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 admin 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 admin 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”.
Posted by admin under Eats & Treats on March 10th, 2011
Spending all day in Dairy Queen® corporate headquarters means that burgers are everywhere. Well, not literally everywhere, that’s the problem. We talk about burgers in meetings, there are pictures of burgers everywhere. By lunch time, we’re starving for a DQ® GrillBurger™, but most of the time, to get an ACTUAL burger, we have to leave the building and visit the DQ Grill & Chill® restaurant that is about a block away.
Soon there will be two new reasons to make the trip, because we’re introducing a couple of new GrillBurgers this year. In April and May we have the ¼ lb. Crispy Onion BBQ GrillBurger. A 1/4 lb. 100 percent all-beef burger topped with melted American cheese, thick-cut tomato, leaf lettuce, pickles, crispy onions and a hickory smoked BBQ sauce, and served on a home-style bakery bun.
In June and July we are introducing (and this is MY favorite) the ¼ lb. Fajita Ranch GrillBurger. A 1/4 lb. 100 percent all-beef burger topped with pepper jack cheese, crunchy tortilla strips, a fajita vegetable blend and a spicy ranch sauce, all served on a home-style bakery bun.
These burgers are delicious, and you don’t have to take my word for it. Try them and you’ll see for yourself. They will be limited-time offers though, so if you really like them and think they should be on the menu forever and ever, you need to go and get one every single day. No, seriously, that’s how restaurants determine if a product should stay or go.
Everyone appreciates cards, letters and flowers when they’re staying in the hospital, but one DQ customer received something a little different many years ago after a tragic car accident—a $1 DQ Cone coupon—and still remembers that interesting gift today.
It seems the customer was a good friend of the local DQ store operator. When that operator heard about the car accident, he sent a card to his loyal customer and friend in the hospital. It had been a serious accident. The customer had been pronounced dead at the scene, but was fortunately resuscitated only a few minutes later and was in the hospital recovering from a broken neck, reconstructed hand, stitches upon stitches, two black eyes and many other injuries.
This DQ operator wanted to lighten the mood during the difficult recovery process, so he included a coupon for a $1 cone to encourage the customer to get better and visit the DQ store soon. According to the customer’s daughter, this was the first time her father had laughed since the accident.
Many DQ operators become close friends with their customers, and often their locations become an important part of the community. Can you think of a time when you helped someone or someone helped you create a positive memory in the middle of a difficult time?
The DQ system has many loyal customers. One recent letter to the corporate headquarters was from a self professed, “Fudge Bar Fanatic.” It is easy to understand why people fall in love with this product—at 50 calories per no-sugar-added bar, and with zero calories from fat, and zero grams total fat, saturated fat and transfat, not to mention six grams of dietary fiber—what’s not to love?
This woman’s family now buys 8-10 boxes of these delicious DQ novelties at a time so they won’t run out. The best part for this customer is that they have little or no affect on her blood sugar so she can frequently enjoy one after dinner.
By the way, I talked to my co-workers in the corporate Consumer Relations area and found out a DQ Fudge Bar is considered one point for the Weight Watchers program. Another great reason to visit DQ stores!
