I have become the official DQ® Cake purchaser for family members’ birthdays. Recently I was asked to bring one to a party where we were celebrating the birthdays of one of my sisters and my two nephews. My goal was to get a DQ Blizzard® Cake that would appeal to all 14 party goers and not be decorated either too feminine or too masculine. I called my local DQ restaurant for assistance. It didn’t take more than a minute to decide on a 10-inch Heath Bar® Blizzard Cake with “Happy Birthday” and all three names on it. It was as simple as can be.
When I stopped by the restaurant a few days later to pick up the cake, it looked perfect. I arrived at the birthday party and was soon considered to be the hero of the day, just for bringing a DQ Blizzard Cake. People could not stop talking about it. The process to choose and purchase the cake was so easy, but the way everyone at the party raved about it, you would have thought I spent hours making and decorating the cake myself.
Next time you need to bring a dessert to an occasion, consider a DQ Cake. Everyone will thank you for the special treat!
So the last Thursday of every month we are going to deem “Throwback Thursday”. Maybe we’ll share an old product, perhaps nostalgic merchandise or vintage photos, anything in our archives or from our fans is fair game. This week I’m paying respect to the Mr. Misty®. As a child of the 80′s and 90′s, I spent many summer nights sipping a grape flavored Mr. Misty… usually adding vanilla soft-serve and making a Mr. Misty float (the BEST!). I came across this old product poster and it sent me right back to my younger days. Does this look familiar to anyone else?!?
I heard from a loyal DQ® customer who has been running triathlons with his friend since 1988. They had created a DQ tradition—to stop at every DQ store on their way home from the faraway races to get a Blizzard® Treat to celebrate accomplishing their feat. Since then, they have committed every single summer to always include a Tour de Dairy Queen® road trip with a little friendly competition in a small-town triathlon thrown in for good measure.
To date, they have completed 19 trips and consumed 85 treats each. They did make a major modification to the rules in 1991 however. After spending three hours hunting down a DQ store in one area, they decided that one stop in a major metropolitan area would count as an official stop.
Another time, a friend gave them a list to help map out the DQ stops well in advance of the race. One summer they even took a detour home because the longer route had considerably more stores. They admit that their number one reason for the endeavors is for the fitness, but appreciate that they have found a way to make fitness and DQ treats go hand in hand.
My husband and I recently bought our first place. Big accomplishment, proud of it, but wasn’t at all prepared for the road it took to get there. I’m not sure why I had painted a picture in my mind that led me to believe it was going to be simple. I thought I was picky enough that after 10-15 homes or so I would be destined to find the perfect place. WRONG! Turns out it took 49 homes, which all things considered isn’t a ton but you try and tell my four and six year old that. They enjoyed it until home number 7. For the remainder of the search I bribed them with a reward I knew they would love once the search was complete. A perfect home with a freezer full of DQ Dilly Bars.
So my friends, today is the day that I am stocking up! I’ve held true to my promise and am heading home with 15 boxes of Dilly Bars. Tonight we will toast to a new home, a healthy family and a freezer full of goodies.
Posted by Andrea Buckner under Eats & Treats on June 3rd, 2011
So “coolness” may not be an actual word, but it does describe the way I felt about the new Coca-Cola® Freestyle soda fountain. This awesome self-serve machine provides more than 100 different beverage options and flavor combination at the push of a button (actually the tap of a touch screen). We got a sneak peek yesterday, check out the video below! My personal favorite was a Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke
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What is it about growing up with the DQ® system that was a direct correlation with the size of the products my parents would allow me to order? My first memory is of a push-up style soft-serve treat I could get myself out of the self-serve freezer at my local DQ store. While I would have preferred to get the same Peanut Buster® Parfait my Dad would order, he would always talk me into something smaller because he knew my eyes were bigger than stomach.
As I grew older and started grade school, I moved through ordering the other novelties, including the DQ Sandwich, Dilly® Bars of various flavors and the Buster Bar®. Then I can remember going through a Strawberry Sundae phase in about 6th grade. I would occasionally switch up the flavors—sometimes hot fudge, sometimes caramel.
When I got my first driver’s license, my favorite product was a Crunch Cone because it was easy to handle in the car. Then, by the time I was graduating high school, the Blizzard® Flavor Treat was rolled out, introducing me to a whole new delicious treat platform.
