"Non-system" Dairy Queens

wnetmacman
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by wnetmacman »

Super S wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:
jamcool wrote:Then there is the question of Coke or Pepsi at the DQ....most of the new build DQs serve Coke (and the franchiser...American DQ...is owned by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, which has shares in Coca Cola) while a lot of the older DQs still pour Pepsi.
I believe the 'official' DQ drink is Coke. Some older franchisees may be grandfathered into Pepsi. I've *never* seen Pepsi in a DQ. I would be willing to bet that Coke outnumbers Pepsi 3 to 1 in DQ locations.
Most if not all locations around the Pacific Northwest have Pepsi. Including one near me that was closed for a bit as the owner decided to retire and sell. The new owner completely gutted and remodeled the inside but they still have Pepsi.
I say it because the DQ website shows Coke. Grandfathered in can mean several things, depending on the company. Typically, drink companies enter contracts that are very difficult to exit. Additionally, the dispensers, even though they're made similarly, sometimes use different nozzles to connect to the syrup depending on the distributor. That makes changing a very expensive undertaking. I'd bet that's what happens with the Pepsi DQ locations.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by storewanderer »

Dairy Queen's soda brand seems to vary by region, but I do think they are mostly on Coke here in NV. It is not consistent and may be Pepsi in Truckee, CA though... or was...

There is a Dairy Queen in Elko, NV that has two buildings (picnic tables in the middle) and is only open like April-September. For many years it had a very old appearance and odd super old street sign that simply read DQ but they have since renovated it to a Grill and Chill look but it is still the same old thing: two separate windows to order at (one for hot food, one for ice cream).

One time I stopped there and I don't remember which window I ordered at but I needed a receipt. The employee said that window did not have the receipt printer (had the standard Dairy Queen IBM register and processed my credit card) but if I went to the window in the other building and asked they could get me the receipt. Kind of funny.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by Super S »

wnetmacman wrote:
Super S wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:
I believe the 'official' DQ drink is Coke. Some older franchisees may be grandfathered into Pepsi. I've *never* seen Pepsi in a DQ. I would be willing to bet that Coke outnumbers Pepsi 3 to 1 in DQ locations.
Most if not all locations around the Pacific Northwest have Pepsi. Including one near me that was closed for a bit as the owner decided to retire and sell. The new owner completely gutted and remodeled the inside but they still have Pepsi.
I say it because the DQ website shows Coke. Grandfathered in can mean several things, depending on the company. Typically, drink companies enter contracts that are very difficult to exit. Additionally, the dispensers, even though they're made similarly, sometimes use different nozzles to connect to the syrup depending on the distributor. That makes changing a very expensive undertaking. I'd bet that's what happens with the Pepsi DQ locations.
I have to wonder too if there is some resistance due to Coke's Freestyle machines. Seems like those are expensive repairs waiting to happen. I sometimes wonder if people in the drive thru ask for the full list of flavors...I could see some instances where operators want to keep things simple.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by pseudo3d »

Texas Dairy Queens are a little different, the way the advertising is done, it acts like a Texas exclusive chain (there are, at least used to be, more Dairy Queen stores in Texas than McDonald's...every small town has one, and interestingly, Sonic restaurants are VERY common as well, even in small towns). However, most of them are fairly standardized (even if they date back to the 1960s). The Moorhead, MN Dairy Queen is another famous one (they were profiled nationally not too long ago), they include things like Polish sausage and BBQ.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by BillyGr »

pseudo3d wrote:Texas Dairy Queens are a little different, the way the advertising is done, it acts like a Texas exclusive chain (there are, at least used to be, more Dairy Queen stores in Texas than McDonald's...every small town has one, and interestingly, Sonic restaurants are VERY common as well, even in small towns). However, most of them are fairly standardized (even if they date back to the 1960s). The Moorhead, MN Dairy Queen is another famous one (they were profiled nationally not too long ago), they include things like Polish sausage and BBQ.
Makes sense - McDonalds had an early franchisee in Dallas who went bankrupt (the only one at the time) and due to that they held off on additional restaurants in Texas for some time.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by SamSpade »

I couldn't escape that TV jingle when I was in Texas this year.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by Brian Lutz »

Super S wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:
Super S wrote:
Most if not all locations around the Pacific Northwest have Pepsi. Including one near me that was closed for a bit as the owner decided to retire and sell. The new owner completely gutted and remodeled the inside but they still have Pepsi.
I say it because the DQ website shows Coke. Grandfathered in can mean several things, depending on the company. Typically, drink companies enter contracts that are very difficult to exit. Additionally, the dispensers, even though they're made similarly, sometimes use different nozzles to connect to the syrup depending on the distributor. That makes changing a very expensive undertaking. I'd bet that's what happens with the Pepsi DQ locations.
I have to wonder too if there is some resistance due to Coke's Freestyle machines. Seems like those are expensive repairs waiting to happen. I sometimes wonder if people in the drive thru ask for the full list of flavors...I could see some instances where operators want to keep things simple.
Some chains (Burger King, Qdoba and Taco Time come to mind around here) seem to have gone all-in on the Freestyle machines, while others seem slower to adopt (I've seen them in newer and remodeled Wendy's locations, but most still have their drink fountain behind the counter and nowhere in the dining room to put one.) Most notably, I don't think I've ever seen a McDonald's with a Freestyle machine. which is easily Coke's largest customer. Subway seems to have gone back and forth between Coke and Pepsi several times over their history, and switched from Coke to Pepsi in 2015 after using Coke for ten years.

