Scott Rust, Chester Dairy Queen Owner, was guest speaker and gave an update on construction progress
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Chester Chamber of Commerce met Tuesday September 19 at the Chester Eagles for its monthly meeting. A large crowd of members and guests came out to hear guest speaker, Scott Rust give an update regarding the progress of the new Chester Dairy Queen being built in Chester.
Rust is the owner of the establishment and is extremely excited about the progress that has been made in recent months in the construction of the newest business in town. Attendees at the meeting were very excited to hear the long-awaited news.
Following the conclusion of the presentation by Scott Rust, Chester Dairy Queen Owner and Operator, Chester Chamber of Commerce Officers pose for a photo with Rust. Pictured (left to right) are David Randall, Executive Director, Scott Rust, Bruce Luthy, Jr., President, and Chris Koeneman, Vice President. The event was the monthly meeting of the Chester Chamber of Commerce held at the Chester Eagles Cluib. Jim Beers Photo
Before Rust’s portion of the event, Chamber Officers held a brief business meeting as delicious lunches were being served and enjoyed by those who chose to partake.
The meeting was called to order at 12:00 noon and Chamber President Bruce Luthy led the group in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lunches were offered and delivered by Eagles staff for just $11 per person. That price included a beverage. Members and guests were reminded that meals would be served as prepared and that they should feel free to proceed with dining as the meeting progressed.
President Luthy announced that the Chester Chamber of Commerce Golf Scramble would take place Friday, October 13th. Hole Sponsors and Team entries are still available and needed. Sign-up sheets are available on the tables or by contacting President Bruce Luthy or Executive Director David Randall at (618) 826-2331. Please contact them for further information.
Upcoming events include:
October 13: Annual Golf Scramble at Chester Country Club, 10:00 a.m.
October 17: Board Meeting, 12 Noon, Chester Eagles
November 21: Lunch-Meeting-Program at Chester Eagles 12 Noon (Speaker TBA)
November 25: “Shop Small Saturday” event throughout Chester
December: No meetings or special events
President Bruce Luthy then introduced Guest Speaker, Scott Rust, Owner and Operator of the soon-to-open Chester Dairy Queen. Mayor Tom Page, Executive Director, David Randall, and Vice President Chris Koeneman joined President Bruce Luty, Jr. at the Head Table.
Mayor Tom Page welcomed Rust and his family to Chester and noted that there is a lot of excitement and anticipation for the grand opening.
Scott Rust, Owner and Operator of the soon-to-open Chester Dairy Queen was the guest Speaker at the September 19 meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. Rust provided an update regarding the progress of construction of the newest Dairy Queen in a three-state-area. It is hoped that the grand opening will be sometime in late October if not sooner. Interested followers can keep up with latest updates by going to the Chester Dairy Queen Facebook Page. Jim Beers Photo
Scott Rust took over for his presentation with no hesitation and wowed the crowd with his personality and ease of public speaking!
Rust and wife Dani have two children, Nolan (5) a kindergartener, and Nash (3) a pre-K student. The Rust’s live in Coulterville where they own and operate the Dairy Queen. They also own and operate the Dairy Queen in Sparta. The Chester Dairy Queen will be the Rust Family’s third Dairy Queen.
Rust has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and taught special education for more than two decades before developing his love for the Dairy Queen business. He still has strong feelings for helping special needs individuals and has incorporated many of the practices and principles into the management of his Dairy Queen businesses.
Ground was broken for the Chester Dairy Queen On Monday February 27 and work has progressed every day since then. Rust’s father, mike Rust, has made a career serving as a general contractor and just recently retired after several decades of building numerous types of establishments.
That fact has greatly helped Scott Rust in planning for and implementing the construction of his Chester Dairy Queen. Mike Rust still has great skills and access to many of his former crew members. Together, they and Scott Rust have built a large portion of the new Dairy Queen structure by themselves.
Scott Rust said, “My dad has been a really great help in getting a large part of the store built. His crew members have really been great and helped save us a lot of money on construction costs.”
When asked what percentage of the work that he and his father and his crew have done Rust said, “We have done approximately 70percent of the actual construction ourselves. That has been a fantastic savings for us. My dad is very experienced and he is a fantastic contractor and builder. I owe a lot to him and his crews!”
Rust also gives a tremendous amount of credit to the City of Chester and the Bert Brothers, Marty and Tim. “We have had to depend on electricity given to us from the Bert’s because we have not had power until just recently. Without the Bert’s we would have been in a lot of trouble. They have been great neighbors.”
The issue with having no power centered around the fact that two power poles that existed right in the middle of the new drive through area needed to be moved before Ameren Illinois would connect the Dairy Queen to Power.
