Arthur Bryant
Working for him was Charlie Bryant, who in turn brought his brother Arthur Bryant into the business. Charlie took over the Perry restaurant in 1940 on Perry's death. Arthur then took over his brother's business in 1946 and the restaurant was renamed Arthur Bryant's. In the process he sweetened Perry's sauce with molasses "so that you could eat it on bread."
Bryant who eventually moved to 1727 Brooklyn in the same neighborhood became a stopping ground for baseball fans and players in the 1950s and 1960s because of its close proximity to Municipal Stadium.
In 1974 Kansas City native Calvin Trillin wrote an article in New Yorker Magazine proclaiming Bryant's to be the best restaurant on the planet.
Despite new found fame, Bryant did not change its very simple decor with fluorescent lighting and formica tables and 5-gallon jars of sauce in the windows even as Presidents Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan stopped by.
Bryant died of a heart attack in a bed that he kept at the restaurant just after Christmas in 1982. The restaurant is still open.
Gates & Sons
In 1946 Arthur Pinkard - who was a cook for Perry - joined with George Gates to form Gates and Sons BBQ. The restaurant was initially in the same neighborhood.
More molasses was added to the Gates barbecue sauce to make it sweeter. Gates also expanded its footprint in a more conventional way, with restaurants all displaying certain trademarks -- red-roofed buildings, a recognizable logo (a strutting man clad in tuxedo and top hat) and the customary "Hi, May I Help You?" greeting belted out by its employees as patrons enter.
Gates has opened restaurants throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area.