---
title: "Nation's Restaurant News: How Dairy Queen is Evolving Alongside the Real Estate Industry"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/3f9c41bf-b309-4a42-867e-bc4bce209d5a
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-how-dairy-queen-is-evolving-alongside-the-real-estate-industry-11878
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2017-04-21T02:21:57.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:10:19.193Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e290f930b969f99b560127b85a0d90d58764.jpg
---

# Nation's Restaurant News: How Dairy Queen is Evolving Alongside the Real Estate Industry

**TL;DR:** Dairy Queen is rethinking its restaurant site search process due to increasing demand and cost of real estate. The brand has been building its QSR concept, the DQ Grill & Chill model, and focusing on free-standing real estate selection.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2017-04-21. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-how-dairy-queen-is-evolving-alongside-the-real-estate-industry-11878).*

## Story

As the real estate industry changes, so must the franchise industry operators that are investing in it. Brands like *Dairy Queen*® are rethinking what to consider when searching for restaurant sites.

Jim Kerr, executive vice president of development for US & Canada, told Nation's Restaurant News that real estate trends tend to reflect the cycles of the economy and currently, as interest rates are low, developers are holding onto their properties.

"That has increased the demand, and increased the cost of real estate," said Kerr. "Our franchisees are competing against other concepts pretty diligently to secure the right piece of property."

According to Nation's Restaurant News, the *Dairy Queen* brand has been building its QSR concept, the *DQ Grill & Chill*® model, and focusing on free-standing real estate selection after years of building the legacy brand in malls or other types of real estate.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- franchise development (topic)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- Dairy Queen (company)
- site selection (topic)
- real estate trends (topic)
- qsr concept (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-how-dairy-queen-is-evolving-alongside-the-real-estate-industry-11878). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/3f9c41bf-b309-4a42-867e-bc4bce209d5a).