Dickey’s Barbecue Pit

QSR magazine:

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, the Dallas-based purveyor of slow-cooked meats and down-home sides, has been in business since 1941. But company president Roland Dickey Jr. singles out 2009 as “quite a journey,” one that left Dickey’s leaner, meaner, and poised, once again, for growth.

The World War II–era barbecue chain began what Dickey calls “passively franchising around Dallas” in 1994. About 10 years later, the company began promoting Dickey’s for national growth.

“We opened four a year, then 12 a year, then 20,” Dickey says. “By 2008 we were selling 10–12 a month with that same number opening every month. But September of 2008 was the last month we sold any. It stopped in October. If we hadn’t had the economic meltdown, we would have opened 62 new stores in 2009, but two thirds of them lost funding.”

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