Betty Rae's Ice Cream

Betty Rae’s Ice Cream is a Kansas City-born craft ice cream company famous for its bold, frequently rotating small-batch flavors. Founded in the Waldo neighborhood in 2016, it has been voted KC’s best ice cream in back-to-back local readers’ polls and has grown to roughly six metro shops plus a traveling truck — now under Shatto Milk Company ownership and expanding via franchise.

Description

Betty Rae’s Ice Cream is a Kansas City craft ice cream company recognized for its handcrafted, small-batch ice cream and an inventive, frequently rotating flavor lineup — roughly 26 core flavors supplemented by monthly specials and seasonal one-offs. The brand leans into bold and nostalgia-driven creations (cereal-milk and Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavors, brown butter pecan, goat cheese–apricot–walnut, s’mores, and collaborations with local businesses such as Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que), and it has been voted among Kansas City’s best ice cream in local readers’ polls in back-to-back years.¹²

This Registry entry pins the Prairie Village, Kansas shop at 5330 W 95th St, in the Meadowbrook shopping center, which opened in 2024 as part of a rapid multi-location expansion.³ Beyond scoop shops, Betty Rae’s runs a traveling ice cream truck, distributes pints into area grocery stores, and offers vegan and gluten-free options, ice cream sandwiches, shakes, affogatos, and ice cream flights.¹⁴

The company’s heritage location is in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri (7140 Wornall Rd), where Betty Rae’s began in 2016.²

Ownership and history

Betty Rae’s opened its first shop in Waldo (KCMO) in 2016, founded by David Friesen and Mary Nguyen, who later added a second shop in the River Market. The business is named after a grandmother of one of the founders — remembered as an inventive cook with a taste for the sweeter side of life.⁵²

In 2020 the original owners closed both shops amid allegations of misconduct.⁴ In early 2021, Alec Rodgers — a former Betty Rae’s scooper, then 23 — purchased the business and reopened both locations during the pandemic, leading the company through what he described as its busiest years ever.⁴ In May 2023, Rodgers sold Betty Rae’s to Matt Shatto, vice president of the local Shatto Milk Company and founder of Shatto Home Delivery; the sale committed to retaining staff, both original locations, existing flavors, and the ice cream truck while expanding into new locations and grocery retail.⁴

Under Shatto ownership the brand has expanded quickly across the metro — Olathe, Merriam (which houses the commissary/production facility), Prairie Village (this pin), and Overland Park (2025) — and launched a franchise program in 2024, with the first franchise opening in Omaha, Nebraska, in September 2024 and additional regional markets targeted (St. Louis, Wichita, Bentonville, Nashville, Denver, Oklahoma City, Tulsa).³⁶

Locations

Operator-level parent page (per 2026-05-17_strategist-session-decisions-rounds-1-10 §D6.3): this page lists every location; each is its own Map pin. This record absorbed the former standalone betty-raes-ice-cream-merriam.md (a per-location page that violated D6.3).

Location	Address	Note
Waldo (original/flagship)	7140 Wornall Rd, Kansas City, MO 64114	Founded 2016
River Market	412 Delaware St, Kansas City, MO 64105	Address verified 2026-07-187
Merriam	5740 Antioch Rd, Merriam, KS 66202	Opened 2024; also the production commissary8
Prairie Village	5330 W 95th St, Prairie Village, KS 66207	Meadowbrook center; opened 2024
Olathe	10470 S Ridgeview Rd, Olathe, KS 66061	Address verified 2026-07-187
Overland Park (two shops)	6936 W 135th St, Overland Park, KS 66223 · 8051 W 160th St (Bluhawk), Overland Park, KS 66223	Discrepancy resolved 2026-07-18: both cities have shops7
Shawnee	22350 W 66th St, Shawnee, KS 66226	Discrepancy resolved 2026-07-18: both cities have shops7
Omaha, NE	Omaha, NE	Franchise (Sept 2024) — out of KC metro
Traveling truck	—	Mobile

