Dairy Queen, Armed With Blizzard, Hopes to Scoop S.D. Ice Cream Market
At last, an economic trend to cool the mouth and warm the heart.
Dairy Queen, the royalty of ice cream sellers elsewhere in the country, has begun a gung-ho assault on San Diego County.
Two years ago, there were but two local Dairy Queens: Lakeside and North Park.
Now there are 10, heading to 30 or more by the end of next year. Coming soon to a shopping center near you, mostly in North County.
For half a century, Dairy Queen has been a part of rural Americana: summer nights, a double scoop of soft vanilla dipped in chocolate, a former homecoming queen working behind the counter.
But now International Dairy Queen Inc. of Minneapolis isn’t content with 5,206 stores worldwide and 48% of the domestic market.
It wants to bust into suburbs, heretofore the turf of Baskin-Robbins and designer ice creams. It figures the market is poised for a backlash to Haagen-Dazs, a flight from Frusen Gladje, a return to the heartland.
Enter Bruce Hungate, a Dairy Queen brat (mom and dad own a Dairy Queen in Tucson) turned “urban territory operator” for San Diego County.
He started a Dairy Queen in Solana Beach two years ago. Since then he has found franchisees for Dairy Queens from Pacific Beach to Oceanside.
He says he’s got a secret weapon: the Blizzard, a scoop that can be smothered with all manner of delectables like crushed Oreos, shredded Butterfingers, and more.
“The Blizzard is the key to the yuppie market,” Hungate said. “It’s the biggest thing to hit Dairy Queen since the invention of the cone.”
The franchise-holders in the Carmel Mountain Ranch Town Center are James and Solan Ni. I stopped by to research the product.
The Nis also run a Baskin-Robbins in Mira Mesa. They arrived in San Diego seven years ago from Taiwan.
Several of the Dairy Queen franchisees are recent immigrants who have decided their road to the American Dream is paved with ice cream. That’s another trend.
Home Front Violence
Men, women and animals.
* Title of a keynote address this morning at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego: “Peacemaking Amongst Humans.”
The three-day conference will discuss whether men are violent because of a biological flaw or because of “socialization, masculinity and male peer support.”
A seminar on the Persian Gulf standoff? Not quite:
“The 3rd Annual Conference on Love and Violence: State of the Art in Prevention and Treatment of Domestic Violence.”
* Among the animals posing for pictures last weekend with Santa Claus at the Village Faire Shopping Center in Carlsbad: a 4-foot iguana, a mini-horse, and hamsters named Harry, Sally and Snickers. More posing this weekend.
* North County bumper sticker: “Sorry. I Don’t Date Outside My Species.”
* There will be ring-card girls at tonight’s boxing matches at the Sports Arena. Barely dressed, as always.
The vice squad pinched the girls for indecent exposure two weeks ago, but the city attorney threw the case out as flimsier than the girls’ costumes.
“Tradition is important,” said promoter Scott Woodworth. “Besides, I think there would be a riot if we sent guys up there with the ring cards.”
Support From an Old Camper
Fun and games.
* During last summer’s budget hubbub, the San Diego City Council cut $65,000 earmarked to send students in the School Safety Patrol to Camp Palomar.
Now, Councilman Ron Roberts wants the $65,000 restored from $300,000 left over from the Soviet Arts Festival.
His move is part politics, part sentiment: Roberts was a School Safety Patrol member.
* The family that drinks together, stays fit together.
Family Fitness Center in Kearny Mesa has applied for a beer and wine license.
* This is finals week at UC San Diego, so Primal Scream Therapy is sanctioned.
For five minutes each night (starting at 9:55 p.m.) upwards of 1,000 students at Muir College scream their heads off to relieve stress. Then back to the books.
