Dive Brief:
- Dairy Queen will provide a $150,000 lump sum development incentive to operators who open a new DQ Grill & Chill location, the chain said in a Wednesday press release.
- Additional freestanding restaurants developed within 18 months of the first Grill & Chillopening can receive a bonus of $200,000 per store.
- The Grill & Chill is Dairy Queen’s quick-service concept; the brand also has a Treats location, which serves a more limited food menu. The emphasis on Grill & Chill may signal that the brand is planning to expand primarily through more traditional QSR units, rather than snack- and dessert-focused concepts.
Dive Insight:
Dairy Queen said the incentive is meant to reward new operators and existing franchisees who meet development timelines, while also promoting multi-unit growth.
The Grill & Chill concept has grown slowly over the last three years from 1,967 at the start of 2023 to 1,985 at the end of 2025, a net increase of 18 units, according to the concept’s franchise disclosure document.
The new development incentive could help speed up the growth of the brand’s storebase. It applies to all qualifying franchise agreements in the U.S. and Canada that are valid through the end of 2026.
The total investment required to build a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, including equipment and construction costs, ranges from $1.5 million to about $2.6 million, per the FDD. The $150,000 cash incentive is equivalent to between 5.9% and 10% of the total development cost, making it a significant incentive for the operator.
“This initiative is designed to support franchisees who are ready to grow with the brand and have a solid development strategy in place,” said Gregg Benvenuto, the company’s vice president of franchise development for the U.S. and Canada.
Benvenuto said the Grill & Chill’s modern store formats and strong brand identity represented a “compelling opportunity.”
The incentives “are exclusively available for freestanding DQ Grill & Chill restaurants, including second-generation drive through conversion buildings and new builds,” the press release states.
The franchise disclosure document lists the average unit volume only for freestanding, new construction Grill & Chill locations opened between 2015 and 2024, or about 286 locations. According to the FDD, the performance of these units has increased from an average gross sales level of about $1.4 million in 2022 to roughly $1.5 million in 2025, a rise of roughly $100,000 dollars or about 7%. The FDD also states that this subset of restaurants had an average manageable profit margin of 27.3% in 2025.
Dairy Queen recently began expanding a pilot program of drive-thru voice artificial intelligence to select franchisees, in hopes of replicating improvements in unit economics seen at company-operated locations during initial testing.
