Dairy Queen to Launch new DQ Bakes! Institute

As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, the Dairy Queen system, a Berkshire Hathaway company, today announced the creation of the DQ Bakes! Institute located at the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis.

The DQ Bakes! Institute was established to further inspire, develop, and enhance future innovation coming from the DQ kitchen—ultimately, creating new and unique taste experiences fans can’t get anywhere else. The DQ Bakes! Institute will highlight innovations coming from the new DQ oven. These one-of-a-kind desserts, sandwiches, and snacks on the DQ Bakes! menu are made to order, served straight from the oven, and customized to a fan’s taste. At the institute, the DQ Product Development team is committed to creating exclusive DQ Bakes! products that will continue to provide new kinds of high-quality taste experiences for fans.

“The DQ Bakes! Institute speaks to our commitment to product quality and innovation,” says Barry Westrum, executive vice president of marketing for American Dairy Queen Corporation. “It’s where new DQ Bakes! menu ideas are born, cultivated, tested, and perfected. When we launched the DQ Bakes! menu last month, we saw the opportunities for future innovation coming from our ovens. The DQ Bakes! Institute tells a bigger story about what fans can expect in the future from DQ Bakes! and the Dairy Queen system.”

When DQ Bakes! was rolled out in select test markets, fans were thrilled and amazed, Westrum says. “They were impressed that a quick-service restaurant could produce the quality and innovation that you’d find in a casual dining restaurant but at a [quick serve] price point,” he says. “They loved the hot-from-the-oven tastes that these products offer as well as these premium and delicious flavor profiles.”

Currently on the DQ Bakes! menu are made-to-order Hot Desserts à la Mode, Artisan-style Sandwiches, and Snack Melts. The desserts are Triple Chocolate Brownie, Apple Tart, and Fudge Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie; Artisan-style sandwiches are Chicken Bacon Ranch, Chicken Mozzarella, and Turkey BLT; and snack melts are Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Bacon BBQ, and Chicken Quesadilla.

“The DQ Bakes! menu was the inspiration for the DQ Bakes! Institute,” says Dr. Bill Barrier, executive vice president of product development, quality, food safety for American Dairy Queen. “We are all about menu quality and value, both for food and treats. We are really excited about the new opportunities that our ovens provide and the matchless innovations that will come from the DQ Bakes! Institute.”

Learning about recipes and how to prepare new menu items at the restaurant level is a standard method in the quick serve industry, but the best education comes from the hands-on experiences with the DQ Bakes! Product Development team and that’s the purpose of the DQ Bakes! Institute.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us,” Barrier says. “The DQ Bakes! Institute celebrates our 75-year heritage but at the same time focuses on our future. The ultimate winners are our fans.”

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