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Feature Article, April 2006
Slow-cooked Barbecue On The Fast Track
Rapidly growing barbecue franchise grows beyond its Dallas home with new locations.
Susan Fishman
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A freestanding Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. The restaurant chain currently has 60 locations in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida, New York, Ohio, Michigan and Delaware.
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Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is on the franchising fast track. The Dallas-based fast-casual restaurant company has been recognized by the industry as one of the nation’s fastest growing barbecue restaurant chains, offering homemade barbecue derived from more than 60 years of perfecting the Dickey family recipes. By the end of 2005, the company had more than 60 locations in markets across Texas. Expansion plans call for 50 additional stores by December 2006, including locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Bryan-College Station.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit was established in 1941 by Travis Dickey in a one-room building at the intersection of Knox and Central Expressway in Dallas. Dickey’s sons, Roland and T.D., Jr., took over the business in 1967 and built 14 restaurants by 1994. The company began slowly franchising in 1994 and has grown quickly since 1999 when Roland implemented an aggressive franchising program. Dickey’s is aggressively pursuing franchising goals throughout the United States.
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A Dickey’s unit located on the end cap of a shopping center.
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“Our recent expansion is primarily a result of our unit profitability,” notes Roland Dickey, Jr., vice president of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. “We are currently accepting franchise applications from individuals in all states.”
Dickey’s currently has 66 operating locations and 20 restaurants in negotiations and/or under construction. Stores are located in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida, New York, Ohio, Michigan and Delaware, the majority of which opened between 1999 and 2006. The locations are chosen by assessing 3-mile demographics that consist of homeowners with a household income of $50,000, a daytime population of 15,000 and a traffic count of 10,000.
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The menu at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit features slowly smoked meats, such as pulled pork, hot link sausage and St. Louis-style spare ribs, and 16 fresh vegetables and sides.
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The company prefers to open end-cap and freestanding locations and recently opened a new prototype in south Fort Worth, Texas, that clears 3,000 square feet (as opposed to the recently used 4,000-square-foot model) and requires roughly 30,000 square feet of land.
“Our new prototype is cost-effective, easy to build and convenient to operate,” notes Dickey.
Designed by Kate Murphy Design of Dallas, the new prototype is a mix of old and new. The exterior of the building consists of recycled brick, whole timber posts and worn metal awnings. The interior includes a distressed wood serving counter, wood trim and antiques. Dickey's has also incorporated vinyl photo wallpaper of images from the company’s 64-year history. The design is meant to reflect the styling of the new South. Dickey’s major competitors exist primarily in the southern states and include Sonny Bryan’s and Spring Creek Barbeque. Dickey’s stands up to the competition with its high quality product offerings, says Dickey.
“We’re family oriented and offer special promotions, such as ‘Kids Eat Free Sundays’ and ‘Free FrostBite Ice Cream,’ which our competitors do not offer,” he adds. “In 2005, we took a big step to compete by dropping our television budget dollars and implementing more radio and billboard advertising.”
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Inside Dickey’s Barbecue Pit.
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Operating a Dickey’s restaurant is simple, efficient, and easy to learn, according to Dickey. The company offers constant operational, marketing and accounting support to each store, as well as protected territories and financial assistance to franchisees.
“We work well with other tenants and encourage our franchisees to establish cooperative marketing relationships with other tenants,” Dickey notes. “Our franchisee agreement requires our franchisees to spend 2 percent of their sales on local marketing, which always includes the store’s location.”
Dickey’s uses the latest in barbecue technology along with several proprietary concepts and recipes in its restaurants. The menu features slowly smoked meats, such as pulled pork, hot link sausage and St. Louis-style spare ribs, and 16 fresh vegetables and sides. The trademark beef brisket is cooked in a pit overnight for 12 to 14 hours. The menu also includes seven different salads and several desserts, including FrostBite ice cream, cobbler, pecan pie and banana pudding.
©2006 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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