The management and staff of Niverville’s new Dairy Queen Grill and Chill are as excited and ready for their March 18 opening as the many local DQ fans who’ve been waiting with bated breath. On Monday at 10:30 a.m., they will officially open for business.
The 2,600-square-foot restaurant will have the capacity to seat 75 diners inside and, when the weather turns, another 24 on the outdoor patio. Owners Nick and Nikki Hagidiakow and Joel and Jackie Carriere have been working around the clock to ready their unique Niverville location.
“This is Dairy Queen’s standalone prototype store,” Nick says. “This is what DQ wants to show off. It’s their new look and their new model. It’s the biggest store that they offer, including a full drive-through.”
Fifty employees have been hired to take on what they anticipate will be a steady flow of hungry customers. Out of the entire staff, about 70 percent are part-time. For approximately 75 percent of them, this will be their first job. The partners have provided the new employees with countless training hours that will make them an instant success.
“What I’m hearing around town is that you can’t get a fast-food burger anywhere,” says Nick. “We’re going to have a drive-through open on Fridays and Saturdays till midnight and up until 10:30 on [all the other nights to fill that gap].”
The Hagidiakows own two other locations—a DQ and Orange Julius takeout at Polo Park Shopping Centre as well as a 50-seat Grill and Chill on McPhillips Street. For Carriere, the Niverville location will be his first foray into DQ ownership. Carriere, together with manager Helen Moutray, will be the face behind the new location.
“The scary part about opening a brand new DQ is we don’t know what to expect until we turn on the open sign,” Carriere says.
The partners are already gearing up for their grand opening celebration on Saturday, April 13 by offering a full page of coupons available in the March edition of The Citizen. One of the most exciting giveaways on that day will include a free blizzard treat every week for a year to the first 100 customers who purchase a DQ cake.
“We’ve done this promo once before at our Northgate store in Winnipeg and we didn’t know what to expect,” Nick says. “That was our first kick at the can and, sure enough, at about three o’clock in the morning the line-up started. By the time we opened up, we had about 200 people in line and within the hour we were out of those cakes.”
Other surprises are also in store for that day, including a draw for tickets to a playoff game for Winnipeg’s favourite hockey team.
The high-end quality food products are what keeps people coming back long after the opening day glow has passed, the partners say. They are proud to own a franchise that only uses dairy sourced from Canadian milk producers. All of their frozen treats are made with low-fat dairy, which is why it’s called soft serve rather than ice cream.
And while the Oreo Blizzard has become DQ’s number one seller worldwide, the unprocessed chicken strips are rising up to a close second.
“We have a co-op that negotiates [on food sources] for us,” Nikki says. “Before other places get the rest of the chicken [meat] to turn into strips or tenders, we get the filet. We get the best part.”
Another big seller is the seven-dollar meal deal which is available every day of the week. It includes fries, a sundae, a drink, and a choice between chicken strips, a deluxe bacon cheeseburger, or the Ultimate cheeseburger. It’s a package deal other fast-food chains are hard-pressed to compete with.
“The poutine here is [also] unbelievable,” Joel adds. “I’ve tried the gravy at a few different places and Dairy Queen’s is the best tasting.”
The cakes, of course, are one of DQ’s specialties and an item which Nick says they’ve sold hundreds of in a weekend. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be custom-ordered with an unlimited number of designs, including kids toys or edible images. Ready-made cakes will be available anytime and a custom message can be added as you wait. All of the cakes are made in-house, as are the Dilly Bars, DQ sandwiches, DQ cupcakes, and Treatzza Pizzas.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the community,” Nick says. “We see the growth here and we’re on the ground level with all of this major development starting. [It’s exciting] for us and for Niverville.”