Dairy Queen® Counters Recession With A Sweet Deal

DQ Sweet Deals
DQ’s first ever value menu “Sweet Deals” offers customers food and treat choices, 20,000 combinations and big savings

MINNEAPOLIS – Dairy Queen® is now asking customers “What’s your deal?” The treat category leader and one of the leaders in the QSR industry is giving customers a deal that’s tough to refuse given the troubling economy, the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch. Beginning today, all DQ® Grill & Chill® and Dairy Queen/Brazier® locations are adding a new permanent value menu that satisfies consumer appetites and choices and is easy on their wallets.

What differentiates this value proposition from competitors is that it gives customers the freedom of choice, allowing them to mix and match nine menu items, choosing two for $3, three for $4 or four for $5. In all, customers will have more than 20,000 combinations to choose from. Sweet Deals includes menu choices such as the signature Dairy Queen cheeseburger, a classic all-beef hot dog, the new chicken wrap, French fries, onion rings, a side salad, a medium beverage and a small sundae or cone made with DQ’s famous soft serve with the curl on top. Adding further to the value being offered these menu items are not smaller, downsized portions, like those offered by some competitors, but rather are the regular sized menu items that DQ customers have come to expect and enjoy.

“Sweet Deals combines both food and treats in a way that gives our customers the opportunity to customize their orders, a freedom of choice, so to speak, not only in terms of what they would like to order but also how much they would like to order, how much they would like to spend and how much they would like to save,” said Michael Keller, chief brand officer for International Dairy Queen, Inc.

According to Keller, the Sweet Deals menu already accounts for 7 percent of store sales before national advertising runs in March and is expected to help drive same store sales 2 to 3 percent.

Following a successful two year menu test beginning in 2007, Dairy Queen is launching Sweet Deals nationwide, marking the first time in its storied 64-year history that a value menu will be offered year-round. This is in contrast to Dairy Queen competitors that are offering limited time only value meals.

“The Sweet Deals value menu truly leverages Dairy Queen’s unique strengths as a food and treat industry leader,” added Keller. “It’s not every day that one of the nation’s largest and most revered quick service restaurants launches a customizable value menu when consumers absolutely are searching for values. Americans are not giving up going out to dinner amid a slumping economy, they are being more careful with their spending which is a key reason why we are launching Sweet Deals.”

The debut of Sweet Deals will be supported by national advertising in March and May. For more information about Dairy Queen, visit DairyQueen.com.

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About IDQ:
International Dairy Queen (IDQ), which is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., develops licenses and services a system of more than 5,600 Dairy Queen® stores in the United States, Canada and other foreign countries, offering world famous dairy desserts, hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages. IDQ is part of the Berkshire Hathaway family, a company run by Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Following the successful roll out of the DQ Grill & Chill® concept, the Dairy Queen system’s quick-service food concept that features an expanded menu and newly designed restaurant interiors, IDQ began testing the DQ® Orange Julius® concept in August 2005. DQ Orange Julius locations blend a sleek, new look with the feel of a traditional ice cream treat shop and offer a treat menu that includes traditional DQ favorites as well as the Orange Julius line of premium fruit smoothies and fruit drinks.

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