Dairy Queen: History, Key Facts and Reviews

1938-1950: soft serve from Kankakee to Joliet

Dairy Queen grew out of a soft-serve recipe that J.F. McCullough and his son Alex developed in 1938 (Wikipedia). Their friend Sherb Noble tested it that year in his ice cream store in Kankakee, Illinois, and sold more than 1,600 servings in two hours. On June 22, 1940, the three men opened the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois; the building is now a city landmark. Franchising followed quickly: ten stores in 1941, 100 in 1947 and 1,446 in 1950. Malts and shakes joined the menu in 1950, banana splits in 1951.

1950-1984: Canada, Dilly Bars and the Brazier burgers

Dairy Queen became a burger chain in the late 1950s. It crossed into Canada with a standalone store in Estevan, Saskatchewan, in 1953, and had 2,600 stores by 1955, the year a franchisee in Moorhead, Minnesota, created the Dilly Bar. In 1958 the Brazier format, developed by Jim Cruikshank and first launched in Georgia, added broiled hamburgers and hot dogs to the ice cream counter. The company took the name International Dairy Queen in 1962. The Peanut Buster Parfait followed in 1971.

1985-2001: the Blizzard, Orange Julius and Berkshire Hathaway

The Blizzard, launched in 1985, became DQ’s best-known product: more than 100 million were sold in its first year. The company bought the Orange Julius chain in 1987. On January 7, 1998, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway completed its purchase of International Dairy Queen for about $590 million, when the system counted some 5,900 stores (Berkshire 10-K 1998). In December 2001 the first DQ Grill & Chill, with a full burger kitchen, opened in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

2002-2026: about 7,800 restaurants and a push into China

Dairy Queen today is a franchise system of about 7,800 restaurants under the DQ Grill & Chill, Dairy Queen, DQ and Orange Julius names (Berkshire 10-K 2025). The United States is shrinking: 4,115 units at the end of 2025, 97 fewer than a year earlier, for $5.013 billion in sales (QSR 50 2026). Growth comes from abroad. Total sales rose about 3% in 2025 to nearly $6.6 billion across some 20 countries (Reuters), and DQ passed 2,000 stores in China in 2026 (China Daily). On the burger side, our Dairy Queen Original Stackburger copycat recreates the cheeseburger DQ gave away on National Cheeseburger Day 2026.

Key dates

• 1938: J.F. and Alex McCullough create their soft-serve mix; Sherb Noble tests it in Kankakee.
• 1940: the first Dairy Queen opens in Joliet, Illinois, on June 22.
• 1953: first standalone Canadian store, in Estevan, Saskatchewan.
• 1958: the Brazier format adds hamburgers and hot dogs.
• 1985: the Blizzard sells more than 100 million units in its first year.
• 1998: Berkshire Hathaway completes its purchase of International Dairy Queen.
• 2001: the first DQ Grill & Chill opens in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 2025: about 7,800 restaurants and nearly $6.6 billion in sales.