However, with the recent introduction of the Mini Blizzard size, the pattern has shifted. Now I’m able to still get all the same great taste of a Blizzard Treat, but as a smaller indulgence with little guilt.
My past memories of the DQ system just show how this brand has something for everyone. Do you remember how your DQ purchases have changed over the years?
Posted by Andrea Buckner under Eats & Treats on May 5th, 2011
I have to admit, there are times that I swear I can’t look at another Blizzard® Treat, sundae or any treat for that matter. Tuesday, however, was not one of those days. I’m embarrassed to admit that until Tuesday I had never tried a DQ shake, never! I know, it’s crazy, because you would think that working at the corporate headquarters would mean I’ve tried everything at least once, right? Wrong.
On Tuesday I had a huge and sudden craving for a milkshake. Maybe I was persuaded by the fact that for the entire month of May, a small DQ milkshake is only $1.99 at participating locations. Or perhaps it was that the DQ shakes are now topped with scrumptious whip cream and a cherry. Needless to say I caved in to my craving, and after work stopped by my local DQ restaurant and ordered a hot fudge and marshmallow shake.
OMG! It was my own personal heaven in a cup. It’s been so long since I’ve indulged in a good ol’ fashion milkshake, and my DQ shake did not let me down! With so many flavors and flavor combinations, I have a feeling I may be embarking on Tour de Milkshake over the next few months.
Whew! This winter was tough – with snow piles higher than I am tall, and living in a neighborhood where there are no sidewalks…getting exercise has been tough these past four months! When I was home and it was light out (kinda), neighbors were either leaving for work or coming home and with the snow narrowing the streets; it was risky to even go for a walk.
We shoveled a path for our pup so he could get out – it’s kind of scary when the snow is two or three feet higher than you are – but that didn’t afford the kind of exercise he needed either. He’s a dog who barks anyway, and you can imagine how he is now as he’s going stir crazy in the house.
Spring is here, the snow has melted and it is daylight longer. What a blessing! Who cares that the pup needs a bath after the walk? It’s great to get out and MOVE.
Moving isn’t enough, of course, for me; I really have to change my eating habits too. Two weddings and a house remodel project require me to be in better shape than I have been. Not to mention, it’s important for my general health. I have been doing great so far, happy to see changes in my shape and happy that my clothes are not so snug. Even so, it’s tough to make the change and fight those urges for yummy sweets – particularly when, say, there’s a birthday or other festive occasion and there is a CAKE.
*sigh*
I love cakes. Cake – cakes and DQ® cakes. And we all know that DQ makes WONDERFUL cakes with delicious DQ soft serve. My daughter’s birthday is this weekend, and she wants a DQ cake. What am I going to do? I am going to purchase a box of DQ No Sugar Added Bars….I think the DQ No Sugar Added Fudge Bars (50 calories for one bar) will be perfect…though there are the Vanilla Orange bars (60 calories for one bar) too…. What are you doing to change your habits and make healthy choices?
I received a customer letter at the corporate offices that made me chuckle. It seems a girl and her friend decided to go to their local DQ® restaurant’s drive-thru after a basketball game. Not surprisingly, they needed to peruse the drive-thru menu board for a few seconds before ordering. What was surprising though was that once they placed their order, the employee kept saying “excuse me?” as if she couldn’t hear the order.
The girl and her friend repeated their order a few times, but still the employee couldn’t hear them. Finally, the customer heard a much larger male voice loudly say, “Ma’am, you are speaking into the bird house. Could you please pull ahead 10 feet and repeat your order into the intercom?”
The girls says she and her friend were so embarrassed and laughing so hard, they just pulled out of the drive-thru lane and drove away. Have you ever had an embarrassing DQ moment?
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s. . . not Superman either. But it is the new Superberry Premium Fruit Smoothie, and although it doesn’t fly, it really is super! This March and April, participating U.S. Orange Julius® locations are featuring the new Superberry Premium Fruit Smoothie. It’s blended fresh with a pomegranate juice blend, blueberries, Sambazon® açai and low-fat frozen yogurt for a smoothie that is nothing short of, you guessed it, SUPER. It won’t be around for long, so try one today before the goodness is gone!
P.S. – For the many of us who have struggled to pronounce açai, it’s “ah-sigh-ee”.
