Dairy Queen sets opening date for DQ Grill & Chill in Phenix City

Fans of deluxe GrillBurgers, artisan-style sandwiches, fries, sundaes and cold Blizzard treats — mark your calendars.

The DQ Grill & Chill at 2568 U.S. Highway 280 — in front of the Home Depot store in Phenix City — plans to open its doors to hungry customers on May 22, which is next Monday. The Dairy Queen eatery is situated between a convenience store with a Smokems BBQ restaurant and a Pep Boys auto shop.

LaGrange, Ga.-based LABE Restaurant Group, associated with McDonald Oil Co., started construction on the outlet in late January. The company also operates the Dairy Queen that opened last year at 6605 Whittlesey Blvd., in the Columbus Park Crossing area. A Dairy Queen has been located for years at 3580 Macon Road in Columbus.

Aside from deluxe cheeseburgers and French fries, the menu includes chicken strips, crispy chicken sandwiches, turkey BLTs, Kansas City BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and chicken mozzarella sandwiches. The original double cheeseburger and chili cheesedog also are available, as are onion rings and fried cheese curds. The GrillBurgers include the “Flame Thrower” and “Mushroom Swiss,” while there are salads on the menu.

Of course, with the summer heat bearing down on the South, the Blizzard treats will likely be popular with no fewer than 15 options from which to choose. Triple chocolate brownies, fudge-stuffed cookies, funnel cake, sundaes, cones, banana splits, buster bars and DQ ice cream sandwiches round out the dessert options.

The Dairy Queen outlet will be employing more than 30 people full- and part-time, LABE Restaurant Group said. Employees have begun training in preparation for opening day.

Here are a couple of quick notes about Dairy Queen:

▪ The first Dairy Queen eatery opened in 1940 in Joliet, Ill., with the chain having grown through the years to encompass more than 6,000 locations in the U.S., Canada and 18 additional countries.

▪ The record size for a Blizzard treat stands at 22 feet tall and 8,224.85 pounds, with it being built on June 21, 2005, in Springfield, Mass.

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Dairy Queen sets opening date for DQ Grill & Chill in Phenix City."