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International Dairy Queen, Inc.

The current Dairy Queen logo (top); a modern Dairy Queen restaurant in Hiawassee, Georgia, United States (bottom)
Trade name	Dairy Queen DQ
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Restaurant Franchising
Genre	Fast food restaurant, ice cream parlor
Founded	June 22, 1940; 85 years ago (1940-06-22) in Joliet, Illinois, US
Founders	John Fremont McCullough Alex McCullough Sherb Noble
Headquarters	Bloomington, Minnesota , US
Number of locations	4,455 (US domestic, 2018) 6,800 (global)
Area served	United States, Bahamas, Bahrain, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, Guyana, Indonesia, Kuwait, Laos, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, Puerto Rico
Key people	Troy Bader (President and CEO)
Products	Soft serve, milkshakes, cakes, sundaes, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, chicken strips, french fries, cheese curds, onion rings, soft drinks, salads (in Texas: tacos, taco salads, nachos)
Revenue	US$3.64 billion (US, 2017)
Parent	Berkshire Hathaway
Subsidiaries	American Dairy Queen Dairy Queen Canada Orange Julius

International Dairy Queen, Inc. (often called DQ) is a well-known American fast food chain. It started in 1940 and its main office is in Bloomington, Minnesota. The very first Dairy Queen opened on June 22, 1940, in Joliet, Illinois. It was run by Sherb Noble. DQ serves many kinds of hot foods, like burgers and fries. They are also famous for their delicious frozen dairy treats, which can be different depending on where you are.

The Story of Dairy Queen
Types of Dairy Queen Stores
Popular DQ Products
- The Famous Blizzard
- Cage-Free Egg Promise
DQ Advertising and Slogans
- Catchy Slogans
- DQ Logos Through Time
Dairy Queen Around the World
See also

The Story of Dairy Queen

How DQ's Soft Serve Began

The special soft-serve ice cream recipe was created in 1938 by John Fremont "J.F." McCullough and his son Alex. They asked their friend Sherb Noble to try selling it at his ice cream shop in Kankakee, Illinois. On the first day, Noble sold over 1,600 servings of this new dessert in just two hours! Because it was so popular, Noble and the McCulloughs decided to open the first Dairy Queen store in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois. That original building is now a special landmark in the city.

A Dairy Queen in Moorhead, Minnesota, United States, built in 1949

Growing Across the World

Since 1940, Dairy Queen has grown by letting other people open their own DQ stores, which is called franchising. In 1941, there were only ten stores. By 1947, there were 100, and by 1955, there were 2,600! The first Dairy Queen in Canada opened in Estevan, Saskatchewan, in 1953.

In 1962, the company became International Dairy Queen, Inc. (IDQ). This company now owns American Dairy Queen Corporation and Dairy Queen Canada Inc. In 1987, IDQ also bought the Orange Julius chain, which is known for its fruit drinks. Then, in 1998, a big company called Berkshire Hathaway bought IDQ.

Where Are Most DQs?

In the United States, the state with the most Dairy Queen restaurants is Texas. If you look at how many DQs there are compared to the number of people, Minnesota has the most. By the end of 2014, Dairy Queen had over 6,400 stores in more than 25 countries. About 4,500 of these stores were in the United States.

Dairy Queen stores were very important places for people to meet in small towns in the Midwest and Southern United States during the 1950s and 1960s. They are often mentioned in books and stories about small-town American life.

Types of Dairy Queen Stores

Dairy Queen stores come in different types, but they all have the DQ logo and their famous soft-serve ice cream.

Standard DQ Stores

A Chicken Strip Basket from Dairy Queen with four chicken strips, french fries and Texas toast

Some Dairy Queen stores mainly sell frozen treats and might only be open during warmer months. However, most DQ restaurants also serve hot food like burgers and fries and are open all year. These are often called "Full Brazier" restaurants. They offer a typical fast-food menu with burgers, chicken, hot dogs, and frozen treats.

DQ / Orange Julius Stores

These stores are sometimes called "Treat Centers." They offer both Dairy Queen items and drinks and foods from the Orange Julius menu. These are often found in shopping mall food courts.

Dairy Queen Brazier

The name "Brazier" started in 1957. It came from a type of open charcoal grill that looked like a "brazier." This name was used for DQ locations that served a wider food menu.

