Beach DQ shows PRIDE in award
The staff of the Dairy Queen restaurant located in Times Square at 1000 Estero Blvd. on Fort Myers Beach has done it again.
For the third consecutive year, the local DQ recently received the distinguished PRIDE Award from the company’s national office for achieving a high level of cleanliness and food safety. The PRIDE Award, which stands for Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence, is only given out to approximately 15 percent of the DQ stores in the nation.
Since Beach residents Dave and Tina Eichen took over the ownership of the Beach store three years ago, DQ has picked up the honor each and every time the randomly occurring PRIDE assessment has been delivered.
Not bad for members of a conscientious staff who need to constantly sweep and mop the floor of a beach front building which sees high (mostly sandy barefoot) traffic.
“I am super excited about the award,” said Beach DQ store manager Kim Culver. “We worked really hard all year long. Our crew is amazing. The goal is to have all crew members be personally responsible for delivering excellence to all of our customers 100 percent of the time. This is achieved in cleanliness, customer service, training, sanitation and a friendly environment to name a few.”
Culver, who has managed the local store since the Eichens bought the franchise, ironically was not working during each of the three assessments. The recent June 10 assessment for the year 2010 followed last year’s award which was assessed in December 2009. The first award came in November 2008.
“I’m never here when they actually show up, which is funny because I work roughly 50 hours a week,” she said. “I’m going to superimpose my picture on one of those boards in there.”
The DQ manager said the extensive assessment involves reviewing the store’s PRIDE checklist including checking light bulbs, garbage cans, tables, condiments, soda machines and bathrooms.
“They want to make sure everything is up and running good,” said Culver. “In the kitchen, we check temperatures at least twice a day on ice cream, the condiments and the stored food. They also check our sanitizer to make sure the strings are set right and the seals on the coolers.”
According to Culver, only five red marks against each store is allowed. Both 2009 and 2010 assessments yielded no red marks for the Beach store. In fact, the staff at Beach DQ received 100 percent on food safety – a feat that appears to be unprecedented.
Besides pride, integrity is on the line each and every year.
“Everyone works really hard to make sure that we achieve this award every year,” said Culver. “It really helps us in delivering great food to our customers, keeping the place looking good and having people coming back.”
Local Dairy Queen consultant Joe Capezza verified the information.
“We have changed the criteria twice with the addition of food safety and a different allowance between food and treat,” he said. “I can tell you that approximately 15 percent of the system received PRIDE Awards in 2008 and 2009.”
The Eichens, who spend the winter months at their Beach home, travel to Michigan in the summer where they own five Dairy Queens. The couple has been running DQs for roughly 20 years.
Back in December, Dave Eichen showed pride towards his staff after the crew won their second straight certificate. It reads ‘an Outstanding Cleanliness and Food Safety PRIDE check by setting up for success, giving the customer a reason to return and maintaining PRIDE.’
“We feel honored to have received such a prestigious award,” said Eichen in December. “Our staff works hard to keep our restaurant at a high level of cleanliness to ensure that we provide a safe and enjoyable environment for our customers.”