Dairy Queen slowly dying

[Sam Lin 3545]

Used to be a great little DQ near my childhood house, would stop for a cone every so often. I left for a couple years, and was utterly gutted when I went by again and it had become a tattoo parlor. I still hit DQ for a chocolate-dipped cone every so often.

[Escapedgoat 90]

On 4/23/2018 at 2:40 PM, irishtexan said:

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

Being away from Texas, I was homesick and sometimes a DQ burger would hit the spot back in Austin, Dripping Springs, or Fredericksburg. They have DQ up here in Ohio and Michigan and the burgers are freaking disgusting. They don't even look right, they smell terrible. I was not about to try it. I asked for 'steak fingers' in one in Michigan and the people looked at me as if I was speaking another language and didn't know what they were. Apparently, they don't have steak fingers and chicken tenders are known as 'planks' up here.

[Trey3216 15325]

17 hours ago, Rusty Shackelford said:

They used to have a Dairy Queen and a Dairy King in little Taft, TX.  The King won out.

They sent the Queen workers to the kitchen?  

[Beau Vine 54058]

On 4/25/2018 at 10:50 AM, CHEF DIESEL said:

The Allsups in Clayton is nasty. A gigantic toilet of a gas station but has easy access to the highway and cheap gas. Just nasty on the inside.

And...they don't sell Diet Dr Pepper. Black mark and a pox on their house for that.

I have I no idea why you would even know this because you should be stopping at the Allsup's in Texline only 20 miles away. 

[CHEF DIESEL 126]

42 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I have I no idea why you would even know this because you should be stopping at the Allsup's in Texline only 20 miles away. 

The gas is cheaper in Clayton than in Texline. Plus, Texline has all those feedlots that stink.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13558]

At Dairy Queen speed, they'll be dead in 2357.

[Equinox 95]

On 4/23/2018 at 1:34 PM, Brisketexan said:

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.

Same story at the one in Baird about 15 years ago. Took them forever to get the order out, but it was freaking awesome when it arrived. 

[Etexhorn13 3042]

To this day, I love the taste of pickles on grilled cheese sandwiches. Any time I got one as a kid, they would put a couple pickle slices right in the middle of the sandwich and the juice would soak into the bread. Was the DQ in my town the only one that did this?

[NameAlreadyInUse 5106]

On 4/23/2018 at 2:34 PM, LonghornJones said:

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

Been there, my friend. Agreed. 

Also, I learned never to go to DQ outside of Texas many years ago. We stopped at one in Ohio while on a road trip to catch the Texas game in Pittsburgh. Fuckers charged extra for hamburger toppings. And they didn’t have steak fingers or gravy on the menu at all. Fuck non-Texas DQ’s. 

[EastTexan 662]

Years back the DQ in Wills Point had red beans and corn bread for lunch once a week.  Also had pretty good Mexican food. 

[Trey3216 15325]

5 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

Years back the DQ in Wills Point had red beans and corn bread for lunch once a week.  Also had pretty good Mexican food. 

Had many a steak finger country basket at the Wills Point DQ.  

[EastTexan 662]

Just now, Trey3216 said:

Had many a steak finger country basket at the Wills Point DQ.  

 

They must have had a bunch of motherly cooks. There food was pretty damn good.

[phdhorn 6224]

48 minutes ago, EastTexan said:

 

They must have had a bunch of motherly cooks. There food was pretty damn good.

Best steak fingers in existence.  I agree, their hot food, at least around these parts of CenTex, is awesome.

[Yarbr 123]

Took my 2 kids to eat at DQ on Saturday. 2 chicken finger baskets, one steak finger basket, 3 blizzards, and no drinks was $35. That's kind of steep for a drive through joint. 

[safe sex 11688]

I'm incapable of ordering anything other than a Butterfinger blizzard at DQ. Nothing better.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

Would stop at the DQ in Buffalo on the way to Tyler from Houston.  Wife and I would get a blizzard for the road.  When it took 20 minutes and there were 3 customers in the entire restaurant the last time we were there, I told her we aren't stopping here any longer.  Haven't been to a DQ in over 3 years.  We stop at Buccee's in Madisonville now.

I'm definitely not surprised they're in financial trouble.  All of the DQs I have been in are complete shitholes with ceiling tiles falling down, greasy/slippery floors, dumbasses behind the registers.  Surprisingly, they just opened one up in Pearland.  Parking lot is always empty whenever I drive by.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11811]

1 hour ago, Yarbr said:

Took my 2 kids to eat at DQ on Saturday. 2 chicken finger baskets, one steak finger basket, 3 blizzards, and no drinks was $35. That's kind of steep for a drive through joint. 

Not really.  The drive thru at Wendy’s with just a regular combo will set you back $9 bucks these days.  