Since 1993, the "Brazier" name has slowly been removed from signs and ads. Newer or updated stores that are similar to Brazier restaurants are now usually called "DQ Restaurant." However, some older signs in smaller towns still say "Brazier."

DQ Grill & Chill

A DQ Grill & Chill in Canada

DQ Grill & Chill locations are the newest type of Dairy Queen restaurant. They are larger and have a modern design. They offer hot food, treats, and even bring your order to your table. You can also get free refills on soft drinks from self-serve fountains. The first two DQ Grill & Chill restaurants in the United States opened in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2001. The biggest DQ Grill & Chill in the U.S. is in Bloomington, Illinois.

Texas Country Foods

A Dairy Queen in Burnet, Texas, United States, with an older logo

All Dairy Queen locations in Texas have a special hot food menu called Texas Country Foods. This menu has unique items you won't find outside of Texas. For example, they have "Hungr-Buster" burgers and "Dude" chicken-fried steak sandwiches. Texas has the most Dairy Queens in the U.S. The Texas Dairy Queen Operators' Council has its own website for marketing.

Popular DQ Products

Dairy Queen has added many new products over the years. In 1950, they started selling malts and milkshakes. Banana splits came in 1951, and Dilly Bars in 1955. In 1958, they introduced a range of hamburgers and other cooked foods under the Brazier name. Misty Slush drinks were added in 1961. The Buster Bar was invented in 1962, and the Peanut Buster Parfait in 1971. In 1995, the Chicken Strip Basket was introduced, which comes with chicken strips, fries, and Texas toast (in the US). They also have sundaes and the blended coffee drink called the MooLatte.

DQ's frozen dairy products are not called "ice cream." This is because federal rules say ice cream must have at least 10% butterfat, but DQ's soft serve only has 5% butterfat.

The Famous Blizzard

A woman holding a Banana Cream Pie Blizzard

A very popular Dairy Queen item is the Blizzard. It's soft-serve ice cream mixed with different ingredients like cookie pieces, brownies, or candy. The Blizzard first came out in 1985, and it was an instant hit. In that first year, Dairy Queen sold over 100 million Blizzards!

Some popular Blizzard flavors include Oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, M&M's, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They also have special flavors that change with the seasons, like pumpkin pie in October.

Blizzards are so cold and thick that employees often turn the cup upside down to show customers that nothing will fall out. It's a fun trick! Dairy Queen also offers Blizzard Cakes, which are like "DQ cakes" but with Blizzard flavors, perfect for celebrations.

Cage-Free Egg Promise

In May 2016, Dairy Queen promised that by 2025, all their suppliers in the United States and Canada would only buy eggs from farms where chickens are raised cage-free. This means the chickens have more space and freedom. This is seen as a more humane way to produce eggs. Dairy Queen has been working towards this goal, and a good portion of their eggs are already cage-free or have been removed from ingredients.

DQ Advertising and Slogans

Dairy Queen has used many different characters and slogans in its advertising over the years. From 1971 until 2002, Dennis the Menace was a popular character in DQ ads.

Catchy Slogans

Dairy Queen has had many memorable slogans. From 1979 to 1981, they used "It's a real treat!" For many years, their slogan was "We treat you right." In the 1990s, "Hot Eats, Cool Treats" and "Think DQ" were popular. Later, it changed to "Meet Me at DQ" and "DQ: Something Different." A more recent slogan, introduced in 2011, was "So Good It's RiDQulous." As of 2019, Dairy Queen uses the slogan "Happy Tastes Good." In Texas, they have a special slogan: "That's What I Like about Texas."

DQ Logos Through Time

A Dairy Queen in Key West, Florida with the pre-2007 logo

An outlet in Ottawa, Ontario used an original retro-style neon sign until 2013.

The first Dairy Queen logo was just a stylish text sign with a soft-serve cone. In the late 1950s, the famous red oval (ellipse) design was adopted. This red oval became very recognizable.

Even though "DQ" had been used for a long time, it officially became the company's name in 2001. In early 2007, Dairy Queen updated its logo for the first time in almost 70 years. The new logo has italicized letters and adds orange and blue curved lines. The orange line represents hot foods, and the blue line represents soft-serve products. The company said the new logo shows how the brand has grown and how much "fun and enjoyment" people get from their products.