WILMINGTON — A Dairy Queen Grill & Chill restaurant will be taking over the old Long John Silver’s building on Rombach Avenue.
Owner Keith Chambers said he hopes the restaurant will open during the second week of August.
“We’ll have everything from hamburgers to grilled chicken … we’ve got a really nice menu,” Chambers said. “The new Grill and Chills are really neat restaurants,” he said, adding that the renovated building will include an outdoor patio.
Chambers and operating partner David McCullum plan to open six new Dairy Queen restaurants in the next two years, Chambers said. Wilmington will be the first.
According to Chambers, the hiring process for new employees will begin in mid-July, with training being held at off-site locations in Wilmington.
Local workers have been at the site since Monday renovating the building, according to Vice President Jeff Mallue of Ironwood Phoenix, Inc., a Springboro general contractor.
Chambers said plumbing and electrical work will be handled by local workers as well.
Chambers said he feels invested in the Wilmington community because his son graduated from Wilmington College. David McCullum is also a WC graduate.
Chambers said he’s loved Dairy Queen since he was very young.
“I used to go to Dairy Queen once a week to get a strawberry milk shake,” he said. “We’re extremely excited.”
Dairy Queen has been serving ice cream since 1940.
McCullum is hoping to find a photograph of the Dairy Queen that used to be on Walnut Street in Wilmington, facing courthouse square. He wants to honor the former downtown eatery by hanging a photo of it in the new Dairy Queen. And there’s a tasty incentive for the person that submits the chosen photo — not only will a copy of that photo hang in the DQ, the person submitting it will receive a month of free ice cream cones.
If a member of the public has a photograph, McCollum can be contacted at 937-763-1995.
David Wright is a contributing writer for the Wilmington News Journal.
