BUFFALO (WBEN) - Al Burns has lived in Kansas City for 25 years now, though he spent the first 42 years of his life in Buffalo.
Burns was taken west by a job in pharmaceutical wholesale management that he couldn't turn down, so his wife and three kids packed up and moved to the Heart of America.
"I worked in corporate America, but my dream was always to open a bar," he said.
It took more than a decade of living in the Kansas City area before the opportunity to follow that dream became a real possibility. Burns' wife earned a promotion at her job, and that brought enough flexibility to follow through on what he always wanted to do.
"At the age of 55, I started looking at locations," Burns began. "We found a vacant (former) bar in a strip plaza a couple miles from my house, and the rest, as they say, is history."
Of course, Burns remains a huge Bills fan even though he's been living in the midwest for more than two decades - so much so that he made sure Al's Bar & Grill became the official Bills Backer Bar of Kansas City about six years ago. Burns said their following is starting to grow, as there are a lot of Buffalo residents who have since relocated because of Ford and Chevy.
As fate would have it, the first AFC Championship appearance for the Bills since the 1993-1994 season is in Kansas City, and it couldn't have come at a better time, as the Chiefs have been a powerhouse in the league for several years.
"I'm incredibly excited because, quite honestly, we've been taking a lot of heat from Kansas City fans - they're pretty proud of their team and they don't mind telling you about it all the time, and when they won the Super Bowl, they became a little bit more unbearable," he said.
"Some people are traveling a half hour, 40 minutes to get here, and they come here, number one, because there are Bills fans here, and number two, we cater to them," said Burns. "We have the best chicken wings in Kansas City, so they come here to eat chicken wings, drink Genesee and Labatt beer, and just be with other Bills people."