[Deej 76642]

3 hours ago, Yarbr said:

Took my 2 kids to eat at DQ on Saturday. 2 chicken finger baskets, one steak finger basket, 3 blizzards, and no drinks was $35. That's kind of steep for a drive through joint. 

The chicken and steak finger baskets come with fries, gravy and toast. You didn't need the $5 Blizzards. You could've got out of there for $20. Not really that steep. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8815]

$6 dollar chicken sandwich meal...$5 chicken tender lunch, fries, sundae, coke..that's how you bear DQ.

 

Blizzards will make you go broke 

Edited April 30, 2018 by MNLonghornFUKM

[Yarbr 123]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

The chicken and steak finger baskets come with fries, gravy and toast. You didn't need the $5 Blizzards. You could've got out of there for $20. Not really that steep. 

If you walk out of DQ without a blizzard you have failed.

[Brisketexan 104791]

Just now, Yarbr said:

If you walk out of DQ without a blizzard you have failed.

That's fine.

Just realize that you purchased:

1 -- dinner

2 -- dessert

If you went to Burger Kind and then Baskin Robbins or Amy's, you'd be out the same amount of cash.  Ice cream is a high price, high margin thing.

[Yarbr 123]

A dinner and dessert, but nothing to drink. Sans blizzards I'm at $24.50 And still nothing to drink.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Yarbr

[Brisketexan 104791]

10 minutes ago, Yarbr said:

A dinner and dessert, but nothing to drink. Sans blizzards I'm at $24.50 And still nothing to drink.

4 piece chicken or steak basket combo with a drink is $7.  Again, a combo meal with drink is $7.  Most of the decent combo meals at McDonalds (buttermilk crispy chicken, the better burgers) will set you back around $6.50.  A lot of Whataburger combos are similar.

I have to feed a hungry 15 year old fast food combos a lot (we have to run through drive thru between/after games, etc.).  When you add on the fact that have to "whatasize," or go with double meat burgers etc., I regularly spend $8+ just on him.  

That's what a fast food combo costs these days.  DQ has challenges (depending on the location), but price really isn't one of them.

[Deej 76642]

Someone goofed, then. According to their website, current menu prices for a 4-piece chicken or steak finger basket with drink is $6.49, unless you get the 6-piece combo, with drink for $7.89. Maybe when you ordered the Blizzard, they figured you and the kids were already getting enough calories with the 6-finger baskets and ice cream, and did you a favor. 

 

(Brisket beat me to it.)

Edited April 30, 2018 by Deej

[TornACL 7690]

Stopped at a DQ in West Texas, near Ranger or some I-20 shithole one-exit town.

Ordered a blizzard with Oreos and Snickers (btw they don't carry Snickers anymore, fuckers). I get to the window and the guy goes "That'll be $11.83."

Wait, what, for a blizzard? One blizzard? Did I order it served in a paint bucket or something?

The guy was your stereotypical expressionless possibly semi-braindead small town teen, and just stood there staring through the window at me.

After I tried to ask some questions, the only thing I could get the guy to say or explain was that to add an extra ingredient bumped the price up to $11.83. It's the extra ingredients, he kept insisting. I asked him if it made sense that one extra ingredient would cost 8 additional dollars? I tried to reason with him, and then use simple math. Nothing was working. He got frustrated and decided to double-down with the authoritative...SIR, it's 11.83.

I told him that I could have ordered two blizzards, one with each ingredient, and then I could have dumped half of each of them in the parking lot and mixed them all together in one cup myself, and it would have been cheaper than $11.83. 

I was met with a blank stare. I just said "How are you not understanding this?" and then I just drove off. The very next exit there was another Dairy Queen, and I got what I wanted for 4 bucks.

Edited April 30, 2018 by TornACL

[Yarbr 123]

Then I got screwed out of my drink I guess.  And DQ is too expensive, but delicious.

I just looked, 6.29 for the basket plus 1.99 for a drink. Price is too damn high.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Yarbr

[Brisketexan 104791]

11 minutes ago, Yarbr said:

Then I got screwed out of my drink I guess.  And DQ is too expensive, but delicious.

I just looked, 6.29 for the basket plus 1.99 for a drink. Price is too damn high.

If you're ordering the basket and the drink separately, instead of the bundled combo price -- ANYWHERE -- Jesus tapdancing Christ.  I'm not a regular fast-food eater, but come on, man....that's been the way fast-food menus have worked for 20 years.

