I’m burnin’ up. I’ve resisted for as long as possible, but it struck the other day while I was out running. I had on my mp3 player (I don’t own an iPod but that’s another story) which is so uncharacteristic of me because since I started running marathons and they weren’t allowed, I haven’t used one. So anyway, I have my mp3 tuned to our local hits stations KDWB, and I hear this pipsqueak voice and think to myself, I don’t even like this kid, what a bunch of hype! I go to turn it to another radio station, but accidentally pause. All of a sudden this kid I’d been trying to avoid had my full attention. It was like a car accident. I didn’t want to look but couldn’t turn away, I was hooked.
You smile, I smile….
I actually think this song would be a fitting theme song for the DQ® system because I truly feel like when we make our customers smile, it makes us smile. Of course the paycheck is nice and you can’t live on smiles but, it really makes our jobs worthwhile when we see you smile! So much so that it’s even our motto, a smile and a story. What’s yours?!
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?
When I was a little girl, trips to the local DQ® walk-up store were a given. My sisters, eight and nine years older than I, were often “encouraged” to walk me up to the store for treats to get all of us out of my Mom’s hair for awhile. One day when I was about 10, my younger cousin was visiting so she too was included in a Saturday afternoon walk to the DQ® store.
My sisters were only given enough money for one treat per person, and luckily, we had enough for my cousin and her much bigger eyes than stomach. Even though she was only 5, she insisted she could eat a Strawberry Shortcake Treat. There was no way she could put much of a dent into this monstrous treat at her age, but my sisters let her attempt it.
Of course she was also at the age where she didn’t need any help carrying it. Not so surprisingly, as soon as we started the trek across the parking lot toward home, she leaned the Strawberry Shortcake too far in one direction and it toppled out of the dish and onto the parking lot. My sisters and I looked at each other in sheer horror and waited. We didn’t have enough money for another treat and we really didn’t want to give up one of ours, yet we knew the temper tantrum would start shortly.
After a couple of seconds, we watched, in horror again but this time also with relief, as my young cousin simply stooped down to the parking lot and slid her mangled treat back into the dish, brushed off some gravel with her spoon, and contentedly started to eat. We thought about stopping her, but then also realized that if she was fine with it, maybe we should just keep our mouths shut. Instead, we quietly ate out treats and didn’t say another word the whole walk home.
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:
Whenever I tell anyone that I work for the Dairy Queen® system, most people immediately want to discuss one of two things, if not both. The first question I am usually asked is whether I get free ice cream whenever I want. Although that would be nice, the answer is “no.” Secondly, they usually share a story about their favorite memory of visiting a Dairy Queen restaurant, or some other anecdote about why the DQ® brand is special to them. Since those stories are so common, we actually have a name for them — “A Smile and a Story.” A story is featured every month in World of DQ magazine, which goes out to all Dairy Queen franchise owners, and recently one caught my eye.
When a man decided he was going to propose to his girlfriend, instead of going to a fancy restaurant or taking a romantic vacation, he thought immediately of his local DQ restaurant. Since they both love DQ soft serve and they spent so much time there when they were dating that he claims they “fell in love over a DQ cone,” he decided that their local DQ would make the perfect spot for a proposal. He ordered her favorite Blizzard® Cake, and the manager and staff helped decorate the table with balloons, streamers and even candles. As soon as his fiancée-to-be saw the table, she knew what was going on, and of course she said “yes!” How could anyone turn down an offer as sweet as that?
