Barnett's Dairyette will be continuing its legacy in Siloam Springs under new ownership.
The iconic restaurant on Tulsa Street celebrated its 60th anniversary in June. It also changed hands from long-time owner Reid Carroll to Jacob Frese.
Carroll bought the restaurant on March 15, 1999, and worked to carry on the tradition that carried on the tradition that Ervie and Eva Barnett began. Over the years he watched the restaurant celebrate its 50th and 60th anniversary.
Barnett's may be famous for its ice cream, burgers, hot dogs and homemade french fries, but what really makes the authentic 1950s themed restaurant special is the generations of memories that have been made there, Carroll said.
"When people ask me what I did, I didn't say I made burgers and fries and shakes, I told them I worked with people," Carroll said. "This is so community oriented. When you come to Barnett's you don't just drive up and down the big road and say oh that looks good. When you come here it is fully intentional. So to me it was a tremendous honor knowing whoever you see coming here, somewhere in the back of their mind there was a click, 'I'm hungry I want to eat at Barnett's.'"
During his tenure, Carroll did remodel the restaurant to include indoor seating and bathrooms. Through the remodel, he did everything he could to keep the original atmosphere alive, including leaving the original brick wall and order window.
Carroll said that countless customers have come to him over the years sharing their Barnett's stories, sometimes stretching back several generations. Many people bring their children to have their first ice cream or first french fries at Barnett's, he said.
"To me this is what this is all about, yes, I think we have good food, and ice cream, and the whole bit, but it is those memories that are created and kept," Carroll said. "I mean you forget a lot of things, but that first ice cream and those first french fries and coming here with grandma and grandpa when you come to town, you can remember those things."
Carroll said he and his wife were ready to move on from the daily demands of restaurant ownership and he feels confident that Frese will continue Barnett's legacy while breathing new life into it.
"He's not looking to make a name for himself," Carroll said of Frese. "He's looking to carry on a tradition and a legacy so that those of us who have made memories (at Barnett's) will continue to live those memories."
Frese, who also owns Flint Creek Speedway in Colcord, Okla., said he jumped at the opportunity to buy the restaurant.
"There's so many stories, there's such great history here," Frese said. "It's obviously an (such) icon in Siloam Springs that it was a no-brainer that I wanted to be part of it,"
Frese said he knows that he has big shoes to fill to keep Barnett's name alive and keep its reputation.
He has a background in the restaurant business and was an owner/operator of a Mexican restaurant in southeast Kansas for six years.
Frese was born and raised in Kansas City, Kan. He met his wife, who was from Fayetteville, while on vacation in Orlando, Fla. When the couple got engaged, Frese moved to Northwest Arkansas to be closer to his wife even though that meant selling his restaurant. Ever since then he has always wanted to get back into the restaurant business, he said.
Frese said he loves everything about Barnett's and doesn't plan to make any changes that will be visible to customers. He does have plans to upgrade some of the equipment in the back of the restaurant and add walk-in coolers and freezers.
"When you have a restaurant or a business in general like this, its obviously working," Frese said. "We would not want to harm that in any way, shape or form. Being the concept has been here so many years, its an easy decision to say 'No we're not going to change anything.' If anything, we want to improve on what Reid has done over the last 18 years, and of course he has done such a great job its hard to improve on anything."
General News on 07/30/2017