Years After A Tour In Afghanistan, Two Vets Team Up On RI's First Dairy Queen Grill & Chill

CRANSTON, RI — One thing led to another when two Army buddies met for lunch last summer. Damon Draught and Will Dailey served together in Afghanistan for a year. Draught, who retired from the military, now lives in Upstate New York. He was in Rhode Island with one of his sons on a visit to Brown. So, he rang up Dailey, who's still active duty on an assignment in Newport. They met for lunch.

As Dailey remembers it, they happened to hear a Dairy Queen commercial over the restaurant's television. Draught owns the franchise for two DQ outlets in New York, and they talked about why Rhode Island only has one Dairy Queen in the whole state. It's a DQ Orange Julius in the Providence Place Mall. It sells ice cream and smoothies, but not much food. Dailey, who grew up in California, thought a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill would do well here. He was also looking for opportunities for after he retires. He loves the Ocean State and has made up his mind to stay here.

So, over lunch, they hatched a plot to start Rhode Island's first DQ Grill & Chill. Dailey did his homework, Draught said. He read over Draught's business plan. He made a trip up to Watertown, N.Y., to take a look at the operations. They contacted the Small Business Administration and Ocean State Small Business Authority and the local bank. A year after their lunch, they have a franchise.

The new restaurant's going to be in Cranston. They're hiring a full-time general manager, and two full-time assistant managers. Draught figures the total number of workers will be around 115, although most will be crew. He'll stay in New York, and Dailey will be the point man for Cranston.

"We looked at different sites throughout the state," Dailey said. Of course, they did a site survey and calculated whether or not the population could support a restaurant in that location. They settled on a spot at the corner of Atwood and Phoenix.

The restaurant will have 72 seats, plus a drive-thru, Draught said. Dailey also likes the fact it's near some ball fields and a Super Stop & Shop. It's also right next to a new plaza, Draught said, and the developer is handling all the building permits for them. The groundbreaking is planned for Aug. 1, and the restaurant should open by Dec. 1.

Draught has the experience running businesses, including the two DQ franchises in Upstate New York. And they liked the idea of working together again.

"It's kind of cool," Dailey said. "We served together in the Army, and we're partnered back up to continue that team."

They served with the 10th Mountain Division Light Artillery and trained in Upstate New York, near the Canadian border. Then they went to Afghanistan and served together for a year.

"We were up in the Northeast Region," Dailey said. "It was mountainous and cold."

Draught said a lot of their work was clerical, but they also went on convoys, deployed brigades to the Afghanistan cavalry and visited soldiers with the senior staff. When the tour ended, Draught retired. Dailey plans to retire after he's completed 25 years, which is coming up soon. He went right into the military after school, so that's been his career, except for some teenage jobs he did after school.

"I don't have a food background," he said. But he will have training and support from Dairy Queen, and Draught has the experience with restaurants. He's following the path Draught blazed.

As for Draught's son, he ended up picking Colgate, instead of Brown. He was recruited as a wide receiver, and he starts school in the fall. An older son just was graduated from West Point.

"That's the big story," he laughed.

Courtesy Photo: This picture shows a prototype Dairy Queen. The new Cranston location isn't built yet.