Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants Inc. has re-designed its store prototype, slashing start-up costs for new stores, in some cases by hundreds of thousands of dollars, to make owning a Dickey's affordable for new owner/operators.
The re-design includes the streamlining of kitchen equipment and the decrease of its unit footprint from an average of 3,000 square feet down to 1,800 square feet.
"We have looked for any way to standardize and cut costs," said Daniel Sibley, Dickey's director of Construction who joined the company in 2008. "Simplicity is vital to success in construction as well as every other aspect of our business. We are much more versatile now. We were able to go into varied locations, from a converted Quiznos in Northern California to a former electronics store in the Bronx. They are very different, but with our new model, we can make it work and make it very cost effective."
Sibley also said competitive pricing has been key.
Lauren Parker, DBRI's project coordinator, has been focusing more on lending programs from community banks.
"I have really begun to function as an in-house financing department whereas other franchises turn people away if they don't have the financing. But we help them. We guide our owner/operators through the whole process and make it work for them," she said.
The first Dickey's Barbecue opened in 1941 in Dallas. The original location is still open for business, and Dickey's Barbecue is still owned and operated by the Dickey Family. Dickey's began franchising in 1994 and now has more than 110 locations in 21 states.