The moving of the poles was to occur in late July or August, but Ameren was called to emergency action to take care of thousands of people who were out of power due to late summer storms in the area. That delay put the completion of some of the construction behind.
The original prediction was that the Dairy Queen would open in late summer. That deadline was not able to be met until Ameren completed emergency work created by severe damage caused by the summer storms.
Ameren finally completed the storm damage repairs approximately two weeks ago and reported to the Chester Dairy Queen on Sunday September 10 and worked throughout the day to get a huge amount of the work done at the Chester Dairy Queen. Now having electricity, Rust and his crews can proceed in high gear to complete the final phases of construction.
Rust told the attendees at the Chamber of Commerce meeting that he hopes to have an official opening date set by early in the week of September 25-30. He has a meeting Monday September 25 which will hopefully give him a definite opening date.
Rust said, “When we open we will have one of the newest and best Dairy Queens in a three-state area. We are now concentrating on completing the interior of the store. We will have 45 seats in our indoor dining area and an additional 66 eats on our big outside patio.”
“Our HVAC and computer system is installed and cooking area, ice cream area, lighting, and freezer units are installed. Now that we have electricity we can hook all of these units up to power and move ahead on completing the interior.
Rust is also very proud of his new state-of-the-art drive through system. He is one of only a very few Dairy Queens to have a double drive through. That system will help move drive through orders more quickly.
Outside, the power poles have been moved and are functional. Drive through lanes are almost complete as are the patio, sidewalks, driveways, and entrances. The doors and windows are installed and functional and patio lights have been installed. The former Pizza Hut sign was remover earlier in the summer and the pole for the new Dairy Queen is in place. The sign will be attached next.
Rust told a story about how when he was a child in school, he had a speech impediment, and received a certain amount of teasing due to his impediment. That effected his childhood.
He said, “I know how special needs individuals feel having to deal with the various impairments they face. That is why I originally went into the field of special education so I that could provide help and understanding to kids experiencing their special needs.”
“Now that I am in the Dairy Queen business, I still use that vehicle to help train and hire people who have special needs. I have communicated with local schools and ComWell to find out how we can work together to provide such training, services, and understanding to help hire and train special needs employees.”
Rust has learned that some special needs individuals experience difficulty working under pressure or when there is a lot of noise and confusion. He therefore has built a quiet room or break room at the Chester Dairy Queen where workers can go to rest, relax and gather their composure when they get frustrated or need to de-escalate.
Rust has had great experiences in using his Sparta Dairy Queen as a training center for all of his new employees. He hopes that eventually, he will be able to have the Dairy Queen Corporation qualify him to establish one of his Dairy Queens to be an official DQ Training Center.
“I have a great number of employees that are under the age of 27 and I have successfully used our Sparta Dairy Queen to train managers that started as teens”, said Rust.
The Chester Dairy Queen currently has 42 trained staff and nine managers. He hopes to eventually have as many as 55 team members at the Chester location. Rust said, “I have been very impressed with the youth staff members we have so far. Our goal is to have not only good employees, but to have overall good citizens. We have a family atmosphere at my Dairy Queens and we want to offer employees a whole experience, not just a restaurant experience.”
Rust says that at his stores they do a lot of community betterment projects and fundraisers. They want to help people. One 16-year-old employee recently organized a fundraiser for a dog who was in need of services. “I was amazed how kind and caring this employee was and was proud of the money that was raised to help this dog,” said Rust.
The Chester store has not even opened yet, but the Rust Family has already hosted several fundraisers for Chester entities including Chester Grade, St. John, and St. Mary’s schools, and the Chester High School Music Programs and outside agencies including the Children’s Miracle Network, and the Tunnel-to-Towers organization.
“I like to do fun things at our stores. We want employees to have fun and enjoy their work experience. We may have a costume night or host a fundraiser occasionally. I especially love the holidays and often decorate for the various seasons.
The Chester location will be one of just a few Dairy Queens that will offer a full breakfast. From 6-11 a.m. breakfast will be served, consisting of eggs, biscuits and gravy, breakfast burritos, and breakfast bowls. Sparta was the first to offer this service. Chester will be the second store in the area to do so.
Rust said, “We have felt really welcomed to the City of Chester and are excited to be opening our newest store in that community. We specially want to thank Tim and Marty Bert of Bert’s Auto for being so very cooperative and welcoming.
“On opening day I plan to hold an “Opening Day Challenge” to area customers to try and set a record for opening day sales. We hope that everyone will come out and join us in our opening day activities and become a part of our family atmosphere. We like to do lots of fun things at our stores”, said Rust.
Rust also encouraged everyone to track the activities going on in the Chester Store by joining him on the Chester Dairy Queen Facebook Page. He hopes to be able to announce a definite date very soon for the opening day activities.