Nation's Restaurant News: Dairy Queen Continues Menu Expansion With Line Of Cold Coffee Drinks

Dairy Queen* hopes that coffee will energize its afternoons.

The Minneapolis-based frozen-treat chain has surged in recent years with menu expansions and more focused marketing. Now Dairy Queen hopes that a line of cold coffee drinks introduced last month will help lure customers in the afternoons, when the market for cold coffee is strongest.

“One of the areas we thought we had some white space in was taking what customers love about afternoon pick-me-up kind of drinks, and combine that with the great taste they know comes from Dairy Queen,” said Barry Westrum, Dairy Queen’s executive vice president of marketing. “We can jump into that space and be successful.”

The chain introduced a selection of iced coffees and frappes last month. Cold coffee represents the biggest growth market in the beverage category. The offerings include vanilla, salted caramel and mocha flavors, while the frappes come in Oreo, Caramel Chip or Midnight Mocha varieties.

“Our brand does very well in the afternoon and evening snack periods,” Westrum said. “We saw an opportunity to strengthen in the afternoon. Coffee peak period is between 2 and 5 in the afternoon.”

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