Dairy Queen slowly dying

[chainsaw 9857]

Dairy Queen slowly dying

 

I'm actually mad about this one.

 

Quote

Goodbye Dairy Queen? Closures, franchisee bankruptcy have Texas towns worried

However, news that Vasari LLC, a company that owns more than 70 Dairy Queens, filed for bankruptcy late last year and a subsequent recent spate of closures (10 panhandle locations), has some communities questioning the chain’s staying power.

As Texas Monthly’s Loren Steffy put it, “supplying remote towns miles from the interstate is an expensive proposition.” And, according to Vasari, not especially profitable. After blaming the closures on Hurricane Harvey and declining oil prices, Vasari clarified in its bankruptcy filing that the company “as a whole [was] facing net operating losses that [could not] continue unabated.”

Locals Steffy interviewed described the closures as a “sad deal,” a “letdown for the community” and “devastating.” She writes that “The loss is about far more than jobs or sales tax revenue.”

 

Although Vasari expects to exit bankruptcy in the first half of this year, towns that have shuttered their Dairy Queens do not expect to reopen them. 

 

[demos 3002]

That kinda sucks. Traveling around, you can usually count on a small town having a DQ.

Do wish they would quit trying to French it up. Stick with burgers, chicken strips, steak fingers and blizzards.

[Dewey 3286]

They should look into getting their products into grocery stores, I'd start with the steak fingers.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[GringoSalado 1651]

Chicken Express on line one...

[SimonBolivar 10957]

That's bound to happen when the mass majority of your clients are white people older than 75. That demographic tends to die off.

 

It's a shame too because for a large burger chain their food isn't that bad especially the steak fingers and dipped cones

Edited April 23, 2018 by SimonBolivar

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

I just had some ice cream there on Saturday, so this hits close to home. .

[EastTexan 662]

6 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

That's bound to happen when the mass majority of your clients are white people older than 75. That demographic tends to die off.

 

It's a shame too because for a large burger chain their food isn't that bad especially the steak fingers and dipped cones

 

The Brown Derby has always been a favorite. Good burgers too. And an old time favorite, cherry milk root beer.

 

edit: I'm old, as Simon pointed out.

Edited April 23, 2018 by EastTexan

[chainsaw 9857]

DQ is the best thing about a lot of towns in Texas.  I really hope they pull through.

[EastTexan 662]

1 minute ago, chainsaw said:

DQ is the best thing about a lot of towns in Texas.  I really hope they pull through.

 

Ditto

[TornACL 7698]

I'd feel bad about this if it wasn't something like 5 fucking dollars for an 8 ounce blizzard with soft serve and about two table spoons of ground up candy.

 

 

[SimonBolivar 10957]

Whatever you do never eat at the DQ in Clayton, NM. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

I'd feel bad about this if it wasn't something like 5 fucking dollars for an 8 ounce blizzard with soft serve and about two table spoons of ground up candy.
 
 

Yea they're stupid expensive for blizzards. 5 dollar lunch meal is where it's at

[David Dennison 18845]

1 minute ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

Had a guy in my company fly in from Boston for a training. He mentioned his favorite food in Boston was "Tha DQ Bli-Zad" and "butta'd pawpcorn". Ruined it for me; I thought DQ was our (Texas) own little white trash novelty that was pretty good and great for road trips in small towns. I feel like the "DQ, That's what I like abouuuut Texas" jingle really jilted me.

I remember feeling something similar when I learned DQ isn't even Texan. It started in Illinois.

[FondrenRoad 4378]

3 minutes ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

Had a guy in my company fly in from Boston for a training. He mentioned his favorite food in Boston was "Tha DQ Bli-Zad" and "butta'd pawpcorn". Ruined it for me; I thought DQ was our (Texas) own little white trash novelty that was pretty good and great for road trips in small towns. I feel like the "DQ, That's what I like abouuuut Texas" jingle really jilted me.

The ones in NJ are ice cream only.  Hardly the same thing.

[Stella Link 534]

I've been to several DQs that are hole in the walls....very old and outdated.  But the food is always great.  Some of these are competing with very large and new truck stops / convenience stores too.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Stella Link

[llanoflash 151]

t brand tacos are pretty hard to beat.

[elfenix 34223]

3 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I remember feeling something similar when I learned DQ isn't even Texan. It started in Illinois.

DQ outside of texas isn't the same as DQ in texas.  different food, different websites.

 

1 minute ago, Stella Link said:

I've been to several DQs that are hole in the walls....very old and outdated.  But the food is always great.  Some of these are competing with very large and new truck stops / convenience stores too.

a friend owns a DQ and one of the things he's mentioned is that corporate can't tell franchisees to upgrade the locations.  so you get all these shit locations of DQ and the brand gets tarnished.  unlike, (i assume) mcdonalds, who has been upgrading most locations. 

