Dairy Queen has long had a footprint that extends beyond the continental United States. It\u2019s operated in countries like Mexico and Panama for decades and extended its reach to Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago in the 2010s, marking an increase in its reach and operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One location where it\u2019s not had a continuous presence for a while, though, is Puerto Rico \u2013 but that\u2019s all set to change in the coming years. Dairy Queen has just announced that it\u2019ll be opening new locations in the territory, and it looks set to establish itself quite firmly over time. Here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n
Dairy Queen In Puerto Rico<\/p>\n
International Dairy Queen, Inc. announced<\/a> yesterday that it had finalized a deal to open 20 DQ Grill & Chill restaurants in Puerto Rico over the next decade. It will be working with Caribbean Creamery, a franchise operator and affiliate of Richport Restaurants LLC, with the first restaurant set to open in the first quarter of 2027 in San Juan. The following 19 restaurants are expected to open by 2036.<\/p>\n Dairy Queen<\/a> previously had restaurants in Puerto Rico, but it hasn\u2019t been a fixture in the territory for more than two decades. This deal looks set to change that and further increase its presence. \u201cThis new deal expands our established footprint in the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico,\u201d said International Dairy Queen\u2019s chief operating officer, Nicolas Boudet, in a press statement. chief operating officer, international, at International Dairy Queen. \u201cWe look forward to working alongside Caribbean Creamery to introduce the DQ brand to fans across Puerto Rico.\u201d More dipped cones<\/a> for everyone!<\/p>\n But It\u2019ll Have Competition\u2026<\/p>\n Dairy Queen\u2019s re-entry to the Puerto Rico market will see it rubbing shoulders with a host of other major restaurant chains that already operate there, including McDonald\u2019s, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell, and Chick-fil-A. The latter is currently pursuing a propulsive expansion strategy in Puerto Rico: In 2024, it announced plans to grow its footprint by 15 stores by 2030, and it offers Puerto Rico-specific menu items you wouldn\u2019t find elsewhere. <\/p>\n Other restaurant chains, meanwhile, have, as of 2026, not pursued expansion in the territory. In-N-Out, White Castle, Chipotle, Shake Shack, and others are absent from Puerto Rico and have yet to announce plans to enter the market. Given Dairy Queen\u2019s announcement, we wouldn\u2019t be surprised if they held off. There\u2019s going to be a lot more competition in the coming years. Given that Dairy Queen\u2019s just revamped its Blizzard menu<\/a>, it\u2019s been a busy few weeks for the chain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dairy Queen has long had a footprint that extends beyond the continental United States. It\u2019s operated in countries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-283660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}