Meet Kay Clark of KC’s WingBar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kay Clark.

Hi Kay, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My name is Keshia Clark, but a lot of people know me by Kay Clark. I am 29 years old. I started KC’s WingBar in October 2017 (24 years old) from home for friends/family. I had been working at a job for two years that I didn’t feel was meeting their core values and I wanted to go into business for myself doing something I loved instead of looking for other employment.

I was always told that my cooking/wings were really good so I decided to start a business plan. I created my Facebook business page and started offering orders to friends, family, and co-workers and soon word of mouth spread around the city. I went on to get proper licensing for my business and I began to appear at local vendor/pop-up events with my catering equipment which would sell out!

I was still working my job until March 2019 while raising two of my three children at the time. After I left my place of employment in 2019, I went full-time with my brand. I began to go out to more events held throughout the city and take my business cards, and network network network! I always believed networking is important. In 2019, I eventually partnered with DoorDash working from a private kitchen, and offered services through their merchant portal for my customers which boosted my business tremendously.

I also partnered with other people on several occasions who impact our community to offer free services (food) to women & children. I even partnered with someone to host my very own Wing Wednesdays on 31st Gillham for 4 months, it was very successful. We sold out of at least 800-900 wings in 4 hours almost every Wednesday. In 2020, business slowed because of the pandemic.

I was in food, but I made most of my money for the business through events/catering, etc. so it did have an impact on revenue that year. However, in August 2020, I was still able to host my very own Wings & Wine Networking Event. It was put together to offer business information, and ideas to people within our community who were thinking of starting their own brand. We had guest speakers who owned their own businesses who gave out helpful tips and we even held a two-stepping class for fun at the end.

The guest loved how the wine education as well, which was designed to help pair the proper wine with the right selection of wings. I was able to sell out of tickets for that event even during a pandemic which I was very grateful for. In 2021, I was expecting another child, my first baby boy (very exciting since I had two girls already) so I was down most of the beginning of that year, relaxing and focusing on preparing for the baby. Even though I was down, I was still working on the back end. I was able to partner with someone else and we got our hands on a food truck in 2021!

I was feeling blessed all around because it was what I had been praying for! I had my son in July 2021 and began immediately working on the food truck in September 2021. We ran the food truck consistently at different events and just parked at places like Truman Medical and The Post Office on Truman Road from September-December. We did so well when we started the truck that in November 2021 we were featured in the Kansas City Star as having a Cinderella Story.

As of today, we are looking forward to rolling the truck back out in April for food truck season and our website www.kcwingbar.com. The website is live and anyone may go and subscribe with their email to be one of the first to know when the site has actually launched.

It will offer more knowledge about where our truck will be, upcoming events we will host, menu and catering information, reviews, merchandise for purchase, and more. We really came a long way.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Heck no the road has not been smooth. I wish, lol.

But I always believed the tough times are what make you and what makes you appreciate the journey. I was a mom raising two toddlers when I began my business. I had just had one of my daughters in February 2017 (the same year, I started my business) and my oldest daughter was only two years old.

I had to work around their schedules and my own to make everything work. Luckily, I had a great support system who kept an eye on my children so I could make things happen, but still, at times it was like pulling teeth to get everyone on board.

The toughest part would be money. It takes money to make money and I was investing in my business and trying to maintain my personal life. In 2018, I eventually lost my car and had to get a new one in 2019, by the end of 2019, I lost my place and had to start over with that as well. Things sometimes felt discouraging, but I always kept my faith in The Most High and counted my blessings.

Since getting the truck, it sat over the winter and has had some maintenance issues under the hood we’re currently working on getting fixed, that has been the challenging part with having a food truck is maintenance. Finding the right mechanic to get things done quickly has not been easy.

Also, inflation has been challenging due to the rise in food costs and fuel. We always believed in quality wings for affordable pricing, so having to raise our prices to align with inflation has been a tough decision as well.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about KC’s WingBar?
KC’s WingBar is the Amazon of chicken! We offer specialty chicken wings to our wing connoisseurs.

Our food truck allows us to be mobile to serve different parts of our local Kansas City area. We are partnered through DoorDash as well to offer delivery services to those in our area of service who may not be able to make it to the truck. Our website has been launched this April along with the return of our food truck.

We also plan to host another Wings & Wine Networking event this year in June (more details will be listed on our website www.kcwingbar.com). I would like for readers to know we offer catering services for any event (birthdays, holidays, baby showers, weddings, etc.).

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My advice to those starting would be to stay determined, dedicated, and consistent. The biggest thing is to believe in YOURSELF even when you may feel others don’t.

No one will follow if you don’t believe in yourself first! That’s key. Stay humble, but never let people play with you or your brand, and of course, pray over your business daily, nothing can be done without The Highest!

Don’t be afraid to ask for help with things you may not understand with your business and utilize every resource, that’s what they’re there for.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.kcwingbar.com
• Instagram: @KCWingBar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCWingBar/