KC’s Betty Rae’s Ice Cream remains closed as it looks for new funding or a new owner

Betty Rae’s Ice Cream was embraced by Waldo the day its doors opened in 2016, with customers filling the shop and sitting on car bumpers happily eating in the drizzling rain.

In nicer weather, lines snaked down the street for its house-made flavors such as brown butter and toasted pecans, and maple blueberry pancake.

Two years later, founder David Friesen added a River Market shop. He also has a food truck.

Now he has one goal — for Betty Rae’s Ice Cream to continue with or without him.

In a social media post Tuesday, Friesen said: “We were hoping to be open for Restaurant week, but unfortunately 2020 finally caught up with us. We’re currently looking for working capital and waiting on the 2nd wave of PPP loans, but the margins were too tight and we would never risk not making payroll, which means we’ll have to remain closed. Hopefully we’ll be able to serve you ice cream again, but it won’t be in the near future.”

In a phone interview, he added: “If we get the PPP I can reopen the River Market location and reopen Waldo later. Or it could continue under a different owner.”

Before the pandemic, Friesen had challenges — two shops and a food truck in five years, with three children now ages 5 and under. When he felt overwhelmed he said he split his job up, sharing duties with his wife and two others for nearly a year.

In early November Friesen was arrested on a non-aggravated domestic violence assault charge, and then served with a protection order. His wife filed for divorce later that month. Her attorney declined to comment.

Friesen said he is innocent of the domestic charge.

The business has been a target on social media, including calls for a boycott.

On Facebook, people are leaving comments such as: “Too much bad happened to make this palatable for me again. Sad.”

Friesen said he was planning on selling the business in a year or two to someone with deeper pockets who could expand the business.

“We could be in grocery stores and we could have at least 10 shops in the whole KC area and not over-saturate the market,” he said. “This just kind of accelerated the process.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 3:08 PM.