Dairy Queen
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| Dairy Queen | |
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| Type | Wholly Owned subsidiary |
| Founded | August 4, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois |
| Founder | John Fremont McCullough |
| Headquarters | Edina, Minnesota, USA |
| Key people | Warren Buffett Charles W. (Chuck) Mooty (CEO); Charles J. Chapman III (COO); James S. Simpson (CFO) |
| Industry | Fast food |
| Products | ice cream, hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken |
| Revenue | $476 million (2006) |
| Owner | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Parent | International Dairy Queen[1] |
| Website | www.dairyqueen.com |
Dairy Queen, abbreviated to DQ, is a global chain of ice-cream and fast-food restaurants. Its first location was founded in 1938 by John McCullough and since 1940 it has used a franchise system to expand its operations globally. Its largest franchisee is the Texas Dairy Queen Operating Council which runs the majority of DQ locations in the state of Texas.
Dairy Queen International is the parent company of Dairy Queen. In the US it operates under the American Dairy Queen title.[1][2] It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. At the end of its fiscal year 2006, Dairy Queen reported over 5,600 stores in more than a dozen countries; about 4,600 of its stores, or approximately 85%, are located with in the United States.[1][2][3]
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[edit] History
Sherb's was the name of a small ice cream shop 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 teenage 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 Stop Sign" to illustrate their presence.
[edit] 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, TCBY and (to an extent) 7-Eleven.
[edit] Stores
The company's stores are operated under several brands, all bearing the distinctive Dairy Queen logo and carrying the company's signature soft-serve ice cream (along with the trademark "curl").
[edit] Dairy Queen
Stores which serve a very abbreviated menu featuring primarily DQ frozen treats. These locations may be open only during spring and summer; many year-round locations are located in shopping malls.
So-called "Limited Brazier" locations may additionally offer hot dogs, barbecue pork sandwiches, and in some cases French fries and chicken, but not hamburgers.
[edit] DQ / Orange Julius
Also known as the "Treat Center" concept, an enhanced version of the original DQ also serving drinks and foods from the Orange Julius menu. This is the company's preferred concept for new, small-scale locations.
[edit] Dairy Queen Brazier
Stores serve a normal fast-food menu featuring burgers, french fries and processed fried chicken products in addition to frozen treats and hot dogs. Due to the protracted rollout of the Grill & Chill concept, Brazier restaurants have been allowed to sell certain products originally restricted to G&C, including GrillBurgers.
The "Brazier" name has been slowly phased out of signage and advertising since the early 1990s, although it has not generally been removed from existing signage. New locations (i.e. built since the early 2000s) that feature elements of the Grill & Chill store design, but which are similar to Brazier restaurants in terms of size and menu selection, usually carry the name "DQ Restaurant".
[edit] DQ Grill & Chill
DQ's preferred concept for new and renovated full-service restaurants. Stores are larger than older-style DQ Brazier locations and feature a completely new store design. In most cases, they offer an expanded menu including breakfast, GrillBurgers and grilled sandwiches, as well as limited table service (customers still place orders at the counter).
[edit] Texas Country Foods
Most locations in Texas, including those which otherwise resemble the Brazier or Grill & Chill formats, use a separate menu branded as Texas Country Foods. Among other differences, "Hungr-Bustr" burgers are available in place of the Brazier and GrillBurger offerings.
The Texas Dairy Queen Operating Council is the largest of all Dairy Queen franchises. Texas is home to the largest number of Dairy Queens in the U.S. The TXDQOC runs a separate marketing website from the national website, located at www.dqtexas.com.
Dairy Queen has been a Texas staple since 1948
[edit] Other stores
DQ 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.
[edit] Products
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, controversial because of its resemblance to the racial descriptor Mulatto.
Dairy Queen's one hundred (as of 1997) Japanese stores offered hamburgers, but competition from McDonald's made the chain switch to pita sandwiches.
[edit] The Blizzard Treat
A very popular Dairy Queen treat today is the Blizzard Treat, which is ice cream mechanically blended with add-in ingredients such as sundae toppings and/or pieces of cookies, brownies or candy. It has been a staple on the menu since its introduction in 1985, a year in which Dairy Queen sold 175 million Blizzards.[4]. The Blizzard was invented and copyrighted by Richard, Ronald, and Ralph Medd of Iowa. It is traditionally served upside down to prove the thickness. The most popular Blizzard flavors include Oreo Cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, M&M's (Smarties (Nestlé) in Canada), Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Kit Kat, and Butterfinger. Seasonal flavors are also available such as November's Pumpkin Pie Blizzard.[5] It has been argued that Dairy Queen drew its inspiration from the concrete served by the St. Louis based Ted Drewes[6].
As of June 21, 2005 the World's Largest Blizzard Treat was built in Springfield, Massachusetts. It weighed 8,224.85 pounds at 22-feet tall.
In addition, Dairy Queen is marketing its new Blizzard's Cake which includes flavors such as strawberry cheesecake and Reese's. Much like the restaurant's conventional ice cream cake, this variation is aimed toward celebrations and birthdays.[7]
[edit] Advertising
For many years the franchise's slogan was "We treat you right!" During the late 1990s, the slogan "Hot Eats, Cool Treats" was widely used. In recent years, it has been changed to "DQ something different."
In Texas, at the end of the advertisement, there is a Texas flag waving, and the Texas state with the new DQ logo and slogan below saying, "That's What I Like About Texas."
Dennis the Menace appeared in Dairy Queen marketing from 1971 until 1999, when he was dropped because Dairy Queen felt children could no longer relate to the comic strip character.
2004 marked the restaurant's first full year of national advertising with award-winning television commercials. Such ads commonly relied upon humor to appeal to viewers.
[edit] Logos
| Evolution of the Dairy Queen logo | |||
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 Logo circa 1955 |
 Logo used from 1961 to 2000. It is still used on some signage. |
 Logo used from 2001 to 2005. About the same as above. Also still used on signage that has not been updated. |
 Current logo |
[edit] Global locations
| Countries currently with Dairy Queen locations: | ||
|---|---|---|
Country formerly had DQ locations:
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Hoovers.com. International Dairy Queen. Hoovers.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ a b Hoovers.com. American Dairy Queen. Hoovers.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ Hoovers.com. Berkshire Hathaway. Hoovers.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ DQ publication. A Story of Sweet Success. Dairy Queen International. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
- ^ DQ Advertisement (2007-11-01). Blizzard of the Month. Dairy Queen of America. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20050415/ai_n13618385
- ^ The Blizzard Fan Club. DQ Blizzard Fan Club: History of the Blizzard. Dairy Queen International. Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
- 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
[edit] External links
- dairyqueen.com - Dairy Queen Consumer website
- CakesByDairyQueen.com - A website dedicated to DQ Frozen Cakes or Ice cream cakes by Dairy Queen
- dqtexas.com - Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council
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