By Jason Crane
Banana Split, a longtime ice cream shop which served customers late Spring through early Fall every year, changed ownership last week.
Daniel Cuevas of Aurora became the owner of Banana Split Wednesday, Aug. 14 following his purchase from Randy and Lisa Brown of Aurora who are retiring following more than 41 years of ownership of the store at the corner of Church and Sheffer Roads on the northeast side of Aurora.
“Like everybody in town, I’ve been obsessed with Banana Split, as long as I can remember,” Cuevas said last week.
“Probably, about 20 years ago, I grew up down the street from (Banana Split) on Austin Avenue with my grandma. I had driven past the place almost every day as a child. I visited almost every day as a child, obsessed with ice cream.
“I’ve always dreamed of owning the place, and when I heard the Browns were retiring, I said, ‘hey, I gotta give it a shot! I’ll do anything I can, I’ll live in here if I have to, if that means owning the business.
“I graduated from Aurora University this year in business administration.
“I was a Marine from 2014 to 2018, fresh out of high school.
“I have about six years of sales experience, door to door, business to business, business to consumer. A bunch of sales experience over the last five to six years.”
The Browns kept the successful shop at its location across from Garfield Park since their start in 1983.
“Back in 1976, my first job was in high school,” Randy Brown said, “I was working for the originator of Dairy Queen at the Dairy Queen on Ohio Street (in Aurora), which is now another ice cream place.
“In 1977, I graduated high school and Dairy Queen asked if I had any interest in running a Dairy Queen. I said, I’m going to be a fireman. They said, why don’t you go to Waubonsee (College), take some fire science courses, take some business courses, and we should have a store available in the next couple of years. Fast forward two months, and they said we have a store available, are you interested? I said sure, absolutely!
“I took over the Illinois Avenue Dairy Queen in its second year of existence. Ran that store for four years, and in the meantime, married Lisa.
“Her father said why are you working for somebody else, paying a royalty on every gallon of mix you sell, and 20% off the top of your sales?
“All that money could be in your pocket, instead of somebody else’s.
“We had no children, if we fall flat on our faces, we tried!
“We thought, let’s give it a try, and here we are forty-one-and-a-half years later, with an extremely successful business.
“I did have a couple of health scares over the years. A quadruple bypass surgery.”
Lisa Brown added, “We worked together at Dairy Queen for two years, we met very young, and got married very young.”
In a building that was originally a real estate office, the Brown family helped create a lot of memories at the intersection of Church and Sheffer Roads with Banana Split.
They both attribute their success to hard work and good customer service.
The Browns are proud to have provided work experience for many youth in the community, including individuals who work in City Hall and the Aurora Police Department.
The Browns look forward to spending more time with the grandkids and admitted the grandkids were disappointed to find out they likely will not be receiving free ice cream anymore.
The Browns plan to stay in Aurora with the availability to take vacations in the Summer.
Recently, the father of Daniel Cuevas drove past the Banana Split and saw the for-sale signs on the building, and sent Daniel a picture. Within two days, Daniel contacted the broker, the Browns, and Wednesday, Aug. 14, officially became the owner.