D.Q. Corp., more commonly known as Dairy Queen and sometimes referred as D.Q., is an American chain of soft serve ice cream and fast-food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. International Dairy Queen, Inc., also owns Orange Julius, and formerly owned Karmelkorn and Golden Skillet Fried Chicken.
The first DQ restaurant was located in Joliet, Illinois. It was operated by Sherb Noble and opened for business on June 22, 1940. It served a variety of frozen products, such as soft serve ice cream.