diff --git a/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/README.md b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36f53a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint
+
+This module provides a readiness check available as a REST endpoint which indicates when any initial Kafka loads have
+completed. In order for this to matter, Kafka DataStores need to have `kafka.consumer.start-on-demand` set to false and
+`kafka.consumer.read-back` set to a non-zero value.
+
+The endpoint is available at `/geoserver/rest/kafka` (assuming a default context path).
diff --git a/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/pom.xml b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acdab98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>org.geomesa.geoserver</groupId>
+        <artifactId>geomesa-geoserver_2.12</artifactId>
+        <version>5.2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </parent>
+
+    <artifactId>geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint_2.12</artifactId>
+    <name>GeoMesa GeoServer Kafka Status Endpoint</name>
+
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.geoserver</groupId>
+            <artifactId>gs-rest</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.locationtech.geomesa</groupId>
+            <artifactId>geomesa-kafka-datastore_${scala.binary.version}</artifactId>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
+            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/resources/applicationContext.xml b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/resources/applicationContext.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..118af19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/resources/applicationContext.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+       xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+       xsi:schemaLocation="
+        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
+        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd">
+    <context:component-scan base-package="org.geomesa.gs.kafka.status"/>
+</beans>
diff --git a/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/scala/org/geomesa/gs/kafka/status/KafkaLoadStatusController.scala b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/scala/org/geomesa/gs/kafka/status/KafkaLoadStatusController.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2db0100
--- /dev/null
+++ b/geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint/src/main/scala/org/geomesa/gs/kafka/status/KafkaLoadStatusController.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/***********************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2013-2024 Commonwealth Computer Research, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials are
+ * made available under the terms of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE,
+ * Version 2 which accompanies this distribution and is available at
+ * https://opensource.org/licenses/GPL-2.0.
+ ***********************************************************************/
+
+package org.geomesa.gs.kafka.status
+
+import com.typesafe.scalalogging.StrictLogging
+import org.geoserver.catalog.event._
+import org.geoserver.catalog.{Catalog, DataStoreInfo, FeatureTypeInfo}
+import org.geoserver.rest.RestBaseController
+import org.locationtech.geomesa.kafka.data.KafkaCacheLoader
+import org.locationtech.geomesa.utils.concurrent.CachedThreadPool
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired
+import org.springframework.http.{HttpStatus, MediaType, ResponseEntity}
+import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.{GetMapping, RequestMapping, RestController}
+
+@RestController
+@RequestMapping(path = Array("/rest/kafka"), produces = Array(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE))
+class KafkaLoadStatusController extends RestBaseController with CatalogListener with InitializingBean with StrictLogging {
+
+  import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
+
+  @Autowired
+  private var catalog: Catalog = _
+
+  @volatile
+  private var loaded: Boolean = false
+
+  @GetMapping
+  // noinspection ScalaUnusedSymbol
+  def status(): ResponseEntity[String] = {
+    if (loaded && KafkaCacheLoader.LoaderStatus.allLoaded()) {
+      new ResponseEntity("", HttpStatus.OK)
+    } else {
+      new ResponseEntity("Kafka layers are still loading", HttpStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE)
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def afterPropertiesSet(): Unit = {
+    catalog.addListener(this)
+    reloaded()
+  }
+
+  override def handleAddEvent(event: CatalogAddEvent): Unit = loadStore(event)
+  override def handleModifyEvent(event: CatalogModifyEvent): Unit = loadStore(event)
+  override def handlePostModifyEvent(event: CatalogPostModifyEvent): Unit = loadStore(event)
+  override def handleRemoveEvent(event: CatalogRemoveEvent): Unit = {}
+
+  override def reloaded(): Unit = {
+    logger.info("Starting to load all datastores")
+    val start = System.currentTimeMillis()
+    CachedThreadPool.submit(() => {
+      try {
+        val futures = catalog.getDataStores.asScala.toList.map { dsi =>
+          CachedThreadPool.submit(() => {
+            val start = System.currentTimeMillis()
+            try { loadStore(dsi) } finally {
+              logger.info(s"Loaded store ${name(dsi)} in ${System.currentTimeMillis() - start}ms")
+            }
+          })
+        }
+        futures.foreach(_.get)
+        logger.info(s"Finished loading datastores in ${System.currentTimeMillis() - start}ms")
+      } finally {
+        loaded = true
+      }
+    })
+  }
+
+  private def loadStore(event: CatalogEvent): Unit = {
+    logger.debug(s"Received event: $event")
+    event.getSource match {
+      case dsi: DataStoreInfo   => loadStore(dsi)
+      case fti: FeatureTypeInfo => loadStore(fti.getStore)
+      case _ => // not a new layer - no action necessary
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def loadStore(dsi: DataStoreInfo): Unit = {
+    try { dsi.getDataStore(null) } catch {
+      case e: Throwable => logger.error(s"Error loading store ${name(dsi)}:", e)
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def name(dsi: DataStoreInfo): String = s"${dsi.getWorkspace.getName}:${dsi.getName}"
+
+  def setCatalog(catalog: Catalog): Unit = this.catalog = catalog
+  def getCatalog: Catalog = this.catalog
+}
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 954b0e1..adbced1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
     <modules>
+        <module>geomesa-gs-kafka-status-endpoint</module>
         <module>geomesa-gs-monitor-elasticsearch</module>
         <module>geomesa-gs-styling</module>
         <module>geomesa-gs-wfs</module>
@@ -224,6 +225,18 @@
                     </exclusion>
                 </exclusions>
             </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.geoserver</groupId>
+                <artifactId>gs-rest</artifactId>
+                <version>${geoserver.version}</version>
+                <scope>provided</scope>
+                <exclusions>
+                    <exclusion>
+                        <groupId>*</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>*</artifactId>
+                    </exclusion>
+                </exclusions>
+            </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.geoserver.extension</groupId>
                 <artifactId>gs-wps-core</artifactId>