FRONTENAC, Kan. — With the new year came the launch of additional hours and a new breakfast menu for Shooters Neighborhood Bar and Grill, 311 E. McKay Street in Frontenac.
From 7 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday the eatery will serve biscuits and gravy, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, ham, omelets and more to hungry patrons.
“It was always in the back of my mind,” Owner Cody SeRoy said. “Like, what can I do more to get these doors open sooner, so I can help the community out, as far as feeding them in the morning.”
SeRoy said he took a lot of suggestions from community members, and that it made sense to start serving breakfast now with McKay Street Coffeehouse directly across the street from his restaurant.
After working at Shooters for four years and armed with decades of kitchen experience, SeRoy purchased the bar and grill from Jeff Strahan in 2024.
“I'm still pinching myself about it,” SeRoy said. “It’s like a dream come true. I feel lucky. I feel fortunate. I've got a lot of good feedback from the community.”
When he took over the business, he updated a few menu items and added wings made with a recipe he crafted. He said he didn’t change much because the quality of the food was already there. Ninety percent of the dishes served are made from fresh ingredients, he said.
Throughout the years, SeRoy has learned from chefs, butchers and other restaurant owners, but his love of food started at home. SeRoy recalled how his father loved to cook and would always be in the kitchen. His grandparents also owned a bakery in Crawford County called Batton Bakery.
“Some of the best memories I have are of food and music,” he said. “Those are the best memories I really have. Like, you taste something, or you smell something, or you hear something and it reminds you of things.”
SeRoy has worked in kitchens since he was 15 years old. He has cooked at 5th Street Bar and Grill and Pittsburg State University in the Overman Student Center, where he also did retail and catering. In 2002, he helped feed more than 5,000 at Pittsburg High School during the Shrine Bowl.
For two years, he worked at Superior Industries in Pittsburg until its closure in 2008. Determined that one day he would own his own restaurant, SeRoy went on to obtain a heating, cooling and refrigeration repair certification from the Wichita Technical Institute (WTI) campus in Joplin. This would allow him to make his own repairs at his business.
In 2010, SeRoy moved to Montana, where he worked in a hotel restaurant and on a ranch as a part time ranch hand. He later moved to Portland, Oregon, to study under a butcher with the goal of traveling to different ranches to provide on-site butchering services. During this time, he also helped a locally-owned restaurant, Feastworks Delicatessen, sell products at the farmers’ market. He became enamored with the food, and the restaurant’s chef asked him to work for her full time.
“In that kitchen, I learned a tremendous amount,” he said. “I fed a lot of neat people, did a lot of cool catering events.”
SeRoy said they made at least seven different types of sausage, three different types of pate and a variety of other dishes. The restaurant was a small space but they would often have a line out the door of people waiting to eat their food.
“It was high end food at a reasonable price,” he said. “That's one big thing I learned from them, was to serve the best quality food you possibly can and serve it to them as cheap as you can.”
SeRoy moved back to the Crawford County area in 2018, then helped open Brick + Mortar in downtown Pittsburg the next year. He ultimately found his home inside the four walls of Shooters Neighborhood Bar and Grill in Frontenac. SeRoy said he remembers visiting the bar years ago when it was called Rick’s Recreation. Even then, he said, he knew it was a special space.
In the coming months or years, SeRoy wants to spruce up the building by adding a sign, do some painting, and potentially update the floors. But his ultimate goal is to feed people and make them happy.
“I think that's why I was put on this earth, was to keep people happy from the inside,” SeRoy said. “It's an honor to me to feed people and have people enjoy my food and come back to this place on a daily. It's kind of a pat on the back, and it's money in my pocket, so to speak, you know, to pay the bills. So, it's been a lot of fun. It's been a journey. I just want to feed the best food I can possibly to the people in the community that surround me.”
Shooters is open Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 12 a.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.
