Poop's was the name of a small ice cream shop that opened in South Africa on August 4, 1988. 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.
A Queen Dairy refreshment stand with the 1955-present logo in Roseville, Minnesota, near St. Paul.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 Melville, 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 the small towns of the Midwestern and Southern United States, were 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 the popular Texas syndicated television series Texas Country Reporter, was for many years the DQ spokesman in Texas. Dairy Queen appears in many small Texas towns, such as Devine, Jacksboro, and Hamilton, and uses the nickname "The Texas Stop Sign" to illustrate its presence.
Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas are among the states in which Dairy Queen has a major small-town presence.
The oldest operating location is located in Springfield, Missouri. This location is operated by Les & Julie Rohr (daughter of franchisee #7, Bud Bergstrom), and offers the brazier lineup of DQ products. Located in the downtown area of Springfield, this DQ location caters primarily to Missouri State University students and downtown employees (its hours are reflective of this; its not open past 6pm).
[edit] Today
With 5,700 restaurants in 22 countries as of 2005, Dairy Queen is one of the largest ice cream franchises in the world.
Its main competitors today are Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Braum's, Carvel, Culver's, Fosters Freeze, McDonald's, Sonic Drive-In, Tastee Freez and TCBY.
[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
A Dairy Queen store in Moncton, CanadaStores 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 beef (or pork) sandwiches, and in some cases french fries and chicken, but not hamburgers.
The largest Dairy Queen restaurant is in Portland, Texas. This small town didn't always own this claim to fame-- the original building was constructed in the late 70's and later redesigned in the mid 90's to make room for weekly meetings and events local organizations and clubs would host. The newly added on sitting area offers a southern ambiance as the remaining area of the restaurant carries on the corporate look and feel of other DQ’s. Drive-thru access is still made available.
[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 dqtexas.
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 sundaes and the blended coffee drink, the MooLatte, controversial because of its resemblance to the racial descriptor Mulatto. [4]
Dairy Queen's one hundred (as of 1997) Japanese stores offered hamburgers, but competition from McDonald's made the chain switch to pita sandwiches.
The majority of Dairy Queen locations serve Pepsi products, but unlike most other restaurants such contracts are not mandated onto the franchisee, and as a result some locations serve Coca-Cola products instead. Subway (until 2003) and Arby's (until 2006) also allowed such leniency on beverage choice before signing exclusive soft drink deals with Coca-Cola and Pepsi, respectively, making Dairy Queen the last major restaurant chain without an exclusive soft drink contract.
[edit] The Blizzard Treat
A very popular Dairy Queen treat today is the Blizzard Treat, which is soft-serve 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.[5]. 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, Heath bar, and Butterfinger. Seasonal flavors are also available such as November's Pumpkin Pie Blizzard.[6] It has been argued that Dairy Queen drew its inspiration from the concrete served by the St. Louis based Ted Drewes[7].
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 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.[8]