Edgartown’s Dairy Queen has new owners who hope to have the storied ice cream franchise up and running in June.
Paul Beeson and Kirsten Anderson signed a deal to buy the ice cream shop on Upper Main street from Christopher Celeste in December, and since then the couple have been working with the chain’s management to get up to speed on Blizzards and Dilly Bars.
“Everyone loves ice cream. Everyone loves Dairy Queen, and we want to continue that,” said Mr. Beeson said in an interview with the Gazette Monday.
Mr. Beeson is a landscaper and a former Island chef and Ms. Anderson is a tax attorney. The couple first thought about taking over the Dairy Queen in September after Mr. Celeste announced he intended to sell the franchise.
The idea came to Mr. Beeson when he had a hankering for ice cream after a long day in the landscaping business. Tired from 18 years of tending lawns and with a Blizzard in hand, he wondered what it would be like to stand behind the counter and offer soft-serve cups stuffed with candy.
“I said, let’s just reach out and we started talking to Christopher and it trickled down to where we were the ones lucky enough to make this happen and purchase it and keep it running,” Mr. Beeson said.
The couple, who live in Edgartown, were one of dozens who pitched Mr. Celeste on taking over the business. One of the only chain franchise eateries on the Island, Mr. Celeste has owned the Dairy Queen since 2017 and the company has Island roots going back to 1967.
Mr. Celeste liked that Mr. Beeson and Ms. Anderson planned to be hands-on and continue the community-oriented storefront.
“There was no shortage of people who thought they should run a Dairy Queen,” Mr. Celeste said. “Kirsten and Paul are incredibly talented, they’ve been on the Island for quite some time, they’ve run their own businesses.”
Mr. Beeson had just returned from two weeks of new franchise owner training in Lafayette, Colo. and he will handle the day-to-day running of the ice cream shop. Ms. Anderson will continue working as a tax attorney and handle the business’s behind-the-scenes ordering and financial work.
They plan to largely keep things the same. The shop is staying put in the shingled building owned by the Rosenberg family, and the menu will keep supplying the Dairy Queen classics.
“That’s our goal, to keep it running and further it and make the community happy,” Mr Beeson said.
Mr. Beeson and Ms. Anderson are interested in extending Dairy Queen’s season, as well as broadening the hours. Ms. Anderson also hoped that it could help train the next generation.
“I think a lot of kids, it’s their first job,” she said. “You get to be part of that process helping kids understand what it is like to work.”
The couple is aware of the rumblings around town about when the shop is going to open. Opening day in the past has been around the April school vacation week, causing people to wonder what was happening.
Ms. Anderson and Mr. Beeson said they are working through the permitting and hope to be open by the first week of June. Mr. Celeste, who declined to say the sale price, planned to be on hand to help them learn the ropes.
“We can’t thank Christopher enough for all his help getting us to where we are now and we’re almost there,” Mr. Beeson said.
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