the first dairy queen blizzard was made in 1985.
when was the first dairy queen blizzard made?
1985
a popular dairy queen item is the "blizzard", which is soft-serve mechanically blended with mix-in ingredients such as sundae toppings and/or pieces of cookies, brownies, or candy. it has been a staple on the menu since its introduction in 1985, a year in which dairy queen sold more than 100 million blizzards. popular flavors include oreo cookies, mint oreo, chocolate chip cookie dough, m&m's, reese's peanut butter cups, heath bar (skor in canada), and butterfinger (crispy crunch in canada). seasonal flavors are also available such as october's pumpkin pie and june's cotton candy. it has been argued that dairy queen drew its inspiration from the "concrete" served by the st. louis-based ted drewes. on july 26, 2010, dairy queen introduced a new "mini" size blizzard, served in 6 oz. cups. during the 25th anniversary of the blizzard, two special flavors were released: strawberry golden oreo blizzard and buster bar blizzard. salted caramel truffle was released in 2015 during the blizzard's 30th anniversary and dairy queen's 75th anniversary, and is still on the menu today.
dairy queen
kraus attended mankato state university, saint mary's college, and university of minnesota duluth where he studied business and political science. in 1981 kraus founded kraus petroleum. he bought his first dairy queen in 1988. kraus changed the name of his business to kraus foods. kraus served as chair of the albert lea/freeborn county chamber of commerce. kraus also served on the albert lea planning commission and the community foundation board. kraus became a successful business owner running an empire of 41 dairy queen restaurants in minnesota, iowa, wisconsin, and florida and two convenience stores called korner mart in albert lea, minnesota. in march 2008, kraus sold 33 of his 41 dairy queen restaurants to bloomington, minnesota-based fourteen foods. kraus retained ownership of the 8 remaining dairy queen's in florida. in april 2008, kraus sold his 2 korner mart stores to a long-time employee of kraus foods, kevin weitzel. kraus relocated the headquarters of kraus foods from albert lea to fort myers, florida.
ron kraus