As many of you who have been reading our blog probably know, the focus of the blog is about sharing a smile and a story. You wouldn’t believe it, but every time I tell someone that I work for American Dairy Queen Corporation (ADQ) they always want to tell me about when they were a kid and their mom or dad would take them every Saturday to their local DQ locaiton for a treat. I know we have shared stories about people from outside of DQ corporate headquarters, but today I want to share my smile and story.
When I was a child there was a DQ store that was two or three blocks from my house, and I would save money so I could walk to it during the day and get a Peanut Buster® Parfait (that was my favorite – until the Cookie Dough Blizzard® Treat came out). About a year and half ago, we were in my hometown and drove past that DQ store, and I was so giddy to see that it was still open. My kids didn’t understand what I was so excited about, so I decided to stop so they could experience what it was like for their dad. After we enjoyed our treats I walked back to the car with the kids and my son looked at me and said, “Our DQ is better.” The funniest thing is that after we got back in the car, my wife said that I had this look on my face as if someone had just offended me in the worst way.
It took me a couple of days to really understand what he was talking about, but what he meant was that his memories, his smiles his story, are linked to a different Dairy Queen store. Every Wednesday, my wife and I take the kids over to the DQ store that is about 50 feet from the studio where my kids take dance and gymnastics classes. So that first Wednesday after the “incident,” we started walking over to the DQ after dance class, and the kids were jumping around because they know exactly what that means – it’s time for a chocolate Dilly® Bar, chocolate mint Dilly Bar and a StarKiss® Bar. After we finished our treats, my son looked at me and said, “See dad? I told you this was better.” At which I couldn’t stop laughing!
Without getting too sentimental about the whole situation, I think what he meant is that this is his “Smile and a Story.” The best part of this tradition is that it’s a walk-up DQ store. DQ is headquartered in Minnesota, which means that we are even walking over to the DQ store on Wednesdays when it’s well below freezing outside. According to my children, there’s always room for DQ treats, and it’s never too cold. When I’m not able to make it to dance and share a treat with the kids, my week just doesn’t feel the same.
Do you have a DQ tradition that you must do after a baseball game, dance class, band concert or other event?
As I was scanning my personal Facebook account recently, I noticed that a friend of mine had just been in a wedding. So I was nosey and checked out the photos of her in the wedding. Among the pictures were shots of the bride and groom stopping at a Dairy Queen® store on their way to the reception. Intrigued, I contacted the bride and groom and asked them to share their story.
As I was scanning my personal Facebook account recently, I noticed that a friend of mine had just been in a wedding. So I was nosey and checked out the photos of her in the wedding. Among the pictures were shots of the bride and groom stopping at a Dairy Queen® store on their way to the reception. Intrigued, I contacted the bride and groom and asked them to share their story.
Here’s Matt and Karen’s Story:
It seems that as we grew up together, there was always ice cream involved. Throughout the years, major events always involved ice cream. While dating in high school, our first date was going out for ice cream. Following college, we both performed in the local outdoor theatre for three years and ended each evening rehearsal with ice cream. And while some people meet for coffee to chat, we always met for ice cream. To continue our pattern, we both ran our first marathon together on a hot, humid day in Duluth, Minn. Following the race, only yards from the finish line, we had a Dairy Queen cone to celebrate. It tasted glorious!
More marathons, theatre performances and dates came and went and all the while we ate ice cream. Somewhere along the way we got engaged and began to plan our wedding. We knew we wanted to have ice cream on our wedding day, so we decided to do what my parents did 25 years ago on their wedding day: stop at a Dairy Queen store between the ceremony and reception! So we informed our limo driver about our plan and told our wedding party to bring a few dollars for a DQ® stop!
The day of the wedding arrived and everything went perfectly. Following the ceremony, we, along with our wedding party, got into our limo and rode to a DQ store. We drew a few eyes our way, but we were all so excited about getting ice cream that we hardly noticed. We didn’t wait long to start enjoying it. The cones were the only thing we both ate all day long – the nerves of getting married diminished our appetite, but not our craving for ice cream! We posed for pictures as we ate, even linking arms to eat our treats! Once everyone had their treats, we made our way outdoors to enjoy continue eating. In the evening sun, we talked and ate with our friends. Our side trip was full of laughs and time to simply enjoy being with our closest friends as we began our new life as husband and wife.
Following our DQ stop, we made our way to the reception to join the rest of our guests. The day continued to flow beautifully and we celebrated with our family and friends late into the evening. Now following the wedding, our pictures get many comments… but our DQ pictures bring the most smiles and laughs. Those pictures capture what we truly love: each other… and ice cream.
Thank you Karen and Matt for sharing your story with us! Check out the photos from their wedding:
Karen’s parents enjoying a DQ Treat!
Karen and Matt enjoying DQ Treats!
The Wedding Party posing with their DQ Treats!
Our Dairy Queen® Research & Development department (the peeps who create all the fabulous new Blizzard® flavors), has given the Blog team the inside scoop about a new flavor they are going to release next year.
We’ve heard many times from consumers who love to dip their hamburger, cheeseburger or French fries into their Blizzard treats. So, after many long months of research, R&D has developed a French fry Blizzard® Flavor Treat. This innovative new flavor will be released in 2010, and will be available in DQ locations across North America for one year only.
Just think of it–creamy smooth DQ® soft serve blended with crispy hot DQ French fries, adding up to one irresistible taste sensation. This really could be our greatest and most unique Blizzard flavor of all time.
So what do you think? Too crazy too be true?
…?…
Well you’re right… it is!!!
APRIL FOOLS!!!!
