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Forget the millennium. New Year's '99 was much moremomentous for Carrie Gross and Debbie Paszyc. After all, January 1,1999, was the day they became the proud owners of three Augusta,Maine-area Dairy Queens.
Gross, 24, and Paszyc, 26, have a long history with Dairy Queen;both worked part time for one Augusta store when they were 14,continued working there through college and eventually becameassistant managers. After earning a business degree from theUniversity of Maine, Farmington, Gross left Dairy Queen to work foran insurance company; Paszyc, who majored in elementary educationat the University of Maine, Orono, became a junior high schoolteacher.
Before long, though, Dairy Queen was back in the picture. Grossand Paszyc returned as employees to the store where they'dworked and were soon in discussions with the owners, who werelooking to sell three stores they owned. A year later, Gross andPaszyc became franchisees, owning two stores in Augusta and one inHallowell.
During the winter, two of the stores close, but when all threestores are open in the summer, Gross and Paszyc employ up to 70people who range in age from 14 to 60. "The biggest challengeis with your employees, keeping open communication witheverybody," concedes Gross. "We have so many employees ofdifferent ages, so to keep track of what's going on with all ofthem is hard, but we do our best."
That includes rewarding employees. Gross and Paszyc recentlytook 12 of them on a cruise to the Caribbean. "The old ownerused to do that as an incentive," Gross explains. "Whenwe were assistant managers, if we were doing a great job, theywould take roughly eight to 12 kids on a trip."
After a great first year, the franchisees are looking forward tothe future and hope to bring in sales of $1 million for all threestores by year-end. Although Paszyc would eventually like to returnto teaching, she says she won't give up Dairy Queen. And Grossis excited about all the challenges of being an entrepreneur, whichwas her dream in college. "This was my ultimate goal,"she says. "I didn't anticipate it would be a Dairy Queen;I just knew I wanted [to own a business]. Having it come as anopportunity so soon was wonderful for me. I'm veryhappy."
Make The Call
Dairy Queen: (952)830-0428, www.dairyqueen.com.
