Remember When Minnesota Dairy Queens Had These Extra Signs?

Growing up in Minnesota there were two seasons, Dairy Queen is open season and Dairy Queen is closed. I've since learned not all Dairy Queens closed up for the winter, some even served food, all you needed to know was what to look for. But what did that extra yellow sign with the word BRAZIER on it even mean?

This was about when my local DQ would close up for the season, but it wasn't the last time my family would stop at the small soft-serve building during the year. (The lot sold Christmas trees starting after Thanksgiving) But it took me into high school to figure out that not all Dairy Queens closed for the year, and you'd know which ones were open or not based on the yellow or sometimes red sign that said BRAZIER.

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As a pre-teen, I of course thought that word, meant something more 'supportive' than what it actually meant, which until last night I hadn't thought about until now. Here's what BRAZIER means according to Google.

Brazier is a type of charcoal grill made from sheet metal with an open grate. This makes sense given that these Dairy Queen locations cooked food. A further dive into Brazier Dairy Queen showed that the name was being phased out in the early 90s, which paved the way for a term still used for DQ's serving food. Grill and Chills.

The name "Brazier" was chosen in 1957 for Dairy Queen restaurants that served burgers, after a franchisee saw flames rising from an open charcoal grill in a New York restaurant. The Brazier program was introduced at a Dairy Queen location in Georgia in 1961, and the menu included burgers, hot dogs, and French fries. The name "Brazier" has been phased out of Dairy Queen's signage and advertising since 1993, but it's still used on some existing signage, especially in smaller towns.

I don't remember seeing many Minnesota Brazier locations like I see Grill and Chill locations today, but seeing that old sign on social media brought back some fun summer memories, on a very fall-feeling day in October.