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Why does Dairy Queen sell food? (self.nostupidquestions)
submitted 1 month ago by sem to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

Isn't it supposed to be ice creams and milkshakes and stuff?

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[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 62 points 1 month ago

Once upon a time there were two types of Dairy Queens. Some were just ice cream, but the ones called "Dairy Queen Braizer" sold hot food too. Eventually they all sold hot food.

[-] sem 8 points 1 month ago

Thanks for the actual answer!

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 35 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I mean, it's not an actual answer. It's just a historic fact.

The actual answer is that diversifying your product offerings gets you more business. People like desserts after eating a meal, so it makes sense to also sell that meal.

[-] sem 14 points 1 month ago

Historic facts can be an answer.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 13 points 1 month ago

But it's not the answer to your question. The answer to your question is business/financially related.

[-] sem 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not necessarily. It could be "Why does Dairy Queen sell food (unsaid part: when I expect it to only sell ice cream?")

A: because it used to only sell ice cream in the past.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

That's not an answer to why, though. Only selling something in the past doesn't explain why they do it now. Making more money is the real explanation.

[-] sem 2 points 1 month ago

Why can just mean explain something that is unexpected. Which you did with the history lesson. It doesn't have to answer causality.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

The question "why" inherently requires reasoning as a response, though. If the answer had been, "DQs used to only serve ice cream, but the founder wanted to..." blah blah blah, that would be an answer.

[-] sem 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I disagree with your premise.

Why?

It didn't used to be, but that's how it is now.

I see what you mean though.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago

It didn't used to be, but that's how it is now.

Doesn't answer 'why,' though. 'Why' is asking for the reason it changed from only ice cream to ice cream and food.

You didn't ask if DQ had changed from ice cream only to ice cream and food. You knew the answer to that. You were asking for the reason they made the change.

[-] sem 2 points 1 month ago

I didn't know that they used to not sell food. All I know is that I didn't expect them to sell food.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

They’ve got to do something with the cows once they’re too old to milk.

[-] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And they need to do something with calves. Cows only produce milk after giving birth, and dairy producers are not going to keep a freeloader around. /s

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

That's the veal industry

[-] sem 4 points 1 month ago

That makes too much sense :/

[-] spongebue@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Here's the fun part: while you're all talking about their ice cream, technically it's not legal to call their product that. You won't see it anywhere on the menu. I think it has to do with the milk/cream/egg/sugar amounts? There may not be egg at all, but can't remember for sure.

Anyway, all you'll ever see on the menu is "soft serve"

[-] cattywampas@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago

Ice cream has to be at least 10% butterfat and 20% milk solids according to the FDA.

DQ soft serve is 5% butterfat so would not legally qualify as ice cream, though it would qualify as low fat ice cream.

I do believe that most soft serve is a similar fat percentage, and also has much more air per volume than traditional ice cream.

Also, I must say as an ice cream aficionado, I do love me some soft serve and I would never disparage it by calling it "not real ice cream."

[-] TheDoozer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Funny enough, the milk they use (at least the supplier to the store I managed) is nonfat milk. So the first listed ingedient is nonfat milk, and the second is milk fat, lol.

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[-] astrsk@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah, soft serve is just frozen sugar milk, comes in cartons like regular milk and you can totally just drink it, tastes a bit like whole milk but clearly with an unhealthy amount of sugar in it.

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 month ago

If you have n icecream shops in highly sought after retail locations where people are buying food, it would be kinda crazy not to sell food.

[-] Demonmariner@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Define "food."

[-] Default_Defect@midwest.social 9 points 1 month ago

Same reason you can get ice cream from other fast food places.

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[-] peteyestee@feddit.org 8 points 1 month ago

Can someone from England ask her?

[-] sem 2 points 1 month ago
[-] kobra@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

The Queen of Dairy I presume

[-] sem 1 points 1 month ago

Maybe she lives in Jersey with the cows there?

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[-] RestlessNotions@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

Salty and sweet, man! Clearly you've never dipped fries into a milkshake. Your lack of life experience is concerning.

[-] DreamAccountant@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Maybe they're English. Nobody there thinks that they should dip their chippies in a frozen creamydoodle.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Because no one should do that. It seems super gross (and I'm American)

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[-] MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

Dairy Queen has been selling food since 1958. They are not "an ice cream store" any more than McDonalds is

[-] Chozo@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago

Well only because the machine is always broken at McDonald's.

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[-] sem 1 points 1 month ago

This is insane to me, for some reason I thought they were an ice cream store.

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[-] geekwithsoul@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned is selling ice cream is only a sustainable business for a few months out of the year in many places. Whereas you can sell burgers/dogs/etc year-round. But yeah, as far as I know they've always sold fast food - their burgers were a fave of mine when I was a kid in the 70s.

[-] sem 1 points 1 month ago

Wow that's neat. There's a Dairy Queen sort of near me, I've driven past it a million times, but I thought they only sold ice cream so I've never gone in.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 1 month ago

So you can get dinner and dessert at the same place.

[-] sem 2 points 1 month ago

This makes a lot of sense actually.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

Dude, their burgers are awesome. It's one of the few, if only fast food joints that still cook burgers on an actual flat top.

I just wish they hadn't switched to the soggy as fuck steak cut fries.

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this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
59 points (100.0% liked)

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