Photo courtesy of Botetourt Co. EDA
By Matt de Simone
Winter in Botetourt in 2023 lacked some of the usual weather accustomed to the chilly temperatures. While, thankfully, the snow stayed away from most of the area, Blizzards are projected to arrive in the coming months. This fall, to be exact.
No, the Farmer’s Almanac isn’t telling residents to prepare for a snow storm shortly after the kids return from summer break. A new Dairy Queen is planning to open at the Daleville Town Center later this year. The new location will be located on the lot currently being cleared in between Bank of Botetourt and Rodeo Chico.
Khushbu and Harry Patel, the owners of the newest DQ establishment, recently took some time to talk about the endeavor that’s taken the last three years to develop. The Patels operate a DQ in Clifton Forge.
Khushbu started at Dairy Queen 10 years ago when working as a shift leader. The Patels purchased the Clifton Forge location in 2019. They soon moved to Daleville where Khushbu began envisioning a new location somewhere in the area, which became a “dream project” for her.
She soon put the word out to the Dairy Queen of Virginia territory office in Richmond that Daleville needed to have a “Grill & Chill” location.
“When we bought the Clifton Forge location, we were living in Lexington,” Khushbu said in a recent interview. “We chose Daleville because it was close enough to Clifton Forge and Roanoke is too far (to drive from Clifton Forge). We now live in the Town Center.”
“It’s the best place ever,” Harry chimed in.
Photo by Matt de Simone
“When I passed by (Daleville) on my way to work every day, I see this place growing—so many activities. There are so many people from Roanoke that come up here. That’s when I really started thinking that I wanted to bring a Dairy Queen here,” she said.
After putting together specifics and consulting local real estate agencies Poe & Cronk and Fralin & Waldron, the Patels began to plan and design the Daleville location. After looking at other lots in the area, the Patels landed on the current location within the Daleville Town Center after looking at a couple of locations nearby. The Patels presented their request to start development on the drive-thru restaurant to the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors which it approved at the June 2021 meeting.
The project is culminating after a three-year planning process by the Patels, Dairy Queen of Virginia, developers, and the county to bring Botetourt a Dairy Queen. Khushbu noted that there was a bit of a process in the development but everything has seemed to workout at the “perfect time.”
“We made some drawings and made some color renderings, and then everyone liked it,” Khushbu explained. “We then got some final drawings and we had an architect and an engineer involved. There was a special permit for a drive-thru (2021)… Even though we bought the land in Novemeber 2021, we had to wait a little extra due to six to eight months of waiting for the equipment package. Last September we started everything back up.”
“We can’t wait,” Harry added.
The building will have a façade and patio entrance facing Town Center Street and the main entrance facing the Bank of Botetourt, but will also have an identical façade facing U.S. 220.
According to the county, the new Daleville Dairy Queen is expected to open in the early fall of this year and economic impacts are forecasted to be above $1.5 million with an expected 60-80 jobs, including managers and shift leaders when the restaurant opens.
