Dairy Queen plans to open Corral Centre location

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This article was published 09/06/2018 (2838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If everything goes to plan, Brandon will see its first-ever Dairy Queen Grill & Chill open at the Corral Centre during the first quarter of next year.

While Brandon already carries two longstanding treats-only locations, including one at Shoppers Mall and one at 904 18th Street, the upcoming location will serve not only frozen desserts, but also the restaurant’s fast food burger line.

It’s a project that owner Laird Lidster said has been swimming around both his and wife Tracy’s minds for several years, during which customers have persistently inquired as to why Brandon didn’t already have a Grill & Chill.

Lidster said that part of the challenge had to do with securing the right location, which he believes he has established at the Corral Centre, where a pad site is slated to be constructed at the southwest corner of the Walmart parking lot.

There are few fast food options in that area of the city, which Lidster said receives enough traffic to warrant more than it has.

Leadership with property managers Shindico Realty Inc. will determine when ground breaks on the building’s rough frame, after which Lidster said his crew would have approximately three months to personalize it.

“We’re just excited that we have an official lease with Shindico, and we’re ready for them to break ground so we can get rolling,” Lidster said.

Not only is he confident it’ll become a reality, but he said there’s little doubt in his mind it will find a place in the local marketplace.

“You’re always optimistic,” he said. “You don’t want to invest a lot of time and money if you don’t have that optimism.”

Dairy Queen has been in the Lidster family since 1973, when two uncles began running the iced cream outlet at 904 18th St. in Brandon.

Laird Lidster’s father, Lance, took over the restaurant in 1974, and Laird took it over in 2000.

Although this well-trafficked window service location, which has been a Dairy Queen since 1954, might appear an obvious contender for a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill operation, Lidster said that brick and mortar can’t replace nostalgia.

“There’s room for me to put a store at that location, but I don’t really want to,” he said. “I think it looks good and works good the way it is, and you don’t want to make too much change on things that work.”

There are generations of Brandonites who went out with their families for late night drives to pick up iced cream, a tradition they passed onto a few generations running, and Lidster said that he didn’t want to disrupt this.

Lidster opened a Dairy Queen treats-only location at the Shoppers Mall food court in 2007, and a Qdoba restaurant, which specializes in Mexican items, at 1830 Park Ave. in 2012.

Throughout all of this, he said opening a Grill & Chill location remained on his mind, and that he’s excited that the project has finally reached a point of certainty where he can announce it publicly.

The restaurant is expected to employ between 35 and 40 people, and Lidster said that he plans on placing special care in making sure the right people are at the helm.

Confident in the location, he said, “everything after that comes down to quality of food and quality of service.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB