King of Freight owner is no longer King of Cryo, but he hopes the business can return

After a brief reign, Mike Ricklefs is no longer King of Cryo.

After taking over the former CryoHealth of Kansas space at the Shops at Tallgrass at 21st and Rock Road in February, Ricklefs has decided to close the business.

“I don’t want to be the reason someone got the COVID-19,” Ricklefs said. “I don’t feel like it’s going away anytime soon.”

Ricklefs previously told Have You Heard? that he bought the business because he had been a customer there. During that time and since taking it over, he said he got to know the employees, who were a big part of why he was interested in the business.

“I don’t want to risk the lives of the workers. . . . They’re, like, the best people. I care about them so much.”

Initially, Ricklefs said, “I was kind of going to wait and see how everything played out.”

Then he thought about “how easily the virus is spread” and decided to close.

His King of Freight business, which Ricklefs said is still going strong, would have financially allowed him to keep King of Cryo open.

Ricklefs received Paycheck Protection Payments for both his businesses, but he couldn’t use the money at King of Cryo because his employees weren’t working. He said that’s been a problem for a number of businesses.

In addition to being sad about his own business closing, Ricklefs said he’s sorry for others who own businesses of that size.

“This is going to destroy many, many small businesses.”

Ricklefs said he’s going to continue to keep his King of Freight workers working from home. He said it’s difficult for a lot of them to work from there, and he looks forward to having them back in the office.

He said he would give back his PPP loan “in two seconds if I could have an office and have normality.”

Whenever things do get back to normal, or a new normal, Ricklefs said he’d consider reopening King of Cryo.

“Yep, I definitely would.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 11:04 AM.