Something Different: Longtime Rio Rancho Dairy Queen owner sells shop

RIO RANCHO — What makes Dairy Queen ice cream so appealing is it’s a soft-serve variety.

Coincidentally, longtime Dairy Queen owner Tony Otero is known as a soft touch.

Whenever somebody needs a donation, sometimes in cold cash but more often in cold treats, they hit up Otero, 68, who’s owned and operated the Dairy Queen on Southern Boulevard in the City of Vision since 1998. Walking into his shop, one sees countless team photos, plaques and certificates, most of which convey thanks for his donations of cold cash or cold products.

Before the kudos began rolling in, in the late 20th century, Otero remembered, “Unser was a dirt road from Cabezon (Boulevard) to Paradise (Boulevard).”

Yes, late in the 20th century, Rio Rancho really was the “high desert,” with a lot more vacant land — and no big subdivisions like Cabezon, a few hundred yards south of the DQ. “This was the middle of nothing,” and although his lot was once covered with grass, countless rabbits would visit at night and ate it.

As of Sept. 2, though, the DQ in Rio Rancho has a new owner: Thanh Truong.

Just like the recent sale of another iconic Rio Rancho business, Tenpins & More, Otero has decided it’s time to move on.

“It’s been a really good deal; it’s been a real good experience,” Otero said of his two-plus decades here. “We’ve been really fortunate. The community’s been really nice to us, we’ve made a good living and we’ve had (great employees).”

The Otero legacyOtero’s parents, Meliton (Mel) and Georgia Otero, owed a DQ in Albuquerque for 35 years. Their shop was on Montano, just east of Fourth Street, and that’s where their son learned the tricks of the trade, including how to make the curly-q atop an ice cream cone.

The family DQ was about two miles from the family home, and Tony would ride his bike there before school, helping his dad get ready for the day’s business; his six siblings also helped out.

He recalled hauling in 52 cents an hour, and once told the Observer that when he was about to open a DQ here, his dad asked if he’d hire him. Of course, Tony said, “at 52 cents an hour.”

That DQ was leveled in 1975, and another one was built nearby; that site now holds a Walgreens.

It wasn’t always preordained that Otero follow his parents in the business. He attended the University of New Mexico, where he was on the freshman football team, but a serious bout with pancreatitis curtailed any dreams of a football career.

“I was working for Rust Tractor and I was down in El Paso,” he recalled, when his father-in-law passed away and he and his wife Sue decided to move back to Albuquerque.

“My wife and I just decided I wanted to work for myself. I kicked around in Albuquerque for a little bit in the equipment business, and then an opportunity came up to build a Dairy Queen (in 1997),” he said. “We looked around, and I wanted to build it out here in Rio Rancho.

“I saw McDonald’s across the street and I said, ‘You know what? Those guys spent a whole lot of money figuring out the best place to put a McDonald’s was,’ so I bought the lot right across the lot. … found a contractor and a bank silly enough to let me put it in.”

Business in

Rio RanchoHe announced in an article in an August 1997 Observer that the city’s rapid expansion, plus requests from West Side residents, led him to seek a location here. The store opened in May 1998, and Otero soon became one of the city’s biggest fans and supporters of the Rio Rancho High School Rams — even earning the honor of being Mr. Ram for a year.

Mel Otero was a revered sports official, wearing the stripes in prep football and in Western Athletic Conference games, as well as high school and collegiate basketball; he even officiated in an international women’s basketball series played in Russia in 1975.

Countless RRHS graduates through the years will tell you the first job they had was schlepping ice cream at the DQ; Otero estimated that he’d probably had 1,500 youngsters work for him. His employees have included one that lasted 13 years, plus “several brothers and sisters … I’ve had moms who worked for us whose kids worked for us.”

His generosity and good-guy reputation have earned him entry into several halls of fame, among them the Rio Rancho High School Sports Hall of Fame, of which he is a charter member, and the Rio Rancho Public Schools Hall of Honor, “which is a great, great honor,” he said.

Being an Observer “unsung hero,” when the newspaper did a special section honoring some of the city’s “greats,” was “really special to me.” Also special was being part of RRHS selection committees, helping in decisions when it came to choosing coaches and athletic directors.

His generosity came from watching his father’s practice of making ice cream treats available to Valley High student-athletes; Tony often delivered those Dilly Bar treats.

“That was kind of his advertising. That was kind of what he did for the school — and that’s where all his customers and his employees came from,” he said. “Yeah, I did a lot of things for the schools and everything, but it comes back to me in spades.”

Otero helped former RRHS girls basketball coach Bobby McIntyre organize an annual varsity girls basketball tournament in December, honoring high school officials, and named after his late father. Otero was proud to have the only tournament in the U.S. recognizing officials, without whom, the games couldn’t be played.

His business also survived after a fire in 2008 kept customers away for eight months, which provided an unexpected challenge, “in getting it reopened and nice and shiny and having a good crew of people. Tough work,” he said.

What’s next?Deciding to sell the DQ, he said, “started a couple years ago, thinking about (selling the DQ),” he said. “It’s not something that happens just overnight — it takes time, it takes a while to get it all done, especially with a franchise.

“You’ve got to not just find somebody who wants to buy it, but somebody who’s gonna be approved by Dairy Queen.”

“We didn’t have any children, and this is Tony’s way of really making his mark with young people,” said Sue Otero. “Fairly often we go to restaurants; we’ll see a waiter and he’ll say, ‘Oh, I used to work for you and thank you for instilling in me discipline and a work ethic — that really means a lot to him.’ That’s what I think he’ll miss a lot.”

He has some advice for Truong: “Stay active in the business; don’t be an absentee owner” and, maybe more importantly, “Don’t sweat the little stuff.”

Truong, says Otero, has experience with DQ and owned a franchise in Santa Fe. “He knows what he’s getting into, (but now with) a lot bigger store, a lot more sales.”

“There’s always room for improvement,” Truong said, after sweating awhile with Tony behind the scenes. He said he’d stay involved with the community “and (work) for the customer to be happy.”

Married 43 years, Tony credited Sue for being supportive in two-plus decades of success in the City of Vision.

“I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said, adding that traveling is in the couple’s plans, plus, “I’m sure there’s a lot of projects around the house that I’ve been putting off for a while. I don’t see us moving at any time.”

As for the travel plans — hers, at least — Sue said, “We would just like to have the luxury of just getting in the car and going, and not have any agenda, just going. We like to just head out and not even know where we’re heading.”

“I’m going to work on the golf game,” Tony said, and when asked what his handicap is, he quipped, “Usually my driver.”

He’s a funny guy. The city’s going to miss him.

You can catch up with him at Rio Rancho High School football games at Rio Rancho Stadium, where Otero, as the “master operator” works in a small room named after him, running the game clock since the stadium opened in 2000.

He’s been generously donating Dilly Bars for a long time; enjoying those DQ treats has been a Rams’ halftime tradition in the pressbox for a long time.