Dairy Queen celebrates 35 years with a 'Thank You' to Plainfield

Three generations of DQ: Joe and Adele Albanese, daughter Donna, and grandson Richard.

Taking on Dairy Queen's new Plainfield store thirty-five years ago was a big gamble for Joe and Adele Albanese. The gamble paid off well, and the Albanese family -- now three generations strong -- is thanking Plainfielders for a wonderful time together with half-off on all cakes Thursday through Saturday.

Donna and her sister had been working at the Dairy Queen in Cranford when the new store on South Avenue was being built by the DQ corporation. A district manager was so impressed with the young women's business sense that he persuaded their parents, Joe and Adele, that they were just the kind of people who could take on the new Plainfield DQ operation and make it flourish.

"It was a big gamble," said Joe, "but after talking it through, we decided as a family to make the jump."

At the time, Joe was working full-time at Western Electric in Kearney (from which he eventually retired after 29 years), which meant Adele and the girls had to handle most of the operation. "We could never have done it without Adele putting in those 14-hour days," Joe said.

Donna decorates a Birthday Cake.

Today, the family business embraces three generations, with grandson Richard DeMair having taken over management of the store from his mother, Donna Albanese-DeMair.

While trying to snatch a brief interview with the family, mid-day on a Monday, we were interrupted with a steady stream of customers getting a variety of ice cream treats or ordering cakes for later pickup.

Asked about the expected response to the half-off offer on the delicious (so I'm partisan!) Dairy Queen cakes, Donna said, "Oh my God, we'll probably be swamped."

Even in these hard times, it seems folks can make room for a DQ treat.

When asked about changing tastes in ice cream treats, Donna said that while in the early days it was all about cones and sundaes and toppings, the counter business is today dominated by the 'Blizzard'.

"Kids just love getting ice cream AND a treat swirled into it," she said. (The Blizzard will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this spring, but that's another story.)

Within a short time of taking on the store, the family was approached about not just managing it but buying the franchise. About a year later, they were offered an opportunity to buy the entire building. "We were working on a shoestring," Joe said, "but each opportunity made sense and somehow we put it together."

"Just to be sure, though," Adele added, "Joe kept working two jobs for TEN years."

When it was clear the business was a go, Joe says he told daughter Donna that she was free to devote half her time to community activities.

And those who are familiar with the history of South Avenue businesses know what that means.

Donna became the motivating force -- encouraging and sometimes nudging her fellow merchants, as well as lobbying city government for more attention to be paid to Plainfield's second most important business asset, the South Avenue business corridor.

Donna and I first worked together on Mayor Al McWilliams' strategic planning initiative, which engaged more than 500 residents and business owners in an 18-month process of developing strategic goals for the city's neighborhoods and businesses.

With a light touch, a quick wit and an infectious laugh, Donna quickly became one of the leaders of the core group which nursed the process along.

The Plainwood Square Merchants Association became a model for the rest of the business community in how to organize, to be persistent and to achieve reasonable goals -- among which they can claim the South Avenue business improvement project (which updated the roadway, lighting and signage) and the creation of Plainwood Square Park from an oversize and somewhat neglected traffic island.

Besides being active in the community, the Albanese family has provided hundreds of Plainfield youngsters over the years with their first real job, their first encounter with adult responsibilities, and their introduction to the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurialism.

While the store currently has 33 employees (nine are family members), Donna is always thrilled when former employees, now parents and successful professionals or business owners in their own right, stop by with their kids for a DQ treat and catch up on the family and the local gossip.

"We're just like a really big family," Donna says.

True enough, and that's why the Albaneses better get ready for the onslaught during their 'Thank You' sale.

Take-along slips remind customers of the upcoming half-off sale.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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