner set out
to provide even more refreshment to the Show-Me
side of the big city, adding two more Bar and
Grills: one in historic Waldo at 74th Terrace and
Broadway, and a location downtown on 10th Street
and Broadway.
Now with four locations around town, Grandpa
Tanner was a busy man, but he made sure he visited
all the locations as much as possible to make sure
the Chicken Lips©, the Boogas©, and the beer met
his satisfaction. Grandpa Tanner was pleased when
he saw all the people coming to all the locations
to hang out with their neighbors and friends.
Never one for idle hands, Grandpa Tanner kept on
building Tanner's Bar and Grills, trying to keep
up with the demands of his customers. He added
locations in Lee's Summit and Blue Springs .
Grandpa Tanner was a busy man. But, he was a happy
man. His dream of being "The Friendly Purveyors of
Good Times, Fine Food and The Pause That
Refreshes" had become a reality. Grandpa Tanner
had come to the big city and done well.
In 2003, Grandpa Tanner decided to expand once
again. Johnson County continues to build south
with new businesses and new homes, and Grandpa
Tanner wanted to make sure the newcomers to the
area had a place to go for refreshment. A new
location at 143rd and Metcalf opened. With more
televisions than any other Tanner's location,
143rd and Metcalf quickly became the place to
watch KU football and basketball, the Chiefs, and
every other game on television.
Other towns are seeing how the good the great
people of Kansas City have it, and are demanding a
Tanner's of their own. A New location opened in
the fall of 2003 in Omaha, Neb. Nebraska,
Creighton and UNO fans can be found celebrating
their teams victories at the location in Omaha.
Grandpa Tanner doesn't make it around to all the
locations as often as he would like. Driving
around the big city all the time is a big task.
But he still likes to stop in one of the Tanner's
location every single day of the week, just to
make sure everything is up to his high standards.
The next time you visit Tanner's Bar and Grill,
take a peek behind the bar. You just might see
Grandpa Tanner, serving up drinks and chatting
with the customers, just as he's done for more
than 20 years.