(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway’s Dairy Queen, the venerable food and frozen treat purveyor, rolled out more of its DQ Grill & Chill franchises in 2016 than in any year prior.
Dairy Queen opened 318 locations worldwide, including 82 new stores in the United States.
Phoenix, upstate New York, Southern California, and South Carolina are all areas where Dairy Queen has major expansion plans, and internationally, South Korea plans to open 50 DQ Grill & Chill locations within the next five years.
The South Korea agreement is with the privately held M2G USA Investment, Inc., whose diversified business portfolio includes ownership of restaurants, hotels, public storage businesses, household appliance manufacturing, shoes and an extensive global real estate portfolio.
“The DQ® brand continues to expand in new international markets,” said John Gainor, President and CEO of International Dairy Queen, Inc., said at the time of the announcement. “We are looking forward to working with M2G USA Investment to bring our renowned menu, signature treats and quality service to the Republic of Korea.”
Closer to the U.S., Dairy Queen’s plans call for the development of DQ Grill & Chill locations in Trinidad and Tobago, DQ Grill & Chill and DQ Treat locations in Jamaica, and DQ Treat locations in St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Maarten.
The DQ system has more than 6,700 locations with more than 2,200 of those units operating outside of the United States.
For more information on Dairy Queen’s world-wide plans, read a Mazor’sEdge special report on Dairy Queen.
© 2017 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.