Carla Shaffer has been in the Dairy Queen business for more than 30 years and has mastered the art of how and what to do to keep increasing sales. She has owned and successfully operated a full-service Dairy Queen restaurant and ice cream store in Shenango, Uniontown and Grove City. She took over a location that was only generating $150,000 in annual sales, and via a courageous move that relocated the store to a nearby, but much stronger location, exceeded her 5-year plan of growing annual sales to $400,000 within two (2) years.
Carla is a goal-oriented individual and always dreamed of a ‘Million Dollar Store’; and through sweat equity, perseverance, strategic remodels that added seating and drive-thru capacity, and training focused on consistency, accuracy and speed of service, she and her management team have grown annual sales to over $1.1 million. For some time, Carla has eyed a second location in the area, which will help promote the DQ brand and add more secure employment to the current / future staff as well as improve the local economy.
It will also feature a double drive-through and improve efficiencies with respect to space usage and customer flow. The new store will include the full DQ Grill & Chill menu, as well as feature the only ice cream along this corridor, and has the potential to generate between $2MM and $3MM in sales. The new store will employ between 35 and 50 associates – 15 to 20 of which will be full-time workers. Carla Shaffer has successfully run a Dairy Queen business in the Shenango Township / New Castle area for more than 30 years, and now employs more than 30 people, while driving annual sales in excess of $1 million.
Carla’s bank representative that she has worked with for years and years had recommended her to the Small Business Development Center here at Duquesne. There, she was able to receive help with her business plan and SBA loans to offset all of the costs of the construction of the building. “There was a lot more involvement that I thought…” said Carla, “…they helped with all of the little things that I didn’t think that I had to worry about.”