Source: Dairy Queen Dairy Queen is expanding its burger offerings as the fast food chain looks beyond the Blizzards and other desserts. The new Stackburger line is the largest expansion of the Dairy Queen menu for two decades, with five burger flavors for US customers: Flamethrower, Loaded A1, Bacon Two Cheese Deluxe, Two Cheese Deluxe and the Original Cheeseburger. Available as double-pound burgers or half-pound triple-burgers – hence the name Stackburger. Hamburgers will be a permanent addition to the menus at the company’s DQ Grill & Chill locations, which account for 72% of Dairy Queen’s more than 3,300 restaurants in the United States. The Stackburger series is also available in Canada. Dairy Queen is far from being the only restaurant chain to expand its offerings to attract more customers. Panera Bread is pushing for more orders for dinner by adding items like flatbread pizza to its menu, while Dine Brands’s IHOP made headlines several years ago by briefly changing its name to IHOB to promote its burgers. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio has owned Dairy Queen for 25 years. With a net income of $ 84.3 million in 2021, the fast food chain is a relatively small component of Buffett’s empire, which reported a net income of $ 89.8 billion for shareholders last year. Last year, Dairy Queen’s annual revenue rose 18% to $ 224.7 million, according to franchise revelation documents. The official release on Tuesday is a long time coming. International Dairy Queen CEO Troy Bader said in an interview that the chain began critically examining its menu almost five years ago, around the time it took over the company. The company knew it could not “be everything to everyone”, so it tried to figure out what its customers wanted, according to Bader. The Dairy Queen landed on two dishes: chicken strips and burgers. The chain first renewed its offers with chicken strips before dealing with hamburgers. “I would say it’s one of the first true menu strategies we’ve had in the Dairy Queen system for a long, long time,” Bader said. In markets such as the Southeast, its food offerings already accounted for most of its sales, surpassing its sweet offerings. And customers who bought their lunch or dinner tended to buy another Blizzard or an ice cream cone. It took several years to improve her burgers, starting in earnest in 2019. Dairy Queen created a new bun that was airy but sturdy enough to withstand the weight of three burgers. Swap cheese choices for white cheddar and a sharper American cheese. Dairy Queen CEO Troy Bader Source: Dairy Queen “We were proud of our burgers, but we knew we could do better with them,” Bader said. The chain then tested the Stackburgers. For almost 10 months, the Dairy Queen tried the new menu items in Birmingham, Alabama. Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and South Bend, Indiana. The test also included restaurants in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Alberta. In all, nearly 100 sites participated, making it the largest test for the chain in more than two decades. The pandemic also caused some delays. The nationwide labor crisis exacerbated supply chain problems, so Dairy Queen chose to postpone release, which was originally scheduled for late fall 2021. Bader said the chain wanted to make sure its sellers had enough employees to ensure that licensees will not be left a branch. But the chain did not worry about customers staying home. Bader said Dairy Queen sales fell sharply for six weeks in the spring of 2020 as the pandemic led to a lockdown and fear of even driving in the lanes. After that month and a half, however, her business recovered quickly. “From that period on, we only had a record sales,” he said. In the two years from 2020 to 2021, sales of the chain’s own stores in the US increased by 17% compared to 2019 levels. Bader is confident that the burgers will further fuel sales. Dairy Queen released Stackburgers on February 7 and so far has seen double-digit sales growth, with no ads. While fast food competitors such as McDonald’s try or add vegetable burgers, Dairy Queen is not at the moment. “There is so much news with our Stackburgers and working conditions with our franchisees, we did not want to introduce too many new items for them,” Bader said. “When we think of plant-based proteins, it’s something we keep looking at, monitoring and seeing what role it can play in the Dairy Queen system.” Berkshire Hathaway is preparing to hold an in-person annual shareholders meeting on April 30, the first since the pandemic began. Bader said Dairy Queen would drop the Blizzards and focus on pre-packaged items, such as the non-dairy Dilly bar, for the safety and comfort of investors.