 

And I'm 90% confident that the $6.29 price you are quoting IS the Combo price:

Quote

Chicken Strips

Chicken Strip Basket	$5.59	4 Pc.
Chicken Strip Basket with Drink	$6.49	4 Pc.
Chicken Strip Basket	$6.89	6 Pc.
Chicken Strip Basket with Drink	$7.89	6 Pc.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by Brisketexan

[Yarbr 123]

https://www.mayfielddq.com/menu/

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

On 4/25/2018 at 10:50 AM, CHEF DIESEL said:

The Allsups in Clayton is nasty. A gigantic toilet of a gas station but has easy access to the highway and cheap gas. Just nasty on the inside.

And...they don't sell Diet Dr Pepper. Black mark and a pox on their house for that.

Holy shit.  Literally you are posting the exact conversation I have with my wife every goddamn time we are driving through that shithole town. I tell her to wait till we get to Dumbass or Amarillo. 

[Deej 76642]

22 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

If you're ordering the basket and the drink separately, instead of the bundled combo price -- ANYWHERE -- Jesus tapdancing Christ.  I'm not a regular fast-food eater, but come on, man....that's been the way fast-food menus have worked for 20 years.

 

And I'm 90% confident that the $6.29 price you are quoting IS the Combo price:

 

I haven't been to Chick-fil-a in some time, but they used to be cheaper if you bought everything individually instead of in a combo. It was only somewhere between 10 and 20 cents, but it was pretty ingenious. Normal instinct is to order the combo. 

[Guest Lobo]

Libraries, Dairy Queens, Subways, and et. al. are dying off in small towns.  It may be a sign you should fucking move. 

Their food was decent enough.  Their model can't be sustained as other fast food joints streamline supply chain and logistics and undercut them on price.  It's expensive to hot-shot LTL chicken buckets and sundaes to some shithole 75 miles from the previous store.  

[WBT 20488]

Whither the dilly bar?

DQ sponsored my tball team 30 years ago.  We had red caps with a white DQ logo.  That location somehow lost its affiliation about 15 years ago.  It stayed open as an independent DQ knockoff for another couple of years and then closed up.

I've had a few mango blizzards from an ice cream only DQ kiosk inside a mall in Thailand while working over there.  

[RPM 26268]

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Things-you-probably-didn-t-know-about-Dairy-11022977.php

[Jack Straw 2954]

Had a Twix blizzard this weekend and they held it upside down 

ps: Twix blizzard is legit 

[Homercles 10205]

14 hours ago, TornACL said:

Stopped at a DQ in West Texas, near Ranger or some I-20 shithole one-exit town.

Ordered a blizzard with Oreos and Snickers (btw they don't carry Snickers anymore, fuckers). I get to the window and the guy goes "That'll be $11.83."

Wait, what, for a blizzard? One blizzard? Did I order it served in a paint bucket or something?

The guy was your stereotypical expressionless possibly semi-braindead small town teen, and just stood there staring through the window at me.

After I tried to ask some questions, the only thing I could get the guy to say or explain was that to add an extra ingredient bumped the price up to $11.83. It's the extra ingredients, he kept insisting. I asked him if it made sense that one extra ingredient would cost 8 additional dollars? I tried to reason with him, and then use simple math. Nothing was working. He got frustrated and decided to double-down with the authoritative...SIR, it's 11.83.

I told him that I could have ordered two blizzards, one with each ingredient, and then I could have dumped half of each of them in the parking lot and mixed them all together in one cup myself, and it would have been cheaper than $11.83. 

I was met with a blank stare. I just said "How are you not understanding this?" and then I just drove off. The very next exit there was another Dairy Queen, and I got what I wanted for 4 bucks.

And that kids name?  Kevin Morgan.  

[CHEF DIESEL 126]

17 hours ago, Gardner Barnes said:

Holy shit.  Literally you are posting the exact conversation I have with my wife every goddamn time we are driving through that shithole town. I tell her to wait till we get to Dumbass or Amarillo. 

Dalhart is better. Dumas is pretty terrible. The Dumas Dairy Queen is a fly infested hole of a place. And slow.

 

I think travelling Texans just demolish those places in July and August.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

24 minutes ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

Dalhart is better. Dumas is pretty terrible. The Dumas Dairy Queen is a fly infested hole of a place. And slow.

 

I think travelling Texans just demolish those places in July and August.

We drive up to Colorado a couple weeks every summer, so I hit those places on the way there and back.  We usually leave after work on day one and drive to Dallas to spend the night with family.  So we end up around that area around lunch time it seems like after leaving Dallas very early.  We pack our lunches for that very reason.

