Nation's Restaurant News: Young Dairy Queen Franchisee Expects to Own 200 Locations Within a Year

Fresh out of business school Matt Frauenshuh took on quite a daunting task- turning around seven of his family's DQ Grill & Chill restaurants that had been losing money.

After the Frauenshuh's has jumped into business ownership with Dairy Queen's fast casual concept in the early 2000's with some of the first Grill & Chill locations. Now, it was Matt's mission to make their seven remaining restaurants a success.

Frauenshuh installed new management teams and the restaurants started to pick up, then he started to expand, buying other Minnesota locations. He pushed on both buying existing and building new DQ Grill & Chill units. Today, he has over 180 in 10 states, and expects to reach the 200-unit mark within a year.

At just 34-years old Frauenshuh is the fast casual giant's largest franchisee.

The fast casual concept means a steady cashflow for the entrepreneur and has allowed Dairy Queen to compete with other QSR giants.

“It gives us a lot more predictable business,” Frauenshuh said. “In the past, Dairy Queen was known as an ice cream shop. It was highly seasonal. With the Grill and Chill, it acts more like a QSR, with more predictable cash flows over 12 months. It helps us to just run a more efficient business."

Frauenshuh credits his success to the concepts model as wellas his process of acquiring smaller franchisees who have ensured their restaurants are really ingrained in their communities.

“We’ve got a team of marketing folks, and their entire job is to figure out how to respond to communities,” Frauenshuh said. “They’re working in communities to find partnerships. They find fundraisers, work with baseball teams and schools, hand out frequent reader cards or sponsor a baseball team or a youth mission trip.

“We look at it as, we have a lot of responsibility to give back to the community. Dairy Queen is not just a place to get food. It’s a fun place to be.”