The Only State You Can Still Get Dairy Queen Steak Fingers
It's safe to say that no one does Dairy Queen quite like Texas. If you've ever visited Dairy Queen in the Lone Star state, you'll notice the menu differs from elsewhere in the country. While there are almost 4,300 DQ locations in the United States, Texas has the most locations of any of them, with nearly 600. The Texas restaurants have a huge menu to match, including food items not found elsewhere — like the chain's popular steak fingers.
Shaped like fries, Dairy Queen's steak fingers are strips of chicken fried steak that can be eaten on the go. Fans of the menu item love the convenience, not to mention the savoriness of the steak fingers. However, that love wasn't enough, and Dairy Queen discontinued the item from most locations in 2022. Luckily for fans in the Lone Star state, steak fingers are very much still on the menu in Texas. A basket of steak fingers and fries is available for about $5.99 in the state. This is because many of the chain's restaurants in Texas operate independently from the rest of the country. And steak fingers are not the only difference that you will notice.
Variants in the Texas Dairy Queen menu
Dairy Queen locations in Texas indeed have steak fingers, but they also have a host of food items not found anywhere else. If you're ordering from a Texas DQ, you'll find several Tex-Mex offerings such as tacos, taco salads, and nachos. All of these menu items come with either beef or chicken, giving more options to the consumer, and you won't find similar offerings at Dairy Queens in any other states.
Texas Dairy Queens also have chicken and dumplings and a chicken fried steak sandwich dubbed The Dude. The sandwich features a chicken fried steak patty with lettuce, tomatoes, and salad dressing on a bun. If you thought all of these food items were relics from a bygone era, Texas DQs also get to push their own promotional items. Take the chain's limited-time Cheesy Steak Fingers, which combined the popular food item with a cheese sauce.
Being exclusive to Texas is part of the promotion, as Lou Romanus, the CEO of the Texas Dairy Queen Operator's Council told El Paso's 9 KSTM. "Only found in Texas, we are confident the bold flavor of pepper jack cheese paired with our classic steak fingers will delights [sic] fans."
Why Texas has its own menu
So why are menus in Texas different from the rest of the country? You have the Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council and Rolly Klose to thank. Klose was a businessperson who opened the first DQ in Texas. For decades, he was pretty much left to grow the restaurants in Texas to his liking. The state put a larger focus on its food and meat rather than Dairy Queen's ice cream, which would become prevalent elsewhere.
However, in the 1980s, Klose sold his stake back to Dairy Queen, and the corporation wanted the state to fall into line with its national menu. However, owners in the state formed the Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council to prevent these changes. After negotiations between the group and the parent company, the council essentially acquired the rights to own and market its restaurants as they liked as well as the final say over the menu. It's why the steak fingers remain a staple in the state to this day. Add that to the list of things you — didn't once but now do — know about Dairy Queen.