Owners of local Dairy Queen break ground on relocation in Canfield
The mayor of Canfield and State Rep. Al Cutrona recently helped celebrate a local franchisee’s groundbreaking that will bring more job opportunities to the area.
Officials joined local Dairy Queen franchise operators Chrissy and Ray Smith at the site of their new Canfield Grill and Chill restaurant at 587 East Main St.
The East Main Street site used to be a Perkins Restaurant, and the Smiths purchased the property in 2021.
“We already have six locations, and this is the new Canfield Dairy Queen. It’s a relocation,” Chrissy said. “When Perkins went out of business, my husband and I thought it’d be a perfect place for a new Dairy Queen store.”
The Smiths are looking forward to upgrades including a double-lane drive-through for new and returning Dairy Queen customers in Canfield.
“It’s going to be a big upgrade,” Chrissy said. “We’re happy to have a much larger parking area.”
According to Ray, they’ll also be open earlier and offer a larger variety of menu items at the new Canfield Dairy Queen, including breakfast which is already available at their other locations in Boardman and Columbiana.
“We’ll also have a full food menu. Right now, we have a limited menu at the store - hot dogs and pretzels - but we’ll be adding burgers, fries, chicken strip baskets, onion rings and cheese curds. Another positive thing for Canfield is that right now, our store only has about 15 employees. We’ll need between 50 and 60 employees, so we’ll be offering more jobs as well, being a larger location with a larger volume than we currently have.”
The Smiths contracted Parillo Construction Inc. based in Girard for the project.
Joe Parillo’s team previously remodeled and built their Dairy Queen stores in Austintown, Boardman and Cornersburg.
“Being right off the freeway on Route 11 is also exciting,” Chrissy said. “When you got off Route 11, there’s a huge 80-foot flagpole flying one of those huge flags like one you’d see at the car dealerships. We actually had to take the flagpole down because it was in the wrong spot. The city residents of Canfield went crazy when we took that flagpole down.”
Chrissy wants residents to know the flagpole will be back up soon but in the correct spot.
“We’re really excited that the big flag is going to be flying there again,” she said. “It’s going to be a nice welcome to Canfield. When you get off Route 11, you’ll know that you’re close to home.”
Dairy Queen is actually where Ray and Chrissy first met.
“I met my husband when we were working at Dairy Queen in North Lima. My favorite part about being a franchise owner now is growing leaders and making kids better,” Chrissy said. “But what I also love seeing is that a lot of the kids that work for us create lifelong friendships at Dairy Queen, like my husband and I, it’s been a lifelong friendship, but I love that they have fun at work.”
