Braum's

Bill Braum took over his family’s ice cream business in Emporia, Kansas, in 1957, and after selling its shops he and his wife Mary started again in Oklahoma City in 1968, opening 24 stores in the first year. Braum’s is part ice cream parlour, part burger restaurant and part small grocery, with a fresh market inside most stores.

What makes it unusual is how much it does itself. Braum’s runs its own dairy herd, milk plant, feed mill and bakery, so the milk in the shakes and the buns under the burgers come from the company. To keep everything fresh, it will not open a store more than about 330 miles from its farm in Tuttle, Oklahoma.

More than 300 stores in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri, all within about 330 miles of the company farm.