Ice Cream's Reigning Queen

Photo: Emily J. Davis

The Bollese enjoy a DQ break: (from left) Tracy, Scott Jr., Scott, Gwen, Ted, (seated) Nathan, Olivia and Matthew

Woodbury

If you’ve been to “the DQ,” you know: there’s something truly special about the soft-serve ice cream at Woodbury’s Dairy Queen. “I get customers who move away and come back to ask why our ice cream tastes so good compared to other Dairy Queens they’ve been to,” says Scott Bolles, whose family has owned the beloved local franchise since its 1992 debut. The secret? Air.

Most ice cream is actually about 50 percent air, Bolles says. That’s what makes it scoopable when it’s cold. But air doesn’t taste very good, so the less you add, the better. Bolles makes sure his soft-serve machines allow 40 percent air, so the ice cream is heavier and richer-tasting. “I do that because I love the product as much as our customers do,” says Bolles, admitting that he tends to eat more ice cream in the winter than in the summer.

But it’s not just the ice cream that has long made Woodbury’s Dairy Queen the top-selling franchise in the region. With just under $2 million in sales last year, Bolles and his wife, Tracy (who personally decorates the store’s ice cream cakes), have worked hard to provide their customers with consistently good food delivered in the speedy way people expect in today’s fast-paced world.

Inspired by the McDonald’s model, Bolles encourages his employees to work as fast and efficiently as they can. Crews have races to see who can sell the most in an hour and winners receive a $50 bonus. “These kids run their tails off, and I’ll get text messages at 11:30 at night from someone saying, ‘Hey Scott! We did 95 cars an hour tonight through the drive-thru!’” says Bolles, adding that the International Dairy Queen corporate office created its “Fastest Drive-Thru” award just for the Woodbury DQ in 1996.

Bolles didn’t set out to run a Dairy Queen. When asked by his dad, Ted Bolles, what he wanted to do once he graduated from college, Scott said he wanted to open a restaurant. Not having any experience, the two decided to buy a franchise. With Ted as the primary investor, Scott agreed to run the DQ franchise they purchased in Farmington, Minn., in 1991. “Scott and Tracy had just gotten married,” recalls Ted, who only recently retired from doing bills and payroll for the Woodbury store. “That experience was sort of like having training wheels before we sold the Farmington DQ and built the one in Woodbury a year later.”

For Scott and Tracy Bolles, parents of five children, the Dairy Queen is more than a business; it’s a part of their Woodbury community. They’re thankful to be the place where groups of all ages gather after church or a ball game, and they try to show their appreciation by giving back to others. In 2005 the Bolles launched Miracle Treat Day where 100 percent of the proceeds from Blizzard sales go to Children’s Miracle Network. From just over $1,500 that first year, sales have grown to nearly $8,000 last summer.

One of the things the Bolles family is most proud of about their Dairy Queen is the relationships with their employees. Some crew members have been with the store since it opened, and high schoolers are motivated to stick with the job, in part, because of the Bolles’ generous college-fund program.

For employees who work an average of 11.5 hours per week for two years, the business contributes 15 percent of their paycheck to a college fund. Employees are fully vested after 700 hours and can use the money to pay for college loans and expenses. “We try to take care of our people and they take care of us,” says Ted. Adds Scott, “It’s been fun watching ‘our kids’ grow up, and now they’re bringing their own kids into the store.”

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