Last day of operation was Sunday; future of restaurant up in the air
By Per Peterson
The city of Tracy is down another restaurant.
Due to various circumstances, Dairy Queen has officially closed its doors, leaving another huge void on west Hwy. 14.
Dairy Queen’s last day was Sunday, Jan. 7.
The worldly-iconic restaurant with the unmistakable red roof joins the Red Rooster as the local highway staples that have closed their doors in the last couple of years. The Rooster’s run ended at the end of 2015.
Jessica Sheets, a 2003 Tracy Area High School graduate who has managed the Dairy Queen for 11 years, said in a statement to the Headlight Herald that the closure comes as a result of overtaxation and “unrealistic demands from corporate” which led to mounting debt.
Some of those demands include upgrades to the building, Sheets said.
Tracy Economic Development Authority Director Jeff Carpenter said he was completely caught off guard by the news that DQ is closing.
“The Tracy DQ would like to thank all those who have supported us over the years,” Sheets wrote in her statement to the Headlight.
For more on this article, see this week’s Tracy Headlight-Herald.