Dairy Queen, the fast-food chain owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc vehicle, has set its long-term sights on opening in the UK, M&C Report understands.
Amir Kremer, vice president for International Development at the c6,400-strong Dairy Queen, said that the group was set to make its debut in Eastern Europe in Poland, but that it had also started to look at opportunities in the UK and seek investors to partner with to launch here.
Kremer told M&C Report: “We are interested in the UK market. It is a maturing market and one we believe DQ could work in. That is a long-term goal and would very much depend on us finding the right partner.”
The group currently operates 2,000 sites outside the US and Canada and is targeting opening 250 sites a year internationally.
Kremer said that if the company did launch in the UK, it would not necessarily target major cities, but follow its US expansion model of targeting suburban locations.
He said: “We only recently opened our first site in New York City, we are focused on small to medium-sized towns with sites ranging from 1,000 to 3,000sq ft. We take a steady approach to expansion.”
It is thought that the group is also in talks to launch in India.
