Bealeton Dairy Queen is ahead of corporate mandate
By Kelly Alm
Dairy Queen was once synonymous with ice cream, but times have changed, and, for the Dairy Queen Corporation, so has the name of the game.
Officials at corporate headquarters are pressuring franchise owners to upgrade their stores. That is not going over well with a number of franchise owners.
It is not an issue in Fauquier.
While older folks may still covet that DQ soft-serve ice cream, and children may hand over their allowance to slurp up a “Blizzard,” newer DQs, such as the one on Marsh Road in Bealeton, offer more than just frozen treats. The Bealeton store, built in 2004, is a “DQ Restaurant” under DQ’s “Grill and Chill” design brand.
By “grill,” we’re not talking the charred equivalent of Mexican fried ice cream. The restaurant offers breakfast, GrillBurgers and grilled sandwiches. And, with a larger, newly designed restaurant interior and table service, “chill” is not only referring to ice cream, but the option to sit down for a meal.
“We serve 60 percent food, and 40 percent soft-serve,” Harvey Fox, manager of the Bealeton DQ, said. “People still come in and say, ‘I had no idea that Dairy Queen served food.’”
Fox attributes this to the fact that Dairy Queens are not consistent across the board. This inconsistency, he said, is why the corporation is currently trying to streamline the Grill and Chill DQ model, with the goal of converting all DQs by 2011,
Fox believes DQ owners should refurbish outdated stores. He noted the antiquated barn style of older DQs, which were designed to blend in with the rural areas where DQ experienced most of its early growth after opening in 1940. “Some of them have been owners since the 60s,” Fox said. “They need to update.”
His argument is echoed by Dairy Queen’s Chief Executive Officer Chuck Mooty. “We have to be a brand that’s relevant,” he recently told Associated Press.
The DQ in Culpeper revamped its store to the Grill and Chill style in 2006 for exactly that reason.
Before that, the Culpeper DQ had not been upgraded in nine years. Culpeper DQ manager Randy Yeiser said it was his choice to update the store. “I wanted to modernize the décor,” he said. “After a while, you’ve got to freshen things up.”
However, not everyone agrees.
The company is facing significant resistance, with court cases likely on the horizon. The renovations are estimated to cost between $275,000 and $450,000 per restaurant, and that’s not including the additional cost for operating at a higher capacity.
But Fox said that investing in one’s store is part of running a business.
“The owners that are complaining are interested in earning more money, but they’re not willing to put in the work to improving their stores,” he said. “I think that’s selfish. We spent that money from the beginning, and we’re constantly reinvesting.”
He noted that Dairy Queen’s competition, including food chains like McDonalds, have streamlined their image and product, making all of their stores and menus the same. In contrast, according to Fox, “DQ is all over the place.”
DQ stores are operated under three brands, including the original small Dairy Queen stores, which primarily serve ice cream and sometimes hot dogs; the medium-sized Dairy Queen Brazier stores introduced in the late 1950s, which offer a basic fast-food menu in addition to ice cream; and the large new Grill and Chill stores.