[kevwun 15759]

12 minutes ago, FondrenRoad said:

The ones in NJ are ice cream only.  Hardly the same thing.

They also close during the winter, at least the ones in Wisconsin do.

[bolverk 29652]

a friend owns a DQ and one of the things he's mentioned is that corporate can't tell franchisees to upgrade the locations.  so you get all these shit locations of DQ and the brand gets tarnished.  unlike, (i assume) mcdonalds, who has been upgrading most locations. 

This is a good take. There really does seem to be a high degree of variability in quality from location to another.

[David Dennison 18845]

8 minutes ago, elfenix said:

DQ outside of texas isn't the same as DQ in texas.  different food, different websites. 

This is true. But they are still Dairy Queen franchisees. 

[El Diablo 4232]

I had always thought they were as Texan as Whataburger.

"Deee-Cue! That's what I like about Wisconsin" just doesn't sound right.

It seemed to me that somewhere in the 80's or 90's they changed several of the menu items and they got worse among those being the steak fingers. I think they went from fairly fresh and made in house to a large contract frozen style that just isn't the same as what I remember them serving when I was a kid. Now they remind me of something that you might have found at Grandy's. Yuck.

The burgers are still pretty good, though their prices have gotten ridiculous along with every other burger joints. 8-9 dollars for a sandwich, their fries (which ain't great either) plus a drink? I'll pass.

It's still hard to beat a "Dude" when you're in the mood for one but like the steak fingers... just not the same as they used to be.

[David Dennison 18845]

Just now, El Diablo said:

I had always thought they were as Texan as Whataburger.

"Deee-Cue! That's what I like about Wisconsin" just doesn't sound right.

It seemed to me that somewhere in the 80's or 90's they changed several of the menu items and they got worse among those being the steak fingers. I think they went from fairly fresh and made in house to a large contract frozen style that just isn't the same as what I remember them serving when I was a kid. Now they remind me of something that you might have found at Grandy's. Yuck.

The burgers are still pretty good, though their prices have gotten ridiculous along with every other burger joints. 8-9 dollars for a sandwich, their fries (which ain't great either) plus a drink? I'll pass.

It's still hard to beat a "Dude" when you're in the mood for one but like the steak fingers... just not the same as they used to be.

Part of the menu is. For example, you can't get a Hungr-Buster, Belt-Buster, or Dude outside of Texas.

[Chopper 17230]

Wow. What will happen if there's no Texas Stop Sign?

[F250 28764]

One Summer during Little League All Stars, me and my son made it a goal to eat at every Dairy Queen in the hill country. We were in the hill country district and had to travel all over the place.

Best: Boerne, TX.

Worst: Mason, TX.

Actually the place in Mason was probably the worst fast food place I've ever been to in my life.

 

[Brisketexan 105057]

40 years ago or so, my grandpa was a Railroad Commission field man in Midland.  When we'd visit, I'd ride along with him.  We stopped at the DQ in Crane one time, and they had breakfast.  Back when DQ didn't serve breakfast.  But as the only place in town, the local DQ said "fuck it, we're gonna serve breakfast."  I remember having some of the best damned biscuits and gravy ever there.  Kinda liked that local DQs would just do their own thing in addition to the standard menu.

[El Diablo 4232]

14 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Part of the menu is. For example, you can't get a Hungr-Buster, Belt-Buster, or Dude outside of Texas.

Now that I think about it, I saw a new menu item advertised a year or two back and when I tried to find their website it didn't look right. Went to the DQ down the street and they looked at me like I was crazy. Not sure why the commercial was playing locally but the DQ website didn't look "local" OR Texan.

[deft 6836]

Can’t tell the mexia joke anymore. Dairy Queen has been closed there for over a decade.

[irishtexan 11512]

As has been mentioned, the DQs outside of Texas basically only serve ice cream/soft serve. They have a shit-ton more options of ice cream than are available in Texas, too.

Decided to stop there on a road trip a few years ago. I got steak fingers and they were absolutely disgusting. Haven't/won't go back unless it's to get a blizzard with the kids

[Brisketexan 105057]

5 minutes ago, deft said:

Can’t tell the mexia joke anymore. Dairy Queen has been closed there for over a decade.

FUCK.  That's one of my go-to jokes.

But....the OLD DQ in Mexia got turned into an italian restaurant by a Croatian (I think) guy.  Really good, and really affordable.

[Updawg 2266]

53 minutes ago, llanoflash said:

t brand tacos are pretty hard to beat.

