In March 2020, when Covid-19 arrived in our Metro-East community, all lives were changed. The unknowns of the virus lead to across-the-board changes throughout everyone’s life, including fast food. 

Dave and Wendy Bailey own the Dairy Queen franchise in Godfrey, Ill. This Dairy Queen has been operating for approximately 20 years and is across from Lewis and Clark Community College. When Covid-19 arrived, the college and local businesses all had to shut down. The Dairy Queen had to close business entirely for a short period of time. Once things started to return to normal, the Baileys reopened their business with the drive-thru only. 

On July 27, after being closed for 28 months, the dining area of the Godfrey Dairy Queen was reopened. The workers there were happy because it brought something different for a lot of them during their work days. A lot of the workers had never worked in the dining room before and were excited to learn new things and have a different kind of interaction with the customers. 

Their indoor dining now includes booths and high-top tables, free WiFi and free fountain refills. They also have outdoor patio seating. The outdoor seating is completed with umbrellas and fairy lights. Also, they offer the merchandise freezer where the customer can handpick boxes of dilly bars, ice cream sandwiches, Starkiss and more. A customer favorite, also found in the freezer, is the ice cream cakes, which the employees will personalize for free.

Supervisor Kylie Mcdonald, who has worked at this Dairy Queen location for two years said, “I like the dining room being open because it’s not the same thing every day. It is also easier to train new people up front rather than drive-thru which can be hectic at times.” 

The opening of the dining room has brought in more customer traffic to this franchise and more employment opportunities for the community.