Eastwood DQ Completes Covelli's Mall ‘Trifecta’
NILES, Ohio -- Ken Kollar might qualify as the new Dairy Queen Grill and Chill’s favorite customer -- and not just because he manages the Eastwood Mall Complex, where the newly opened DQ franchise is located.
At Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting for the new store, Kollar said the night before he treated himself to a strawberry sundae and a cookie-dough Blizzard. “Ice cream is my vice,” he confessed as, on behalf of what he described as his “selfish interest,” he welcomed the new DQ to the mall complex.
The store is the first drive-thru DQ opened by Covelli Enterprises, which now operates nine DQ restaurants in the region. That includes two Grill and Chills in the Mahoning Valley and Glacier Hills service plazas near the eastern gateway of the Ohio Turnpike.
The new DQ Chill and Grill is near the O’Charley’s restaurant and Panera Bread Bakery Café at the mall complex, both also operated by Warren-based Covelli Enterprises.
“As you can see, we’ve got three wonderful restaurants within a block of each other. Only in the city of Niles do we have three different stores,” remarked Caryn Covelli, the wife of Sam Covelli, Covelli Enterprises’ owner/operator. She and daughter Danielle -- dressed for work that day at the DQ -- were was among the Covelli family members and company representatives on hand for the ceremony.
“We’re really excited to have what we’re calling ‘the trifecta’ here at the Eastwood Mall Complex,” said Liz Fiorino, regional marketing director for Covelli Enterprises. The DQ has a drive-thru window -- the nearby Panera also has a drive-thru, the only one in Trumbull and Mahoning Counties to date -- “so we’re excited to keep expanding on the drive-thru aspect and keeping things convenient for our customers,” she said.
Fiorino cited Covelli Enterprises’ “great relationship” with the Cafaro Co., the Youngstown real estate development and management company that owns and operates the mall complex, among the factors in choosing the site. Covelli also owns the Orange Julius store within the Eastwood Mall. “As we keep growing, we keep finding ways to grow right here at home," she said. "So while we’re expanding in Canada and Columbus and other areas, we make sure that we continue to grow right here in our own backyard.”
Fiorino described DQ as a “missing element” that fits in with the sit-down O’Charley’s and the convenience of Panera. “The Dairy Queen treat aspect is something that everybody loves,” she said.
“This provides one more facet of the many types of offerings we have at the Eastwood Mall Complex,” remarked Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for the Cafaro Co. “You look around and you see everything,” from professional offices and department stores to apparel manufacturers and clothiers.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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