It’s Zarda BBQ day at Chiefs camp. That means 150 pounds of burnt ends & 85 slabs of ribs

After 36 years of serving barbecue at Kansas City Chiefs training camp, Terry Hyer knows he can’t show up on feast day without these items from the Zarda Bar-B-Q menu: the hand-cut burnt ends, cheesy potato bake and burnt end baked beans.

“When they come back for seconds, I can almost guarantee you that’s what they come back for,” said the “Zarda guy.” (Hyer is the chief operating officer for the Blue Springs-based company but doesn’t like titles.)

“Those offensive linemen ... I seriously can’t understand how much cheesy potato bake those guys eat.”

Hyer’s five-person crew, suited up in Zarda polo shirts, was at training camp Tuesday for a very popular food day in St. Joseph. The chefs take the day off, and the Zarda folks pull into camp with their smoker.

This year they’re serving dinner, and a small lunch, to nearly 200 players, coaches and staff members, “our largest group to date,” Hyer said by phone from St. Joseph. “When I check in with the chefs at training camp who provide their meals, they said the numbers tend to grow on Zarda night.”

Here’s what the Zarda folks prepared for the feast:

• 85 slabs of baby back ribs (not a menu item but special for the team);

• 150 pounds of limited reserve burnt ends;

• 75 pounds of pulled pork;

• 50 pounds of smoked sliced turkey;

• 10 gallons of barbecue beans;

• 10 gallons on cheesy potato bake;

• 10 gallons of white cheddar mac and cheese.

All that, plus 100 bottles of Zarda sauces, all flavors, including original recipe and the sweet Lil’ Ghost. Anything that doesn’t get used on Tuesday, “we leave those for them,” said Hyer.

He added: “It’s Christmas day here.”

He has a special gift for the players this year. They get to try a new root beer barbecue sauce, a sweet-and-spicy creation with a touch of habanero heat.

“I always try to do something different for the Chiefs,” Hyer said. “It’s really good. I like it, but they will let me know tonight.”

If the sauce passes the Chiefs test, it could make it onto the menu of Zarda’s two locations in Blue Springs and Lenexa, Hyer said.

The players are enthusiastic guinea pigs. They were the first, for instance, to taste Zarda’s dry rub burnt ends — pit-charred and lightly dusted with sweet-and-spicy dry rub — before they made it onto the menu.

“We took them to the Chiefs and they ate those things down,” said Hyer.

And for the vegetarians on the team? The team’s chefs provide for them — there’s a huge salad bar — but Hyer was unaware of any on the team at the moment, or ever, though he did recall former tight end Tony Gonzalez going vegetarian at some point in his career.

“I can tell you from personal observation, there’s not a lot else being eaten on the night we’re here,” he said.

‘A pile of rib bones’

Several eras of Chiefs players have dined on Zarda barbecue during training camp and Hyer has been there the entire ride. Zarda was already catering for the team when it moved training from William Jewell College in Liberty to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1991.

“When they made the decision to go to River Falls, Lamar Hunt looked at me and said, ‘We ought to bring you guys to River Falls.’ He looked over at (general manager) Carl Peterson and said, ‘Carl, I think we ought to have Zarda Bar-B-Q come up to River Falls,” Hyer said.

Back then Hyer would spend a few extra days at camp, enjoying the perk of sitting on the sidelines watching Joe Montana and Marcus Allen hone their craft. He’s got stories.

One year back in the ‘90s, linebacker Tracy Simien brought a little extra weight to camp. And wouldn’t you know? He had a weigh-in on barbecue day.

I can’t believe I’m going to miss it, he told Hyer.

“I said, ‘Tracy, I got you,’” Hyer said. “I worked with the chef and we took two plates of barbecue and put them aside, so the next day after he made weight he was able to have his barbecue meal.”

One year, teammates Derrick Thomas, who died in 2000, and Neil Smith had a rib-eating contest. To this day, Hyer said, Smith insists he won.

“He will still tell you he ate more ribs than Derrick,” Hyer said. “There was a pile of rib bones on the middle of that table unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Those guys went to town on those ribs.”

Zarda hits ‘New Heights’

Tight end Travis Kelce extolled the barbecue feast last year on the “New Heights” podcast he hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce, who had never heard of “Zarda night.”

“You can smell the smoker while you’re at practice in the morning. You just know it’s about to hit you,” Travis said.

The first barbecue gets served for lunch after the team’s morning practice. Hyer and his crew park their smoker and signature red van in front of Blum Union, where they serve team personnel and media.

Folks like Chiefs announcer Mitch Holthus — and veteran players — “know where we’re at, and they’ll make their way by,” Hyer said. “We’ll give them little samples and platters.”

On Tuesday, for the second straight year, linebacker Nick Bolton was first in line.

“Chris Jones has been there before asking us questions about the smoker. Mecole Hardman often comes by,” said Hyer. “We’ve had (John) Dorsey — when he was the general manager — he would ride his bicycle up and eat sandwiches. He would say, ‘I smelled that smoke from over the hill.’

“Then we’ll see them again in the evening.”

He was in his 20s when he started serving barbecue to the team, back when “these guys were larger than life and my eyes just had stars in them,” Hyer said.

He continued.

“As time went on ... these are just really cool people who are really good at doing their job. They’re just normal, and every one of them that comes through, and I mean every one of them — including coaches — says thank you,” Hyer said. “And a lot of them will stop and talk to you. Travis Kelce, he is a nut. He will come over and spend 20 minutes just chit-chatting about whatever, and this was before Taylor Swift.

“And so does Patrick Mahomes, the biggest quarterback in this league, he comes over ... and says thank you. We’re just so happy to be here and take their minds off what goes on in training camp.”

Hyer makes sure to haul enough food to St. Joseph from Blue Springs, fresh out of the hickory pits, that he doesn’t run out. And by now, the players know what happens to the leftovers.

“All the food that’s left over, the chefs put it away and get it out and warm it up at (evening) snack time,” Hyer said.

“So they’ll come back at 9 tonight.”

Includes reporting by The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff.