Dairy Queen franchisees have quietly closed more than 40 stores in less than two years

Dairy Queen franchisees have quietly closed more than 40 stores in less than two years.Most of the closures hit Texas, leaving residents with fewer ice cream joints to cool down during the summer heat. The latest round of closures on a list compiled by food media brand Delish was in Alaska.

An unnamed franchise owner shuttered Dairy Queen restaurants in Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer last week, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Now just one Dairy Queen remains in Alaska, and it’s in the southcentral city of Soldotna. open image in galleryDairy Queen franchisees have quietly closed more than 40 stores in less than two years (Getty Images)It’s unclear why the Alaska locations closed down.

But Pete Ischi, who owns the Soldotna Dairy Queen, said operating the ice cream restaurants in Alaska can be difficult given the cost of transporting food to the state. “We pay freight to get stuff up to Alaska, where Oregon, Washington, you know, they’ve got the distributors an hour away,” he told the Anchorage Daily News. Another Dairy Queen in Great Falls, Montana, closed down last month and will be replaced by a Mediterranean restaurant called Zersty Eatz, local outlet KRTV reported.

"Our goal is to bring something fresh and exciting to Great Falls," Steve Galloway, who owned the Dairy Queen for nearly 40 years, told the outlet. There are still two Dairy Queen locations in Great Falls, according to the outlet. open image in galleryLocations of the ice cream chain shuttered in Alaska, Montana and Texas, with the Lone Star State being hit the hardest (Getty Images)A slew of Dairy Queens shuttered in Texas last year, all connected to the same franchise owner, Project Lone Star.

Twenty-five locations closed in February 2025, followed by another dozen the following month, local outlet KETK reported at the time. A Dairy Queen representative told the outlet that the closures were an “an isolated event,” but did not share future details. Court documents obtained by KETK showed that Dairy Queen warned Project Lone Star that it would terminate its franchise rights if it did not remodel the locations.

The first Dairy Queen restaurant opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940, and has since grown into a global business operating more than 7,800 restaurants in more than 20 countries, according to its website. The Independent has reached out to Dairy Queen for comment about the store closures.Join our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments