diff --git a/arcus_zk.c b/arcus_zk.c
index 584d1cfbc..d4218a51c 100644
--- a/arcus_zk.c
+++ b/arcus_zk.c
@@ -1833,6 +1833,7 @@ void arcus_zk_get_confs(arcus_zk_confs *confs)
 void arcus_zk_get_stats(arcus_zk_stats *stats)
 {
     stats->zk_connected = (main_zk != NULL && main_zk->zh != NULL) ? true : false;
+    stats->zk_ready = arcus_conf.znode_created;
 #ifdef ENABLE_ZK_RECONFIG
     stats->zk_reconfig_needed = zk_reconfig.needed;
     stats->zk_reconfig_enabled = zk_reconfig.enabled;
diff --git a/arcus_zk.h b/arcus_zk.h
index d1038e3c9..ce9ee6e90 100644
--- a/arcus_zk.h
+++ b/arcus_zk.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ typedef struct {
 
 typedef struct {
     bool     zk_connected;  // ZooKeeper-memcached connection state
+    bool     zk_ready;      // cache-list znode created?
 #ifdef ENABLE_ZK_RECONFIG
     bool     zk_reconfig_needed;  // ZK dynamic reconfig is needed?
     bool     zk_reconfig_enabled; // ZK dynamic reconfig enabled in ZK?
diff --git a/memcached.c b/memcached.c
index 2493d25fc..72f970b0e 100644
--- a/memcached.c
+++ b/memcached.c
@@ -8174,6 +8174,7 @@ static void process_stats_zookeeper(ADD_STAT add_stats, void *c)
     APPEND_STAT("zk_timeout", "%u", zk_confs.zk_timeout);
     APPEND_STAT("zk_failstop", "%s", zk_confs.zk_failstop ? "on" : "off");
     APPEND_STAT("zk_connected", "%s", zk_stats.zk_connected ? "true" : "false");
+    APPEND_STAT("zk_ready", "%s", zk_stats.zk_ready ? "true" : "false");
 #ifdef ENABLE_ZK_RECONFIG
     APPEND_STAT("zk_reconfig_needed", "%s", zk_stats.zk_reconfig_needed ? "on" : "off");
     if (zk_stats.zk_reconfig_needed) {
@@ -13240,6 +13241,20 @@ static void process_command_ascii(conn *c, char *command, int cmdlen)
         process_lqdetect_command(c, tokens, ntokens);
     }
 #endif
+    else if ((ntokens == 2) && (strcmp(tokens[COMMAND_TOKEN].value, "ready") == 0))
+    {
+#ifdef ENABLE_ZK_INTEGRATION
+        if (!arcus_zk_cfg) {
+            out_string(c, "READY");
+        } else {
+            arcus_zk_stats zk_stats;
+            arcus_zk_get_stats(&zk_stats);
+            out_string(c, zk_stats.zk_ready ? "READY" : "NOT_READY");
+        }
+#else
+        out_string(c, "READY");
+#endif
+    }
     else /* no matching command */
     {
         if (settings.extensions.ascii != NULL) {