Somali KC Burgers Stay Winning

Social media marketing lures influencers to this quaint family biz that doesn't actually sell hamburgers. 

Here's the backstory . . .  

KC Burgers is, in fact, a fast-casual Somali restaurant—with hilariously excellent search engine optimization. Awo, who bought the restaurant from his parents in August of last year, laughs when I ask about it. “It’s a marketing genius idea that they had,” he says, recalling his parent’s decision to name the restaurant after the quintessential American dish. His parents, who are from Somalia (Awo was born in Kenya), opened the restaurant in 2019 just east of Gates and PeachTree Cafeteria off 12th Street and Brooklyn Avenue. There’s no sugarcoating it. The front windows are lined with bars, and there’s an unmistakable crack in one of them from a bullet. The undercover Somali spot usually flows in and out with a mix of East African natives, women wearing hijabs and those coming in from Jum’ah, their Friday midday prayer—that is until recently. 

“I don’t know what I did,” says 31-year-old Awo. “People just started making TikTok videos of us.” 

The videos circulating online refer to KC Burgers as a hidden gem. 

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Why have you been hearing about KC Burgers all of the sudden? Here's a hint: It's not because of the burgers.

The videos online refer to KC Burgers as a hidden gem. In my time as a food writer, I've found possibly no other restaurant more deserving.