Odd changes at DQ here

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cjd
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Odd changes at DQ here

Post by cjd »

We have two DQs here. One is an older, originally Braizer franchised location.

The other one is a newer DQ Grill and Chill of mid 2000s era. Both stores have approximately the same thing, though the newer one has more options. They both have the same decoration style on the inside too.

Over the past year or so I've noticed a lot of changes with the newer one. First the lighting is now terrible. Before it had nice, subdued recessed and pendant lighting that made it feel more upscale and relaxing than your typical fast food place. Now they put in lots of LED fixtures that give a stark white light that looks totally wrong, I think. I don't know if they thought the old lighting made it look dirty or something, but I think they should have left it alone, or got warmer colored lights.

Also, the employees still wear DQ shirts, but instead of the black pants they now wear jeans. And instead of DQ visors they now wear Patagonia baseball caps. Really odd to me.

I've noticed some employees also working without uniforms if they're not up front. Really kind of sloppily dressed. I'm thinking there must have been an ownership change or something. The food quality is still good for DQ which I guess is what's important. I remember the management about 5-8 years ago seemed more professional, always well dressed, etc. Now it doesn't seem like that as much anymore.
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Re: Odd changes at DQ here

Post by Super S »

cjd wrote: May 19th, 2019, 11:01 am We have two DQs here. One is an older, originally Braizer franchised location.

The other one is a newer DQ Grill and Chill of mid 2000s era. Both stores have approximately the same thing, though the newer one has more options. They both have the same decoration style on the inside too.

Over the past year or so I've noticed a lot of changes with the newer one. First the lighting is now terrible. Before it had nice, subdued recessed and pendant lighting that made it feel more upscale and relaxing than your typical fast food place. Now they put in lots of LED fixtures that give a stark white light that looks totally wrong, I think. I don't know if they thought the old lighting made it look dirty or something, but I think they should have left it alone, or got warmer colored lights.

Also, the employees still wear DQ shirts, but instead of the black pants they now wear jeans. And instead of DQ visors they now wear Patagonia baseball caps. Really odd to me.

I've noticed some employees also working without uniforms if they're not up front. Really kind of sloppily dressed. I'm thinking there must have been an ownership change or something. The food quality is still good for DQ which I guess is what's important. I remember the management about 5-8 years ago seemed more professional, always well dressed, etc. Now it doesn't seem like that as much anymore.
About the lighting, there are several older Dairy Queens near me where they took the proper floodlight bulbs out of the recessed can lights and replaced them with CFL (or more recently LED) bulbs which are regular bulbs instead of the proper bulbs that direct light downward. Not only does it look darker, the wrong bulbs make the fixtures look really cheap.
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Re: Odd changes at DQ here

Post by storewanderer »

DQ is really loose with its operators. There isn't much of a standard. I hesitate to call it a dying brand, but it kind of feels like one from my viewpoint. They are out of Reno proper entirely. We had 3 locations a decade ago. One in the mall closed (probably failed). One was demolished in downtown Reno for some kind of proposed redevelopment that never happened. The other newer one closed after the owner decided to sell the property lease to Chase Bank despite being a very successful location. There is still one (very old) location in Sparks that is very successful.
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Re: Odd changes at DQ here

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: May 19th, 2019, 6:02 pm DQ is really loose with its operators. There isn't much of a standard. I hesitate to call it a dying brand, but it kind of feels like one from my viewpoint. They are out of Reno proper entirely. We had 3 locations a decade ago. One in the mall closed (probably failed). One was demolished in downtown Reno for some kind of proposed redevelopment that never happened. The other newer one closed after the owner decided to sell the property lease to Chase Bank despite being a very successful location. There is still one (very old) location in Sparks that is very successful.
The old NW Reno location was my go-to during my undergrad at UNR. The owner closed it due to health issues. I work in Carson City, so get to go to that store fairly often - it’s always busy. I think they’ll keep it and Sparks open.

https://www.ktvn.com/story/38658332/nor ... r-15-years
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