Betty Rae’s opening OP ice cream shop in May, deepening Johnson County scoop-print
March 6, 2025 | Joyce Smith
Local favorite Betty Rae’s Ice Cream is expanding in Johnson County — taking a coveted corner spot in the Shoppes at Deer Creek Woods in sprawling Overland Park.
Future Betty Rae’s Ice Cream location at 6936 W. 135th. St. in Overland Park; photo by Joyce Smith
A May opening is scheduled at 6936 W. 135th. St. It will be the sixth Betty Rae’s for the metro. (Hen House Market is an anchor tenant in the center, just east of Metcalf Avenue.)
“When I bought the company two years ago, my intent was really to bring Betty Rae’s to more people in Kansas City,” owner Matt Shatto told Startland News. “We’ve looked at areas where we’re missing out — and where customers are missing out. Southern Johnson County is one of those places. We’re extremely excited to come to a new population, and hopefully they’ll embrace us, like we’re going to embrace them.”
Betty Rae’s Ice Cream serves 26 handmade premium ice cream flavors — from such classics as vanilla bean and chocolate to monthly specials like matcha, Bee’s Knees, and Nutty Professor. It also is known for its collaborations with other high-profile local businesses, incorporating popular ingredients like McLain’s Cinnamon Rolls (McLain’s Bakery) and Joe’s KC BBQ & Burnt Ends (Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que).
The company was founded in 2016. Shatto purchased it in May 2023 and rapidly added three locations.
Now Betty Rae’s has shops in Merriam, Olathe, Prairie Village, the River Market and Waldo, as well as an ice cream truck.
Its ice cream also is carried in 28 Cosentino family-owned Price Chopper, SunFresh, and Cosentino’s Market grocery stores, as well as many Hy-Vees.
Matt Shatto at the Betty Rae’s Ice Cream location in River Market; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News
Shatto also is franchising Betty Rae’s.
One location opened in Omaha in September and the franchisee is opening another soon.
In late February, Shatto announced seven cities in the region for his franchise footprint: St. Louis, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Bentonville, Arkansas; Nashville, Tennessee; Denver, Colorado; and Oklahoma City and Tulsa in Oklahoma.
ICYMI: Why keep Betty Rae’s from the world? KC ice cream shop franchising brand across region
“We wanted to get it to more people in Kansas City. But we didn’t want to limit [the brand] to people in Kansas City,” Shatto said of taking Betty Rae’s regional, then national.
The company is eying franchise partners who will open two to five shops in each market.
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
TFA, AT&T deal will expand computer science education in KC
Despite the growing number of computing job openings, only 1 in 4 U.S. schools offer computer science classes, according to the White House. To expand its computer science initiative, Teach for America Kansas City announced Monday that the organization received a donation of $100,000 from AT&T’s philanthropic arm, AT&T Aspire. The partnership’s goal is to…
Kansas program aims to create startups with public-private partnerships
A new Kansas program is tapping universities to incentivize residents to launch more startups through public-private partnerships. The Kansas Department of Commerce recently kicked off “JumpStart Kansas Entrepreneurs” in the hopes that it will spur economic growth in the Sunflower State via early-stage firms. “The program is designed to stimulate and grow the economy from…
Humanizing text analysis, Stride marches to international growth
Computers can do a lot these days, but they can’t process feelings. After all, that’s what sets humans apart from machine — right? Not necessarily it seems, as one Kansas-City based artificial intelligence firm is challenging that notion with its text-analyzing tech that not only identifies subjects but also a writer’s sentiment. A graduate of…
Idle Smart earns $125K in national clean energy program
Idle Smart recently was dubbed a top clean-energy firm and won some substantial investment capital for its technology. Based in Kansas City, Kan., the company was voted by its peers as the top firm in the Energy: US 2016 program, nabbing $125,000 for its smart thermostat device for fleet vehicles, such as semi-trucks. The company’s…