DAIRY QUEEN

'Dairy Queen' (also known as 'DQ') is an ice-cream shop and fast-food restaurant franchise based in the United States and founded in 1940.
For many years the franchise's slogan was "We treat you right!" In recent years, it has been changed to "DQ something different." The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and its headquarters are located in Edina, Minnesota.

Contents

History

Today

Stores

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen Brazier

DQ Grill & Chill

Other locations

Products

International

References

External links

History

"Herb's" was the name of a small ice cream store that opened on South West Avenue, in Kankakee, Illinois on August 4, 1938. The proprietor of the store, thirty-year-old Herbert Dick "Herb" Noble, a native of Clemons, Iowa, had been associated with dairy products from his teen-age years. What his customers were offered that day in Kankakee for 10¢ was a new semi-frozen, "soft serve" dairy product formulated by a recent acquaintance and new business partner, J. F. McCullough. The Dairy Queen companies and franchises recognized Sherb Noble as the "original Dairy Queen operator."

The first Dairy Queen outlet was opened by Noble in Joliet, Illinois on June 22, 1940. DQ was an early pioneer of food franchising, with the 10 stores of 1941 expanding to 100 by 1947, 1,446 in 1950 and 2,600 in 1955. The first store in Canada opened in Estevan, Saskatchewan in 1953. The present Dairy Queen logo was introduced in 1959. The company became "International Dairy Queen, Inc." (IDQ) in 1962. It was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1998.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Dairy Queens in small towns of the Midwestern and Southern United States, especially Minnesota, were often a center of social life. In that role they have often come to be referenced as a symbol of life in small-town America, as for instance in ''Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond'' by Larry McMurtry, ''Dairy Queen Days'' by Robert Inman, and ''Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights'' by Bob Greene. Some of the popular items on the Texas menu include the Hunger-buster and Belt-buster hamburgers. Bob Phillips, host of a popular Texas syndicated television program named ''Texas Country Reporter'' was the longtime spokesman for DQ in Texas. Dairy Queen appears in many small Texas towns and uses the nickname "The Texas Truck Stop" to illustrate their presence.
Dennis the Menace appeared in Dairy Queen marketing from 1972 until 2002, when he was dropped because Dairy Queen felt children could no longer relate to the character.

Today

With 5,700 restaurants in 22 countries as of 2005, Dairy Queen is one of the largest franchises in the world.
Its main competitors today are Baskin-Robbins, Coldstone Creamery, Braum's, Carvel, Culver's, Foster's Freeze, McDonald's, Sonic Drive-In, Tastee Freez and TCBY.

Stores

The company's stores are operated under three brands, all bearing the distinctive Dairy Queen logo and carrying the company's signature soft-serve ice cream (along with the trademark "curl").

Dairy Queen

Stores which serve a very abbreviated menu featuring primarily DQ frozen treats and hot dogs and which may be open only during spring and summer or located in shopping malls;

Dairy Queen Brazier

Stores serve a normal fast-food menu featuring burgers, french fries and processed fried chicken products in addition to the frozen treats and hot dogs;

DQ Grill & Chill

Stores have an expanded menu including breakfast. Most Texas Dairy Queens are not part of the Brazier chain, but have ''Texas Country Foods'' branding.

Other locations

IDQ also operates the Karmelkorn and Orange Julius brands, the latter often appearing adjacent to DQ's. DQ's current franchising efforts are primarily to open shopping mall outlets and Grill & Chill stores.

Products

A very popular Dairy Queen treat today is the ''Blizzard'', which is ice cream with candy bits blended in; it has been a staple on the menu since 1985. It is traditionally served upside down to prove the thickness. The Blizzard was modeled after the ''concrete'' treats of the Midwest from frozen custard shops like Ted Drewes in St. Louis, Missouri, and include the Ted Drewes' tradition of holding the cup upside down to demonstrate the thickness.^[1] The most popular Blizzard flavors include Oreo Cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, M&M's, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Kit Kat, and Butterfinger.^[2] In the first year, Dairy Queen sold 175 million blizzards.^[3]
The Blizzard was invented by 4 teens who would ride their bikes to a Dairy Queen in Hamden CT. in 1954. They would order milkshakes with an extra scoop of DQ for an extra 5 cents. When the manager suggested that they give it a name they choose the word "Blizzard"
The company's products expanded to include malts and milkshakes in 1949, banana splits in 1951, ''Dilly Bars'' in 1955, ''Mr. Misty'' slush treats in 1961 (later renamed ''Misty Slush'', then again to ''Arctic Rush''), and a range of hamburgers and other cooked foods under the ''Brazier'' banner in 1958. Other popular items include ice cream sundaes and the blended coffee drink, the MooLatte.
Its 100 (as of 1997) Japanese stores offered hamburgers, but competition from McDonald's made the chain switch to pita sandwiches in that country.

International

Dairy Queen also has locations in Canada, Cyprus, Mexico, Bahamas, Panama, South America, Europe, Middle East, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Cambodia, South Korea, Guam, Brunei, and Malaysia.

References

★ Caroline H. Otis, ''et al''. ''The Cone With the Curl on Top: The "Dairy Queen" Story''. International Dairy Queen Inc., 1990.

★ S.E. Hinton.''The Outsiders'' 1967

External links

★ dairyqueen.com - Dairy Queen Consumer website

★ CakesByDairyQueen.com - A website dedicated to DQ Frozen Cakes or Ice Cream Cakes by Dairy Queen