Business owner who served generations of Wichita ice cream fans has died at 94
.JPG "Former Dairy Queen owner Richard Barrett, left, is pictured in 2010 with his then store manager. Barrett, who owned the store at Lincoln and Grove from 1987 until 2022, died on Tuesday morning.")
On Monday afternoon, the owner of Wichita’s famous “Little Dairy Queen” at Lincoln and Grove opened the store for the season so that he could take advantage of February’s unseasonably warm weather.
On Tuesday morning, he received word that his well-known predecessor — 94-year-old Richard Barrett — had died.
Ryan Shaban, who purchased the Dairy Queen at 849 S. Poplar from Barrett in 2022, said that he was sad to hear the news.
“He was just a super special guy,” Shaban said.
The Little Dairy Queen, built in 1951, is Wichita’s longest-running DQ franchise, and Barrett took it over in 1987. After that, he was always at the store when it was open for the season, typically from March through November every year.
And he was often the person passing soft-serve swirl cones and Dilly Bars to customers from the 600-foot-store’s drive-through or walk-up windows.
As the years went on, Barrett kept the store an ice-cream only place, even though most other Dairy Queen stores across the country were adding food. Barrett, who had also once owned a DQ at Maple and Sycamore, told the Eagle in 2010 that he just didn’t want to deal with food service.
He became known as a fair employer who gave many local teens their first jobs. Barrett was selective about the teens he hired: He’d always asked about their grade point averages and extracurricular activities so that he could be sure they were responsible and hard-working.
In July 2022, Barrett was 90 and decided to sell the store to Shaban, whose family also owns the two Dairy Queen stores in Hutchinson. (One of them — at 12 E. Third St. — is also a seasonal, ice-cream only shop.)
Shaban said that during the transition, he became fond of Barrett and continued to talk to him and he would stop by to visit him over the years.
He discovered, he said, that Barrett was a car enthusiast and that he used to put on car shows in the store’s parking lot. Barrett also was a classic car collector, Shaban said.
The store posted the news about Barrett’s death on its Facebook page on Tuesday and then heard from many people who grew up seeing him at the store. Barrett once estimated he’d served five generations of Wichitans.
“It’s been great to hear all the stories and memories people have of him through their childhoods,” Shaban said.
On Saturday, the Little Dairy Queen will put on a fundraiser to help Barrett’s family with expenses. Shaban said he’ll donate a percentage of all proceeds between noon and 9 p.m. to the Barrett family. He’ll also have a donation box set up.
This story was originally published February 17, 2026 at 4:15 PM.
.jpg)