The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Dairy Queen franchise has expanded its New Providence presence and created ten jobs with the launch of its sixth location at The Pointe in downtown Nassau.

Darnell Osborne, former Bahamas Power & Light chair, who with her husband, Derek, operates the franchise, told Tribune Business a soft launch of the new outlet is expected this week followed by an official opening after the Easter holidays.

“This is our sixth location. We started the franchise with two stores 11 years ago,” she recalled. “We expect a soft opening this week with a grand opening after Easter. We are opening in that location because we have a strategic plan to have a certain number of stores by next year.

“Following through with that we think that that location will be an excellent one for customer traffic. It’s located right in The Pointe, and so we expect to have quite a number of tourists who frequent the Bay Street area and persons employed in the area. We expect to have Bahamian patronage, but we expect to see the vast majority from tourists.”

Mrs Osborne added: “It was a strategic decision, and when the opportunity arose we seized it. We had been looking at the downtown area for a while, and obviously space is limited due to ownership of real estate. When you get an opportunity you have to jump on it. We hope to increase our revenue and, as a result, increase the returns to shareholders.”

Dairy Queen opened its fifth location in the Seagrapes Shopping Plaza last February, and also has outlets in the Harbour Bay Shopping Plaza, Mall at Marathon, West Bay Shopping Centre and Southwest Plaza.

“We have to give kudos to Dairy Queen international. It’s an excellent franchise. We have gotten to the point where they trust us to maintain the brand,” Mrs Osborne said. “The brand is owned ultimately by Warren Buffett who, over the last decade or so, has really transformed it with new designs for the stores, establishing the DQ grill and chill, which are quite popular in the US, Canada and Asia.

“We have the licence for the treat stores when we got into the franchise 11 years ago. We just decided to concentrate on those type stores as opposed to the grill and chill concept, which would compete with the Wendy’s, McDonalds and Burger King.

“We have really grown, and we are thankful that we have had staff along the way who have allowed us to really grow the business without us working full-time in the business.”