About Dairy Queen: For more than 60 years, the Dairy Queen system's recipe for success has been simple. It's been a combination of hard-working people who own and operate restaurants and great-tasting food and tempting treats served in our establishments. The founders of the Dairy Queen system were men and women who introduced a new kind of dessert treat and, in the process, developed the foundation of the franchising industry. The history of the Dairy Queen system is a story of a unique product that created an industry. Our phenomenal story began with a 10 cent sale of a then unnamed product on August 4, 1938, in Kankakee, Illinois. A father and son in the mix plant business in Green River, Illinois, had been experimenting with a soft frozen dairy product for some time. (source: DairyQueen.com)