Bill Braum, ice cream and burger chain founder, dead at 92
The Associated Press - March 25, 2020 4:07 pm
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Stores says its founder, Bill Braum, has died. He was 92.
The company announced the death Tuesday. The company says in a statement that Braum died Monday at his home in Tuttle, Oklahoma.
He grew up in Emporia, Kansas, where he worked for the small butter and milk processing plant his father ran. He inherited the plant, but later sold it.
Braum launched the chain bearing his name in 1968 with 22 Oklahoma stores.
The Oklahoma City-based chain known for its hamburgers and attached Fresh Market grocery stores now also has locations in Kansas, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, according to the company website.
The company operates a bakery, dairy, processing plant, milking facility and a herd of a few thousand calves at the Braum family farm in Tuttle, about 30 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, according to its statement. It also operates another milking operation on a Braum farm on Oklahoma’s border with the Texas Panhandle.