Glad I'm not the only one that likes these. But don't order them in Alpine, they were disgusting 

[PW119 167]

We ate at one in Amarillo on a family trip to Colorado in the mid 80s.  My brother farted the entire second half of that trip.  Stunk up the conversion van.  F that place.

[chainsaw 9857]

42 minutes ago, bolverk said:

53 minutes ago, elfenix said:

a friend owns a DQ and one of the things he's mentioned is that corporate can't tell franchisees to upgrade the locations.  so you get all these shit locations of DQ and the brand gets tarnished.  unlike, (i assume) mcdonalds, who has been upgrading most locations. 

This is a good take. There really does seem to be a high degree of variability in quality from location to another.

That's actually what I like about DQ best.  Each one has its unique feel to it.  You can't really scratch an itch for DQ outside Malakoff, TX with a DQ in Alice, TX.  

[Pato del Muerto 52485]

My local dq has a full menu, but no steak fingers or hungrbuster. And it’s expensive. And they leave their fries in too long. Never had these issues in Texas. 

Grandparents used to have a boat on texoma. On the way back from there, we’d aleays stop in Gainesville and get a dq cone for their black lab, Bocephus. 

[oSuJeff97 3435]

I'm a Braum's guy, myself.

 

 

[bolverk 29652]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/native-texan/article/Dairy-Queen-s-roots-role-run-deep-in-Texas-12259546.php#photo

Quote

Texas writer Larry McMurtry discovered Dairy Queens when he moved back to Archer City, the little northwest Texas town where he grew up. As he explains in his 1999 memoir, "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond," it was the summer of 1980, and he was struck by a thought while sitting in a booth at the local DQ. Reading a book by the German literary critic Walter Benjamin and nursing a lime Dr Pepper - "a delicacy strictly local, unheard of even in the next Dairy Queen down the road (Olney's, 18 miles south)" - he came to realize that Benjamin's observations about how we no longer share stories was relevant to Archer City and to Dairy Queens.

"What I remember clearly," McMurtry writes, "is that before the Dairy Queens appeared the people of the small towns had no place to meet and talk; and so they didn't meet or talk, which meant that much local lore or incident remained private and ceased to be exchanged, debated and stored, as local lore had been during the centuries that Benjamin describes."

 

[BlueGreySky 1002]

the commie DQs in indianapolis don't have steakfingers.  fuck 'em.

almost every roadtrip from here to dallas we stop at a DQ for steakfingers and a whata (double with cheese and japs).

[RandomIdoit 655]

3 minutes ago, BlueGreySky said:

the commie DQs in indianapolis don't have steakfingers.  fuck 'em.

almost every roadtrip from here to dallas we stop at a DQ for steakfingers and a whata (double with cheese and japs).

[Weezy 2]

I believe DQ is a Warren Buffet owned company...https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/112415/what-exactly-does-warren-buffett-own.asp

[chainsaw 9857]

Some towns the kids really half-ass the holding of the blizzard upside down.  Is there a minimum time for that?  I'd say it should be 2 seconds.

[GreenspointTexas 9598]

Fuck yall, I love steak fingers and chicken express/golden chik

[NeverMarryAStripper 21872]

Chicken Express is the tits.  Also, is DQ slowly dying like Sears?

[chainsaw 9857]

Slower

[Brisketexan 105057]

Chicken Express is the tits.  Also, is DQ slowly dying like Sears?

Chicken express has fried gizzards and gravy. I’m a fan.

What’s sad is that a lot of those shitty little towns still have ONE restaurant: a Subway inside a gas station. Those are the most depressing fucking “restaurants” on the planet. Seriously, a gruel bar inside an orphanage would be a happier place.

[chainsaw 9857]

What could be fresher than a subway in a gas station?

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Wait a second. Lime Dr Pepper? I am intrigued. Very intrigued.

[LonghornJones 837]

It seems like just yesterday when I got my hands on a nice, hot Dude. Just felt right.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

The DQs in southwest Missouri have steak fingers in addition to burgers, chicken strips, etc. 

 

Something they do better than Texas DQ: They offer dipped cones in flavors other than chocolate. You can get butterscotch, cherry, or banana flavors dip on them as well. 

Edited April 23, 2018 by Murfdogg21

[chainsaw 9857]

2 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

The DQs in southwest Missouri have steak fingers in addition to burgers, chicken strips, etc. 

 

Something they do better than Texas DQ: They offer dipped cones in flavors other than chocolate. You can get butterscotch, cherry, or banana flavors dip on them as well. 

Yes but you have to be in southwest missouri.  hard pass.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

Branson is like Vegas if it were designed by Ned Flanders. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

Some small towns only restaurant is a Hunt Brothers Pizza rack in the corner store. Which is preferable to Subway, I guess...