Kansas City restaurants can get paid to expand outdoor dining with new $200K fund

Kansas City restaurants, bars and coffee shops — any establishment with a KCMO food or liquor license — will be able to apply for up to $15,000 to expand outdoor seating under a new ordinance passed unanimously by the city council Thursday.

“We recognize restaurants and bars often operate under thin margins and want to help support and bring their creative visions to life,” said Jazzlyn Johnson, spokeswoman for the mayor’s office.

The pilot program, called the Outdoor Dining Enhancement Grant Program, was sponsored by Mayor Quinton Lucas and 2nd District Councilman Wes Rogers. It commits $200,000 from the Convention and Tourism Fund in the recently passed 2024-25 budget and will be administered jointly by KC BizCare and the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City.

Johnson said the program grew out of observations from the pandemic, when many restaurants activated their outdoor areas to comply with COVID distancing restrictions. She said it was modeled after programs like one in Boulder, Colorado, which says its initiative provides a “post-pandemic model for reimagining how we utilize our public spaces.”

Rogers said he thought the funds could be particularly useful in the city’s more walkable neighborhoods.

“The West Side, 39th Street, midtown,” Rogers said. “I think it will be a good pathway for restaurants that want to build out their presence.”

Johnson said they expect to open up the program in July. KC Bizcare and EDCKC will review applications twice a year, in July and January, but establishments can submit applications at any time during the year.

“We hope this is an opportunity restaurants and bars will take full advantage of,” Johnson said. “And if the program (is successful), we’ll work to continue it into future years.”