Small-town Kansas restaurant known statewide for chicken fried steak is for sale
Nearly nine years ago, I wrote about a little restaurant in a little Kansas town — Burrton, population 861 — that sits 37 miles northwest of Wichita.
At the time, The Barn at 307 Dean St. had been open only 10 months but had already reached a big milestone: It had just sold its 10,000th chicken fried steak and had celebrated by creating a big hoopla at the table of the somewhat confused diner who’d ordered it.
But it was a big deal for the owner of the restaurant, Lesley Matlack, who’d turned the interior of her barn-like structure into a stylish destination restaurant with mason jar chandeliers and a bar made out of an actual grain bin. After the story about the feat was published, The Barn became a statewide destination for diners in search of a good chicken fried steak.
And Kansans love a good chicken fried steak.
Now, The Barn — which opened on Oct. 29, 2015 — is making plans for its 10th birthday celebration. For the 10 weeks leading up to the birthday, Matlack said, the restaurant will offer a different special every week. The deals will start the week of Aug. 25, and the final special leading up to the big birthday will be half-price chicken fried steaks. The dish is still the restaurant’s biggest seller, followed by chicken fried chicken.
And Matlack has another piece of news to share about her restaurant, which is also known for its hand-cut steaks, chicken wings, fried shrimp and homemade pies.
After 10 years and 181,000 chicken fried steaks sold, The Barn is for sale.
Matlack said she’s tired and ready to move on to the next chapter in her life. She’s lost the drive she once had, and now that her children are older, she doesn’t have the time she once had to devote to the restaurant.
But it has so much more potential, she said.
“We are on the highway. We are a great name. And now, we’ve built up this brand,” she said. “Someone could take this place and triple what it does.”
She could envision someone turning the place into a honky-tonk bar, she said. She could see someone adding on a brewery.
It’s a turn-key operation, and a sale would include everything inside, she said. She thinks most of her staff would be willing to stay.
“You’d get an already running and well-known, working restaurant,” she said. “It’s already a destination place, but I think it could be a lot more.”
Anyone interested, she said, should visit the restaurant’s website, www.thebarnngrill.com, and send a message via the “contact us” tab. Those emails go straight to Matlack’s email, she said.
She also encourages the restaurant’s fans to watch Facebook starting in late August for announcements about the 10 weeks of birthday specials.
The Barn serves lunch and dinner Mondays through Thursdays and offers a breakfast menu from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. It’s closed on Sundays.
The restaurant offers several specials throughout the week, including half-price boneless wings on Monday nights and $9.99 burger and fries on Wednesday nights.
Monday nights at The Barn are “Mission Mondays,” and each week, the restaurant features a different group to receive 10% of its total sales from 4 to 9 p.m.
The Barn menu
.jpg)