Bud Lawrence was 23 years old when he bought the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940. He borrowed $1,600 from his family to invest in the store, which he later turned into a successful franchise business.Dairy Queen is a chain of soft serve ice cream and fast-food restaurants with more than 4,000 locations in over 25 countries. It was founded in 1940 by Sherb Noble and John Fremont McCullough in Joliet, Illinois.