The new Dairy Queen Grill and Chill restaurant is expected to be up and running in 2020.
That’s what Tony Watters, Director of Franchise Development with Dairy Queen in Canada, told BayToday earlier this week.
“We are under construction and from a construction timing perspective, we ran into a couple of hiccups as any normal project does,” said Watters.
“We were actually hoping to see the project open before the end of the calendar year but it is likely now to just slip into the next quarter of next year.”
The new restaurant is under construction off McKeown Avenue next to Canadian Tire.
See: New major chain restaurant to open in North Bay
Watters says this restaurant will be very different from the two traditional Dairy Queen locations that focus primarily on frozen snacks.
“It will be the Grill and Chill so you will get your burgers and your chicken strips plus all of the frozen treats Dairy Queen is known for,” explained Watters.
“Now you will see a second kitchen with a grill being added. Dairy Queen’s development strategy switched a few years ago to focus more on restaurants and the restaurants that we are building these days, they are Grill and Chills.”
The new restaurant will also come with a significant number of jobs.
“Will have some employment opportunities as well with full and part-time positions and we would anticipate we would be hiring somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 to 70 people,” said Watters.
Watters calls a specific opening date a “moving target” right now due to the weather and how that will impact paving in their new parking lot. Tentatively Watters says they are hopeful to be open by June 1.
For more information on Dairy Queen Grill and Chill’s click HERE
