Farragut awaits DQ date
Looking back on his childhood growing up in Charlotte, N.C., Farragut Mayor Ralph McGill recalled making regular trips to the neighborhood Dairy Queen “just a couple of blocks away” from his home, adding “chocolate” was his favorite DQ ice cream.
Looking ahead to the new Dairy Queen Grill & Chill being built in Farragut, “I don’t know that there are many in this region. So we’re lucky to have it here,” McGill added about the future DQ, which is projected to open no later than early October — and quite possibly sooner — according to a company spokesman.
“We want to open sometime in the next 60 days,” said Brian Peterson, director of Real Estate and Development with Fourteen Foods, Dairy Queen’s largest franchisee, in a telephone interview Wednesday, Aug. 10. The new DQ, 2,640 square feet including parking, is being constructed in former Krispy Kreme location, 11212 Kingston Pike.
Fourteen Foods began construction soon after obtaining its building permit from Town officials July 25.
“We’re very excited for the timing of our grand opening in Farragut,” Peterson said. “We’re also very excited that the development has worked out such where Farragut is the first Town we’ll open in in the Knox County metropolitan area.”
“For those who haven’t experienced the new Grill & Chill concept, to just kind of see how far it’s come from maybe the Dairy Queen of old that they would remember,” Peterson added. “It’s got a very, what I would call modernized interior design, although we still hold true to a lot of the old nostalgic pieces of Dairy Queen, at one of the Dairy Queens of old that you may have had in your hometown that you would have walked up to or dined in in years past.”
McGill added, “The Dairy Queen of today is a lot different than when I was a kid. Today there’s a whole lot more food involved. But the ice cream is still there. I think they’ll do very well in Farragut.”
As for cooperation with Town officials, “I would say to this point, it’s been excellent. … I would tip my hat to really just generally everybody that we’ve worked with in the city; elected officials, administrative staff, economic development [personnel], just across the board,” Peterson said.
Peterson said restaurant hours would be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.
For more information, go to www.fourteenfoods.com
or www.dairyqueen.com
