Dozens of Dairy Queens to close after franchisee files for bankruptcy

[CyberB0b]

yea, when an ice cream treat is $8, i'm out.

Makes the $5 milkshake from Pulp Fiction seem like a bargain.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I'm surprised. There's a DQ near where I live and they're pretty good. There's a ton of competition though.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

I think I have eaten at Dairy Queen once in the past 36 years. And it was just an ice cream cone. Can remember only that it was way overpriced and couldn't believe people actually waited in line for this stuff. I would much rather have a $2.88 pint of Haagen Das.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Butterfinger Blizzard. Oh how I miss thee...

 

[Elusive6thRing]

Most of the DQ's in this area are in poor locations and are a bit outdated.

I think the lack of a drive thru has hurt them as well.

The Dairy Queens in my city (which is Lubbock, ironically the same as the article) all have drive thrus.

I noticed none of the stores in Lubbock are closing.

 

[Shinaoi]

The blizzards are stil great. I don’t think they’re that expensive.

 

[CF74]

Nah, that wouldn't be it. I think McD's and BK are more competition. I just see DQ flailing away at trying to find a niche that works for them. For years it was the ice-cream thing but they seem to have got away from that and more into burgers which of course others can do better or have a stronger reputation for.

Listen up Yank, McD’s is mainly in the big city’s and almost non-existent in the Dairy Queen market areas, BK is all but dead even in the bigger cities. Whataburger is King in TX.

Having said all that my initial post was mostly satire..

Dairy Queen’s main market area in TX is those small towns with only 1,500 - 5,000 residents, hence the “Stop Sign of TX.”

 

[Ghost12]

My girlfriend and I don't go there anymore once they opened an Andy's Frozen Custard nearby.

 

[Shinaoi]

McDonald are sill in small towns too, but Dairy Queen was never afraid to go into ultra small towns where they were the only chain type place there.

 

[SlammedZero]

I love DQs. There are a few around town and the one near my house is always busy as a mofo!!! Crazy, would have never thought they were hurting.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

McDonald are sill in small towns too, but Dairy Queen was never afraid to go into ultra small towns where they were the only chain type place there.

I looked up the numbers... McD's has 1224 locations in Texas, Whataburger 669. DQ has about 600 and BK about 550.

 

[arglebargle]

Many, many decades ago, I worked at a DQ down south of Houston. It was really a well run location. Was talking to a district manager there once, and he told me that the DQs try to hire the 'popular' girls at the local HS, so that all her friends and wannabee friends would come by the store, and buy something as an excuse. And that was why I'd have to do more prep and cleanup work. It even made business sense.

Maybe that doesn't work anymore?

 

[Tabascocat]

Many, many decades ago, I worked at a DQ down south of Houston. It was really a well run location. Was talking to a district manager there once, and he told me that the DQs try to hire the 'popular' girls at the local HS, so that all her friends and wannabee friends would come by the store, and buy something as an excuse. And that was why I'd have to do more prep and cleanup work. It even made business sense.

Maybe that doesn't work anymore?

Which one? On El Dorado? They had some hotties at that one back in late 80's, early 90's

 

[arglebargle]

Which one? On El Dorado? They had some hotties at that one back in late 80's, early 90's

Over in Seabrooke, but same neck of the woods. And they did indeed!

 

[Tabascocat]

Over in Seabrooke, but same neck of the woods. And they did indeed!

Ahh, I remember that one vaguely. I think it is set to be torn down soon for the 146 expansion.

 

[Melonfeud]

OK, so an average DQ owned by this company is doing a shade less than $2K per day and about $700K per year.

So if food costs are about 30%, that should leave about $400K for everything else. Employee costs are probably 1/2 that amount. Leaves about $200K. Leashold maybe a couple grand a month... No idea what DQ corporate gets as far as a % of sales.

A typical Subway will do $200-$300K a year.

I Shirley don't trust that 'average daily' cash intake of 2 grand per day,,, cut it down by 75% and then recalculate,,, granted,I've not ' clicked on' to the link but I just don't picture those numbers in a cash strapped society ,the over saturation of competing 'markets' are such,in this day and age that I just can't see the volume of traffic to some businesses capable of supporting their operating costs,,,we've got a " dollar general " & a
" family dollar" outfits bumping pee-pee's against each other in my neck of the woods that is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS, come to find out, it's an estranged husband& wife on opposites behind that fiasco of unsound bidness, guess they really, really do hate each other)

The OP header is rather telling to me, in a half dozen different ways

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The wife stops and get's DQ for us on occasion.

However for me to stop there is a very Rare thing.

I used to stop and get us ice cream on a semi regular basis one summer.

But frankly I just got too tired of how slow their drive thru is (yes ours have drive thrus) it is just to frustrating to me.

I understand if you have to wait in the drive thur at DQ if you order a burger and fries...because they don't have them sitting under a heat lamp most of the time. When you order and burger there, you normally are getting on that is just cooked for you.

So the slow times for that kind of food is understandable.

HOWEVER...when you go through the drive thru and order a couple of blizzards and it takes 10-15 minutes (which may not sound like a good deal of time, but it is a very long time while in a drive thru) to get you those two blizzards...that is just way too much time for a drive thru....it is just a couple of blizzards...add the ingredients in the machine, turn the machine on, put the cup under machine...done.

Nope...sometimes I wonder if they are in the back actually milking an again cow that is almost out of milk and making the ice cream from scratch.

No since to wait that long for two blizzards.

Maybe that is why they don't have drive - thrus for some of you guys.

So I quit stopping there after waiting too long a number of time
I have a similar thing with KFC...except our KFC is always out of something...ALWAYS.

One time they were out of original recipe...only had extra crispy. Now I am ok with extra crispy over original recipe....but the wife likes original recipe and you would think KFC would not be out of original recipe chicken at any time.
Or they are out of mash potatoes or out of another side you wanted or out of breasts or out of drum sticks....IT got to be that it was ALWAYS out of something. So I told the wife that she can go through and get KFC for us if she wants but I was not going to in our town...and I have not for a few years now lol.

 

[FloridaRob]

Many, many decades ago, I worked at a DQ down south of Houston. It was really a well run location. Was talking to a district manager there once, and he told me that the DQs try to hire the 'popular' girls at the local HS, so that all her friends and wannabee friends would come by the store, and buy something as an excuse. And that was why I'd have to do more prep and cleanup work. It even made business sense.

Maybe that doesn't work anymore?

Must be that way around here as well. I alway remember going thru there and thinking Damn, that gal was pretty.My wife and I used to tell my son to by there and check out the blonde.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think DQ needs to get out of the food service business and just be in the Ice Cream business. Sell cones, sell shakes, sell Banna Splits and Peanut Buster Parfaits. Sell Dilly Bars and maybe Ice Cream Cakes.

Get out of the business of selling crappy fast food, that is not as good as most chains and a lot more expensive IMO.

JMO

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Crazy as it sounds Subway is who's hurting DQ. For years DQ was the only place to eat in these small towns and if you were traveling through rural Texas in the 80s and 90s DQ was your road food. Now there's a Subway in every convenience store in these same towns that is cheaper, healthier, and quicker. You can stop for gas, pee, grab a foot long, clean your windows, throw a bag of ice in the cooler, score some Skittles, and get a couple of scratch offs in half the time it takes to get through DQ.