| |
| |
Dairy Queen History
Dairy
Queen (also known as DQ) is an ice-cream shop
and fast-food restaurant franchise in the United
States and Canada that was founded in
1940.
 With 5,700 restaurants in 22
countries as of 2005, Dairy Queen is one of the
largest franchises in the world. Much of its early
growth occurred in rural areas of the United
States, and references to the small-town "DQ"
occur repeatedly in both the popular and literary
culture of the USA. 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.
"Sherb'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
Sherwood Dick "Sherb" 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." Another early Dairy Queen
operator was Bud Bergstrom, who operated Dairy
Queen #7 in Springfield, Missouri (His daughter,
Julie and her husband Les, operate it today), and
they've recently celebrated their 60th anniversary
with the DQ system, making them the longest
running Dairy Queen still under the same
ownership. This particular DQ spawned the career
of former US Attorney General John Ashcroft.
[1]
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.
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.
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.
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. [2] The most popular
Blizzard flavors include Oreo Cookies, chocolate
chip cookie dough, M&M's, Reese's Peanut
Butter Cup, and Butterfinger. [3]
During the 1950s and
1960s, Dairy Queens in small towns of the
Midwestern and Southern United States, especially
Texas, 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.
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"): Small Dairy Queen
stores (which serve a very abbreviated menu
featuring primarily DQ frozen treats and hot dogs
(for some restaurants, foot-long hot dogs), and
which may be open only during spring and summer or
located in shopping malls); medium-sized Dairy
Queen Brazier stores (which serve a normal
fast-food menu featuring burgers, french fries and
processed fried chicken products in addition to
the frozen treats and hot dogs; and large (and
new) DQ Grill & Chill stores which have an
expanded menu including breakfast. Most Texas
Dairy Queens are not part of the Brazier chain,
but have Texas Country Foods branding. 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.
Its 100 (as of 1997)
Japanese stores offered hamburgers, but
competition from McDonald's made the chain switch
to pita sandwiches in that
country. |
|
|
