A Kansas City-based brewery’s Johnson County debut has officially begun to take shape.
Initial site work recently began on KC Bier Co.’s new Lenexa restaurant and beer garden.
Pending construction, KC Bier Co. founder Steve Holle estimates the new Lenexa spot will open in the spring or summer of 2026.
KC Bier Co. is coming to the Vista Village development
- The brewery will build a new space at the northeast corner of 98th Street and Ridgeview Road in Lenexa, just north of Kansas Highway 10.
- KC Bier Co. will be part of the new Vista Village mixed-use development, which is being spearheaded by Kansas City-based West Star Development.
- Regular hours for the new Lenexa location have not yet been finalized, but Holle said it will likely be open every day of the week.
KC Bier Co. offers beers and German-style street food
At the two-acre site in Lenexa, plans call for a large beer hall, where beer is produced and served on site.
One key difference from the Waldo location, Holle said, is that the Lenexa location will have a full kitchen.
Its menu will offer classic German dishes like schnitzel, rotisserie chicken, Döner kebabs and pretzels — as well as some other non-German dishes like pizza.
Other features at KC Bier Co. will include an event space with room for roughly 200 people, a Biergarten with a children’s area, a covered patio, an off-leash dog park and an amphitheater.
The Biergarten will also feature a covered stage with a large TV, where Holle hopes customers will be able to watch the World Cup in 2026.
“Our little location in Waldo, draws a lot of German soccer league fans, and just soccer fans in general,” he said.
This marks KC Bier Co.’s debut in Johnson County
The brewery opened its flagship location in Kansas City, Missouri’s Waldo neighborhood in 2014.
Since then, Holle said the brewery has become popular among Kansas Citians on the Missouri side.
On the retail side, KC Bier Co. also produces a variety of German-style beers in kegs, bottles and cans, which are distributed across Kansas and Missouri markets.
Holle said the decision to bring the concept to a new market in Johnson County came with the opportunity to try some new things for the brand itself.
“I just feel like we had an opportunity to do what we do in Waldo on a bigger scale,” he said. “When (West Star Development) approached us, I thought it was a tremendous location and it was a new area of town for us. Quite the distance from Waldo, and great highway access.”
Ultimately, he said he’s looking forward to bringing something regionally unique to the area, where the community can come together the way that they do overseas.
“I think that’s one of the really unique things and special things about visiting Munich,” he said. “It is Bavarian-inspired, but in essence, it’s just a place people come and talk, eat, drink, listen to music, and bring their families.”
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