I can definitely see where the Freestyle machines might be problematic for drive-thrus, but from what I've seen they use a different user interface for those that shows most of the available flavors on a single screen. I have had occasional problems with the Freestyle machines (apparently it's really easy to get into a scenario where 40-50% of all available flavors are out all at once, and I've had to wait for the machine to reboot after a crash on one occasion) but generally prefer them over the older machines, mostly because I avoid caffeine and in a lot of places with standard fountains I may find myself with only 1 or 2 available choices.

I do see Pepsi has their own answer to the Freestyle machine called the Pepsi Spire, but from what I can tell it's basically just fancy industrial design on top of an existing bag-in-box fountain with flavor shot capability. In some ways I can see this being more likely to appeal to the businesses that might have objections to the Coke Freestyle machines, but it does come with the same drawbacks of having everything come out of a single nozzle as the Freestyle does, and seems to be pretty rare in the wild (a locator shows only five installed in all of Washington, two of which are in non publicly accessible locations.)
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by storewanderer »

A McDonald's in Sparks, NV on Prater Way installed the Coke Freestyle Machines within the past two weeks. It is the first McDonald's location I have ever seen those machines at and they have a window cling/sticker advising of the new machine inside.

I am not sure how they handle drive through soda transactions, if the Freestyle options are available or if it is just the standard fountain.

Many customers I have observed dislike the Coke Freestyle Machines. When using one of those machines at Five Guys a few weeks ago the machine was "OUT" of Coke, Pibb, and Barqs. Told the employees and they said the machine was not working. Also was in a Wendys in Carson City, NV last week which was having its grand reopening after a remodel and they had the Freestyle machine; customers were trying to get Coke and Pibb and both were out on the machines and they were having to give the cups to the counter employees to fill behind the counter.

Surprising to me these machines continue to get installed. Between the poor tasing product dispensed and the usage issues (not the mention the cleanliness issues of those touchscreens and various people touching them, sticky, just gross)...
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by Alpha8472 »

I totally agree about the terrible taste. The machines use highly concentrated flavor cartridges. The way it makes soda is different than normal soda fountains and the flavor is always off. There are more choices of flavors, but it simply cannot replicate the pure flavor of real soda. These Coke Freestyle machines are simply spraying highly concentrated flavors into carbonated water. You can see the highly concentrated spray droplets at the stop of your soda cup. Technicians who replace the cartridges say that the highly concentrated syrup is so concentrated that if you get it on your clothes you will have to throw your clothes away. It stains clothing like nothing else.

Coke Freestyle machines are ruining the soda enjoyment. You can't get pure Coke any more. It is a spray of concentrated flavor that can't quite get the true taste just right.

I have been to the drive-thru at many Wendy's and Burger Kings with the Coke Freestyle machines, and many times they say that they don't have the full line of flavors at the drive-thru. The drive-thru flavor selection is much more limited. There are more flavor choices inside at the self-service machines.

Safeway stores in many cities have the Coke Freestyle machines now. Even the smaller Safeway stores have gotten a smaller counter top version of the Coke Freestyle machine. It has fewer flavor choices, but still has a small touch screen.

The tubing system in these machines is different than regular soda fountains. Traditional soda fountains have separate tubes. Now everything comes out of one tube for the Coke Freestyle machines. Root beer is notorious for contaminating tubing and giving the tubing a terrible aftertaste.
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Re: "Non-system" Dairy Queens

Post by pseudo3d »

BillyGr wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:Texas Dairy Queens are a little different, the way the advertising is done, it acts like a Texas exclusive chain (there are, at least used to be, more Dairy Queen stores in Texas than McDonald's...every small town has one, and interestingly, Sonic restaurants are VERY common as well, even in small towns). However, most of them are fairly standardized (even if they date back to the 1960s). The Moorhead, MN Dairy Queen is another famous one (they were profiled nationally not too long ago), they include things like Polish sausage and BBQ.
Makes sense - McDonalds had an early franchisee in Dallas who went bankrupt (the only one at the time) and due to that they held off on additional restaurants in Texas for some time.
McDonald's was in Texas by the early 1970s, but Dairy Queen has been around for far longer. Due to franchise issues, Dairy Queen shrank dramatically, but remember, by 1955--when there were only maybe 8 McDonald's stores, Dairy Queen had 2,600.
Brian Lutz wrote:Subway seems to have gone back and forth between Coke and Pepsi several times over their history, and switched from Coke to Pepsi in 2015 after using Coke for ten years.
It must be a franchise...Subway doesn't actually operate any restaurants, it sells franchises, and the franchised stores around here still use Coke.


Also, totally agree about Freestyle. Freestyle machines are gross and also inefficient, you can't fill up more than one cup at a time. A good fountain Cherry Coke from syrup tastes nothing like "Coca-Cola with cherry-flavored syrup" the Freestyles do.
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