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Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-23 · Source: Betty Rae’s official Flavors page (signature/rotating flavors) + the brand’s menu listing (formats/prices) · URL(s): https://bettyraes.com/flavors-2/; http://bettyraes.squarespace.com/menu-1 · Confidence: Medium (flavors High from official Flavors page; format prices Medium — verified from the brand’s menu page and aggregators, but exact prices vary by location/date)

Flavors rotate. Betty Rae’s is built on small-batch, frequently changing flavors — roughly ~24 in the case at any time, drawn from a recurring core lineup plus monthly/seasonal one-offs and global-inspired specials. Treat the lists below as the recurring/signature set, not a fixed menu; the live case differs day to day.¹⁹

Ice cream — signature & recurring flavors

• Core mainstays: Vanilla, Chocolate, Cookies & Cream, Cookie Dough, Chocolate Brownie, Cinnamon, Salted Caramel, Peanut Butter, Strawberry, Mint & Chocolate Flakes.⁹
• Betty Rae’s signatures (the bold/nostalgia creations the brand is known for): Cereal Milk, Frosted Animal Cracker, Gooey Butter Cake, Brown Butter & Toasted Pecans, Lavender Honey, S’mores, Goat Cheese–Apricots–Candied Walnuts, and Thou Mayest Coffee (local-roaster collaboration).⁹
• Rotating / globally-inspired specials: e.g. Stroopwafel, London Fog, Dulce de Leche, Baklava, Sacher Torte, Cashew Butter Cake — these change frequently.⁹
• Non-dairy / vegan / sorbet: Vegan Vanilla, Non-Dairy Chocolate, plus rotating dairy-free options and fruit sorbets (e.g. Guava Sorbet, a pine-nut/oat-milk option). Dairy-free choices rotate alongside the standard case.⁹¹⁰

Formats & representative pricing

• Scoops: single scoop, “big” scoop, and two scoops — served in a cup, sugar cone (vegan), or cake cone; gluten-free cone available (+$1). Representative in-shop pricing has run roughly $3.25 single / $4.25 big / $5.25 two scoops (varies by location and over time).¹⁰
• Shakes & malts: any flavor or combo, in 12 / 16 / 20 oz (representative ~$5 / $6 / $7).¹⁰
• Floats & affogato: soda floats, cold-brew/espresso floats, and affogato (ice cream “swimming in a shot of fresh espresso”).¹⁰¹¹
• Sundaes: build-your-own plus named sundaes (e.g. Brownie Sundae, S’mores Sundae with torched mallow fluff, fudge, and graham).¹⁰¹¹
• Ice cream sandwiches: a build-a-sandwich option plus rotating pre-set sandwiches (including vegan-friendly builds such as a matcha/strawberry combo).¹⁰
• Take-home pints / quarts: flavors available packed to-go (and distributed into area grocery stores); aggregator listings show packaged pints around $8.99.¹²
• Boozy / 21+: spiked shakes and floats offered on-premises during evening hours (roughly $8–$9.50).¹⁰

Prices are representative and subject to change; they vary by location and were drawn from the brand’s menu listing and delivery aggregators rather than a single canonical price sheet.

Links

• Website: https://www.bettyraes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bettyraes/
• Phone: (816) 603-1380

See also

• Registry
• prairie-village

Sources

Footnotes

1. Betty Rae’s Ice Cream — official site & About page (“KC’s boldest flavors” since 2016, ~26 small-batch flavors, six neighborhood locations + truck, named for a grandmother, donates 10% of profits). https://bettyraes.com/ and https://bettyraes.com/about/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Feast Magazine / Visit KC / KCTV5 / Yelp — Waldo 2016 founding, River Market second shop, “award-winning Kansas City favorite,” signature flavors, 7140 Wornall Rd. https://www.feastmagazine.com/the-feed/kansas_city_news/article_771e3e30-b85e-11e8-bdb7-a72db7d20ec5.html; https://www.visitkc.com/listings/betty-raes-ice-cream/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Startland News — “Why keep Betty Rae’s from the world? KC ice cream shop franchising brand across region” (current locations: Merriam/commissary, Olathe, Prairie Village, River Market, Waldo; franchise terms; Omaha first franchise Sept 2024; seven target markets). https://www.startlandnews.com/2025/02/betty-raes-ice-cream-franchise/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩²

