March 18, 2010
We've now traveled several generations down the fast-food highway. It's getting harder to recall how today's big quick-serve corporations got their start. Generally there was just a solitary entrepreneur with a single modest unit who yoked his family's fate and fortunes to a modest and quickly served doughnut, taco, or burger. Today there are still some large and well-known quick-serves, like White Castle, Chick-fil-A, and In-N-Out, that remain controlled by the heirs of the individuals who founded them. But for the most part the days of the family-owned, fast-food chain have suffered the same fate as black and white television—extinction.
You wouldn't know this, however, from a discussion with Roland Dickey Jr., president and third-generation proprietor of Dallas's Dickey's Barbecue Pit chain. The 85-unit Dickey's chain was started in 1941 by a family with restaurant roots stretching back into the 19th century and is still closely held today. It didn't even sell its first franchise until 1994 and operated less than 30 stores as late as 2004. Readily admitting that the family has taken its own sweet developmental time, Roland has declared his intention to aggressively seek qualified franchisees and to become the nation's first coast-to-coast fast-casual barbecue chain.
Roland readily talks about the absence of a leader in the national fast-casual barbecue segment and about the passion that is attached to barbecue ("Who gets emotional about a sub sandwich?" he says). Of course, that passion is viewed by some as an obstacle to national expansion since there are strong regional tastes and traditions in American barbecue. Roland, though, doesn't quite read it that way. He stresses that items such as brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and sausage are basic to all barbecue operations and that national exposure has led to blendings and borrowings that have resulted in national barbecue preferences with "not as much regionality as before."
Long past the need to experiment with and tweak its acclaimed menu fare, the company remains loyal to and diligently promotes the core menu items and recipes that have been with the family since the very beginning. Dickey's message and goal is one of satisfying the barbecue crave. The customer who walks through Dickey's door is rarely there because of a discount or new item. The key to success, Roland says, lies in honoring the vested culinary heritage while casting a contemporary eye at all other factors of the business.
"You never change your core competencies," Roland says, "but you have to stay with the times and be relevant to multiple generations. That stodgy Old West barbecue style is so the opposite of what we are doing today. We're all about a fresh environment, upbeat staff, contemporary colors, lots of energy, and Southern rock playing in the background."
Likewise with regard to marketing, the contemporary Dickey's turns its back on what Roland describes as "animated cowboys and all that hillbilly stuff." Keeping its focus on the crave, the chain's direct mailings, billboards, and radio and television efforts are about the product. Pitches also emphasize service formats, including dine-in, off-premise catering, home-meal replacement, and hosting the occasional special event.
According to Roland the real business drivers are "four-wall opportunities" and positive word-of-mouth marketing. Once in the store, guests are treated to the warmth of down-home Southern hospitality in an environment that celebrates the traditions of barbecue without making a caricature of them. To get people in the store, a new Dickey's unit devotes a lot of effort to feet-on-the-street sampling at nearby schools, fire stations, and media outlets.
Considering all this, one might think that the Dickey family plays an inordinately small part in the chain today. Roland even modestly concedes that customers "don't care so much about our heritage." Yet the truth of it is that Dickey's sees family values as the ultimate competitive advantage.
To customers, this might translate as the family-friendly, kids-eat-free policy on Sunday, or as the free soft-serve ice cream. But the real payoff, according to Roland, is in the relationship with franchisees who become extended members of the Dickey family. When a Dickey's franchisee calls headquarters, he can always speak to a Dickey family member and not just an executive gun for hire.
"It's important to us that people know that we're not owned by an equity firm," Roland says. "Any new owner/operator can talk to a Dickey family member who is heavily involved. Owner/operators know they have the support of the family. We have a very harmonious group, and we take care of them and work with them." According to Roland, 85 percent of Dickey's franchisees sign on for multiple units within 18 months. "As the old saying goes, 'You don't buy misery twice,'" he says.
