So what do you do in the lazy days of summer? Where do you head when the heat gets you down? Need a pick–me-up? The only solution is to head to your local DQ. Enjoy the cool smooth taste of a Blizzard, or that tasty sundae, even the ultimate ice cream delight –the banana split with all the fixings. Whether you prefer dipped cones or Blizzards, ice cream lovers worldwide flock to Dairy Queen in the summer.
For decades upon decades, Dairy Queen has been there for you in the summertime with ice cream and burgers. DQ is an authentic American fast food chain founded in 1940 and presently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota.
In 1938, Sherwood “Sherb” Noble, owner of Sherb’s Ice Cream in Kankakee, Illinois became the first to sell soft-serve ice cream, which had been invented by father-and-son team J.F. and Alex McCullough. Their trial run was an all-you-can-eat sale for 10 cents at Sherb’s store. Selling more than 1,600 servings in two hours, soft-serve became an instant success.
“According to Joe Rintelman, after perfecting the machine, Noble and the McCulloughs opened the first Dairy Queen in Joliet in June of 1940. In 1941, Noble opened a drive-up Dairy Queen, a novel concept at that time where people park and walk up to a window to order.
“Soft-serve creator Jack “Grandpa” McCullough called the store’s sweet staple a queen among dairy products and thus Dairy Queen officially acquired its name. The mission was to create positive memories for all who touch dq® and their vision was eventually to be the world’s favorite quick-service restaurant.”
Noble was drafted into World War II but returned to continue opening Dairy Queens. In 1947 he opened his first Kankakee store, which remains open today.
Since 1940, the chain has used a franchise system to expand its operations globally. The first ten stores in 1941 grew 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.
Dairy Queens became a fixture of social life in small Midwestern and Southern United States towns during the 1950s and 1960s. Texas is home to the largest number of Dairy Queens in the U.S. The largest Dairy Queen in the US is in Bloomington, Illinois. Vermont remains the only state without a Dairy Queen. The largest in the world is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the busiest in the world is in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
While some stores serve an abbreviated menu primarily featuring DQ frozen treats and may be open only during spring, summer, and fall, most DQ restaurants also serve hot food and are open all year.
And you can’t call their delicious product ice cream! Soft serve doesn’t qualify to be called ice cream. To be categorized as ice cream, the minimum butterfat content must be ten percent, and their soft serve only has five percent butterfat. That “curl” on top of the soft-serve is considered a DQ trademark! It’s occasionally referred to by employees and DQ acolytes as “the Q”.
Products eventually expanded to include malts and milkshakes in 1950 and banana splits in 1951. There’s a history behind the famous Dilly Bar. Dilly Bars were introduced to the franchise by Robert and Phyllis Litherland, the owners of a store in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1955.
“In 1954, the Moorhead Dairy Queen was used as a site to train area Dairy Queen operators how to make the new treats. As they were working, one of the trainers made a blob of Dairy Queen on a piece of cardboard and put a stick in it and said, “ain’t that a dilly?” Hence the Dilly Bar was born and introduced to the entire industry in 1955. To this day the Moorhead Dairy Queen still makes thousands of Dilly Bars by hand using the same process with a piece of cardboard.”
The Moorhead DQ is “The Dairy Queen that Dairy Queen doesn’t want you to know about.” “The reason is because the Moorhead DQ franchise continues to serve frozen treats that are either of its own creation, or were dropped by the national chain in other outlets – including a chocolate covered banana call the “Monkey Tail,” “chipper sandwiches,” and flavored sundae toppings including butterscotch, raspberry and cherry that had been discontinued by the chain.
This has been a cause of friction between the kiosk and executives at DQ HQ, and why DQ still doesn’t acknowledge the Moorhead outlet’s claim that it invented the Dilly Bar.” It is a well-known fact through franchises that they are only able to sell products marketed by Dairy Queen. Any out sourced products sold generally pulls their DQ franchise.
Mr Misty slush treats came along in 1961 (later renamed Misty Slush, then again to Arctic Rush; as of 2017, DQ again calls them Misty Slush). In 1962, the Buster Bar, vanilla ice cream, with a ribbon of hot fudge and peanuts in the middle and then more peanuts and fudge on top with the whole thing dipped in chocolate to create a chocolate shell, was invented by David Skjerven in Grafton, North Dakota.
Jets, Curly Tops, Freezes were added in 1964. In 1971, the Peanut Buster Parfait, consisting of peanuts, hot fudge, and vanilla soft serve, was introduced by Forrest ‘Frosty’ Chapman in his St. Peter, Minnesota Franchise.
The idea for the now classic Blizzard came from a Dairy Queen franchise in Missouri. Samuel Temperato, who owned a whopping 67 DQ locations, came up with the concept after seeing a competitor’s ice cream shop selling frozen custard. Originally Blizzards were only available in traditional flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, with added malt on request.
The first year the Blizzard was introduced; DQ sold more than 175 million of them! There’s a Blizzard in the Guinness Book of World Records. The biggest Blizzard ever made weighed 8,224.85 lbs. It was made in Springfield, MA in 2005 and was a whopping 22ft tall.
In addition, Dairy Queen now offers a Blizzard Cake in flavors such as Oreo and Reese’s. Much like the restaurant’s conventional ice cream cake, this variation is aimed toward celebrations and birthdays. A Birthday cake and ice cream (excuse us – soft serve) all rolled up in one!
Whatever your favorite, enjoy a bit of sunshine on a hot summer day. Then again a tasty treat is a tasty treat year around!