4. KCUR — “After reviving Betty Rae’s Ice Cream, owner Alec Rodgers is selling the company” (full ownership chain: Friesen & Nguyen founders → 2020 closure amid misconduct allegations → Alec Rodgers buys & reopens early 2021 → Matt Shatto / Shatto Milk acquires, May 2023). https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2023-05-20/betty-raes-ice-cream-kansas-city-new-owner-shatto-milk — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Betty Rae’s — official “About Us” page (founders, Waldo origin, naming/back-story). https://bettyraes.squarespace.com/new-page-1 — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩

6. Startland News / Johnson County Post / KCTV5 — Overland Park location opening May 2025, “popular local ice cream chain.” https://startlandnews.com/2025/03/betty-raes-overland-park/; https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/03/10/betty-raes-overland-park-254620/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩

7. Betty Rae’s Ice Cream — official Locations page. https://bettyraes.com/locations/ — Confirms: River Market at 412 Delaware St, Kansas City, MO 64105; Olathe at 10470 S Ridgeview Rd, Olathe, KS 66061; two Overland Park shops (6936 W 135th St and Bluhawk at 8051 W 160th St, both 66223) and a Shawnee shop (22350 W 66th St, 66226) — resolving the Overland-Park-vs-Shawnee discrepancy (both opened); Prairie Village at 5330 W 95th St, Prairie Village, KS 66207; Merriam at 5740 Antioch Rd with phone (913) 232-8167. No phone published for the Prairie Village shop; (816) 603-1380 appears nowhere on the page. Accessed 2026-07-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. Johnson County Post — “Kansas City ice cream shop Betty Rae’s opening in Merriam” (5740 Antioch Rd; production center; 2024). https://johnsoncountypost.com/2024/03/07/merriam-betty-raes-228757/ — accessed 2026-05-30. (Merged in from the former betty-raes-ice-cream-merriam.md.) See also The Pitch — “Allegations of misconduct swirl around Betty Rae’s Ice Cream ownership.” https://www.thepitchkc.com/allegations-of-misconduct-swirl-around-betty-raes-ice-cream-ownership/ — basis for the provisional-ownership note. ↩

9. Betty Rae’s Ice Cream — official Flavors page. https://bettyraes.com/flavors-2/ — Asserts: current core/mainstay flavor lineup, signature/nostalgia creations (Cereal Milk, Frosted Animal Cracker, Gooey Butter Cake, Brown Butter & Toasted Pecans, Lavender Honey, S’mores, Goat Cheese–Apricots–Walnuts, Thou Mayest Coffee), rotating globally-inspired specials, and rotating non-dairy/vegan/sorbet options. Accessed 2026-06-23. (Flavors rotate — listed as recurring/signature, not a fixed menu.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

10. Betty Rae’s Ice Cream — brand menu listing (formats & representative prices: single/big/two scoops, cup/sugar/cake/gluten-free cone, shakes & malts in 12/16/20 oz, floats, sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, boozy shakes/floats). http://bettyraes.squarespace.com/menu-1 — accessed 2026-06-23. Medium confidence — prices vary by location/date; not a single canonical price sheet. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

11. Betty Rae’s / Visit KC listing — concept summary: ice cream served “on a cone, in a float, shake, sundae, ice cream sandwich or swimming in a shot of fresh espresso” (affogato); ~24 flavors made in-house plus non-dairy/vegan/sorbet and take-home pints. https://www.visitkc.com/listings/betty-raes-ice-cream/ — accessed 2026-06-23. ↩ ↩²

12. Delivery aggregators (Uber Eats / DoorDash) — packaged take-home pints listed ~$8.99 (Overland Park & River Market storefronts), confirming pint distribution and representative packaged pricing. https://www.ubereats.com/store/betty-raes-ice-cream-overland-park-6936-west-135th-street/weyLASztXi2LIsF3VmnNfQ; https://www.doordash.com/store/betty-raes-ice-cream-kansas-city-588533/ — accessed 2026-06-23. Medium confidence — aggregator pricing typically carries a markup over in-shop. ↩