Wichita Brewing Company’s brewpubs have new owners, and one of them is Freddy’s grandson
Wichita Brewing Company’s two — and soon-to-be three — local brewpubs have some new owners, and one of them is part of the family that founded the Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers chain.
Ben Simon, the son of Freddy’s co-founder Randy Simon and the chain’s longtime senior vice president for company store operations, is among a group that now has a majority stake in the restaurants at 535 N. Woodlawn and 8815 W. 13th St. The group already owned the under-construction Wichita Brewing Company restaurant at 901 W. Douglas in Delano.
The deal, inked last week, gives the majority stake in the restaurants to a group led by Simon, who will serve as president, and Freddy’s franchisee Joe Fernandez, who will be the director of operations. The new ownership group also includes Ben Hesse, COO at Cocoa Dolce, and Cole Hesse, who will serve as the operations manager at WBC Delano.
WBC co-founder Jeremy Horn also will remain part of the ownership group. The deal did not involve the big production and canning facility at 727 E. Osie that WBC opened in 2016 or its event venue at 6160 E. Central.
Simon’s father, Randy, and Randy’s business partner, Scott Redler, sold Freddy’s to a private equity firm in 2021. Ben stayed on in his role at Freddy’s until June of 2023 and since then has been working on side projects and investments, he said. Acquiring WBC was one of his side projects.
Ben Hesse is a neighbor of Horn’s, and he also happens to be Simon’s brother-in-law. (And Cole Hesse’s first cousin.)
“They just got to talking over the years,” Simon said. “We were all big fans of the beer and the pizza and the brand. We drank the beer, and we ate the pizza.”
As time went on, Simon said, “the wheels got turning” and the idea that he and Ben Hesse could buy a stake in the business came up. Those discussions continued and led to the sale.
The new majority owners haven’t yet decided what, if any, changes they’ll make to the restaurants. For now, they’re focused on opening the Delano brew pub, which will have a rooftop bar. They’re targeting Feb. 26 as opening day.
“We’ll kind of look at everything while we get our feet under us and get Delano open,” Simon said. “We want to learn, like we always have, from the tenured folks that have been here already then figure out from there what we think is the right direction.”
Horn, who co-founded the WBC concept in 2011, said that he was pleased with the deal.
“We brought in an excellent group of managing partners who have decades-long track record of success in the restaurant business,” he said. “There’s no doubt they’ll take WBC to the next level.”
Simon said that he’s looking forward to working in the world of beer. His grandfather and the namesake of the Freddy’s chain, the late Freddy Simon, actually made his career as a wholesale liquor salesman. Freddy Simon died in 2020 at age 95.
“I remember he was the one to bring brands like Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to Wichita,” Simon said. “We were young kids in the late ’80s and early ’90s running around with Fat Tire T-shirts on.
“It’s always just been something that’s kind of run in the family, for sure. It’s definitely an interest.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM.
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