Dairy Queen is a fast-food restaurant chain that was founded in 1940. With 5,900 restaurants in 22 countries as of 2003, it is one of the largest 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 US.
History
"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 Clemens, 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 first Dairy Queen outlet 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 company became "International Dairy Queen, Inc." (IDQ) in 1962. The company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1998. IDQ's headquarters are located in Edina, Minnesota.
The company's products expanded to include malts and milkshakes in 1949, banana splits in 1951, and "Dilly Bars" in 1955, and a range of hamburgers and other cooked foods in the late 1950s, under the Brazier banner. A very popular Dairy Queen treat today is the Blizzard, which is ice cream with candy bits blended in (Oreo Blizzards are very popular, as well as one with Butterfinger candy mixed in); it has been a staple on the menu since 1985.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Dairy Queens in small towns of the Midwest and South, and most 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.
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: Small Dairy Queen stores (which serve a very abbreviated menu featuring primarily DQ frozen treats and hot dogs), medium-sized Dairy Queen Brazier stores (which serve a normal fast-food menu featuring burgers, fries and chicken items in addition to the frozen treats and hot dogs) and large (and new) Dairy Queen Grill & Chill stores which have an expanded menu including breakfast. IDQ also operates the Karmelkorn and Orange Julius brands. DQ's current franchising efforts are primarily to open shopping mall outlets and Grill & Chill stores.
Reference
- Caroline H. Otis et al, The Cone With the Curl on Top: The "Dairy Queen" Story (1990)
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 05:39:00
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
