Scoop: Popular Betty Rae’s Ice Cream reopening in 2 Kansas City spots with new owner

Kansas City’s popular Betty Rae’s Ice Cream will reopen soon under a new owner but familiar face.

Alec Rodgers, former front of the house manager, has purchased the name, recipes and equipment. He plans to reopen the River Market and Waldo shops in mid-March with many of the former employees.

“I love the shop, I love the people and the customers. It’s such a great culture,” Rodgers said. “It’s rare that you see smiling faces all the time. It’s great to be able to provide a product that people love so much.”

On its opening day in Waldo in 2016, Betty Rae’s had a line of customers waiting in the drizzling rain, and those lines continued to build, especially in the summer evenings and on weekends.

Fans came for house-made flavors such as brown butter and toasted pecans, lavender honey, peanut butter, s’mores, cereal desist (with six candied cereals) and chocolate. Seasonal flavors include strawberry cheesecake and a Girl Scout cookies-based ice cream with Shortbread/Trefoils, Caramel deLites, Thin Mints and Lemonades.

There was even a limited run of barbecue ice cream, made with Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que sauce and burnt ends.

Two years after opening the Waldo shop, founder David Friesen added a River Market location. He also had a food truck.

But in early November, Friesen was arrested on a non-aggravated domestic violence assault charge, and was then served with a protection order. His wife filed for divorce later that month. His wife couldn’t be reached for comment, and her attorney declined to comment.

Friesen said he is innocent of the domestic charge.

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

“Too much bad happened to make this palatable for me again. Sad,” said one Facebook comment.

Friesen looked for a new owner and had several offers, but he said he wanted to sell the business to someone who would understand it is more than just an ice cream shop. It is about “the people who serve it and the people we serve.”

“It’s really fitting that they take it over from us. We’re overjoyed for them,” he said of the former employees. “It’s time for me to move on.”

Rodgers, 23, had several jobs while earning a degree in finance and entrepreneurship at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, mostly with corporate or start-up companies, along with more than two years at Betty Rae’s.

“People asked me what I was going to do after college. I said I wanted to stay at Betty Rae’s the rest of my life,” he said. “It allowed me to be creative but also had that structured business side, too.”

Ori Solomon, who was manager of the ice cream truck, and Kirby Clause, who was kitchen manager, also are returning, as well as the kitchen staff. Rodgers is contacting former counter employees, called “scoopers.”

“The fact that employees are returning is a testament to the culture that Betty Rae’s did have and they are excited to recreate that culture,” Rodgers said.