[ButtFumble 5162]

I read an article years and years ago that backs up some of what was said on page 1

the gist of it was that DQ had a pretty weak franchise agreement from the start, but back in the day owner operators were just more likely to go along with things that they were ask to do

when Warren B took over DQ he started trying to get the franchise agreement updated and the Texas franchise holders specifically revolted and threatened to sue especially because things like steak fingers were going to go away and I think some of the burger names were going to change

they ended up basically being able to operate more independently, but as we can all see it ended up fucking them in the long run because so many operators have let their restaurants fall to pieces and turn onto greasy shit holes and quality and service has suffered

there was a DQ in front of Briargrove Park in Houston in the the 80s that had a whole menu of fucking Greek food all plastered on the walls written on shingles it was ridiculous and then I think they added some shit quality Mexican food as well in addition to the DQ offerings

as Sonics and Texas Burgers and other places that at least keep some standards and are newer instead of tired old falling apart shit have moved in the DQs in Texas have just gone to hell

[CHEF DIESEL 126]

5 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

We drive up to Colorado a couple weeks every summer, so I hit those places on the way there and back.  We usually leave after work on day one and drive to Dallas to spend the night with family.  So we end up around that area around lunch time it seems like after leaving Dallas very early.  We pack our lunches for that very reason.

Are there any good places to get out and stretch along the highway? TxDOT has one of those large super roadstops south of Amarillo on 287 somewhere. Nothing interesting north of there to stop for. I have to get out and stretch my legs for 20 minutes at lunch or I'll be cramping by the end of the day.

[DoobieWah 1422]

On April 23, 2018 at 1:55 PM, PW119 said:

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.

If you ever want to learn how to hold a grudge, you should subscribe to this guy's newsletter. 

 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11811]

2 minutes ago, DoobieWah said:

If you ever want to learn how to hold a grudge, you should subscribe to this guy's newsletter. 

 

Try riding in the rear-facing seat of a station wagon from Houston to Chicago in August with a 4 siblings, a flatulent dachshund and parents who smoked without rolling down the windows.  I'm still about to kill someone over that.

[Sam Lin 3545]

On 4/30/2018 at 3:23 PM, WBT said:

I've had a few mango blizzards from an ice cream only DQ kiosk inside a mall in Thailand while working over there.  

Dairy Queen in Thailand are all dessert only - ice cream, sundaes, ice cream cakes, Dilly Bars, Blizzards, etc. No cooked items anywhere. Note the biggest Blizzard is "Take Home" size and is about half of a US Large. The sweet spot is the large chocolate dipped cone for 20thb, or 70 cents. They have seasonal fruit flavors like mango, passionfruit, mangosteen. Dilly bar flavors vary location to location, chocolate with peanuts has been the hardest to reliably get.

All about the dipped cone:

[Matt In The Hat 9]

I'd go there every day if I can get that crunchy fudgy shit they put in their cakes all up in a Blizzard. 

Also I blame DQ (and Sonic) for spoiling me with gravy as my favorite "condiment" for fries. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13422]

Always feel DQ was weak for infrequently venturing into big cities?  Too afraid to take on McDonald’s?  I know a few franchises exist but I guess they don’t think city people like them.  Perhaps they’re right.

And if youre hitching your wagon to depending on small towns, you are in trouble.    Finally many families driving around Texas plan their stops for bucees not DQ.   While travelers can’t make up a large percentage, everything adds up.

[Pescado_Rojo 19346]

If Buc-EEs put in a soft serve kiosk...With a blizzard style machine...that served beaver nugget blizzards...

[davidg 4034]

10 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Dairy Queen in Thailand are all dessert only - ice cream, sundaes, ice cream cakes, Dilly Bars, Blizzards, etc. No cooked items anywhere. Note the biggest Blizzard is "Take Home" size and is about half of a US Large. The sweet spot is the large chocolate dipped cone for 20thb, or 70 cents. They have seasonal fruit flavors like mango, passionfruit, mangosteen. Dilly bar flavors vary location to location, chocolate with peanuts has been the hardest to reliably get.

All about the dipped cone:

Suprised that its not a DQ/Orange Julius.  Seems like the ones I saw in Singapore, Indonesia and Dubai were combos.

[TedStriker 24]

On 4/23/2018 at 1:01 PM, elfenix said:

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

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 my issue.. the DQ's i've been in for the most part have been dirty, nasty shitholes.  the one in my hometown was disgusting..   so when i see DQ, i immediately think-nasty.

[Brisketexan 104791]

4 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

If Buc-EEs put in a soft serve kiosk...With a blizzard style machine...that served beaver nugget blizzards...

Ideas like this win Nobel F'n prizes.

[zork 629]

This thread induced a visit for lunch this week.  3 tacos as an appetizer, 4 steak fingers/w Texas toast and gravy as a main course along with a Diet DP, followed by a small Reese's Blizzard for dessert.  I didn't eat the fries.  It was pretty good and $18.xx for the record.  Would do it again.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11811]

Diet Dr Pepper?  Shit man, go big or go home if you’re going there.