Initial investment averaging $550k, the average store grosses about $500k a year (I had to derive this from their corporate financials), have lost 100 franchised units over the past three years (77 last year!), and a twenty-year commitment to this dog. Not surprised to see this news, actually.
Being franchises makes lots of sense, as I’ve heard others say the same as you, but the Dickey’s nearest me is so terrible I refuse to go. It’s by far the cheapest barbecue option, and they always have coupons, but I’d rather just pay more.
Pork ribs are about the easiest possible thing to smoke, and they messed them up. Too dry, no smoke flavor, and stuck to the bone. My guess is they ran the smoker way too hot so they could cook things faster.
Which gets us back to the franchise thing. The kids doing the cooking are either following directions, and the result is bad, or being allowed to not follow directions. Either way, it is the owners fault, and possibly corporate’s fault, if they are not impressing on franchisees that even operating an automatic electric smoker is way more difficult that dropping a basket of frozen fries into hot oil until the buzzer sounds.
One opened up near my work in one of those perennial doom spots in an off-street strip mall, sandwiched in-between a Cold Stone Creamery and a Panda Express. I’ve been watching restaurant after restaurant fail in that fast-casual-sized spot for a couple of decades now. A fast-pasta place, a breakfast diner, others I’m blanking on. It has stabilized a bit in the last few years with the branch of a small chain of taquerias (five locations total). But the Dickey’s lasted less than two years.
I went twice. Both tries were sad, sad failures. I can be just a little snobby about what I’ll call good bbq, but I’m usually okay with even mediocre versions. This was just piss-poor. Add in very indifferent customer service and it’s not a shock it died a fairly quick death.
Once a franchise system acquires a reputation for screwing the location owners, pretty much the only new owners they can attract are the clueless ones. IOW, ones with zero experience running a restaurant.
And the harder the franchise system squeezes the owners, the harder it is for the owners to make a profit and the more they’ll be tempted to cut corners.
Put those two forces together and you’ve got a recipe for crap food delivered in crap conditions by crap workers. And the only people left smiling are the shareholders and execs of the franchise system’s parent company.
When you mentioned “strip mall”, I figured out I was thinking of a different mediocre BBQ chain (albeit a better one than Dickey’s).
Never mind what I wrote before. The Dickey’s around here are almost all uniformly terrible and several in the area popped up in the last few years only to soon close. If you are in Texas, there’s almost certainly a better option within a few miles.
The part in the NYT article that stood out to me was,
Dickey’s denied the allegations in written responses to questions from The Times, in which it described the owners who criticized the company as part of “a group that is intent on the destruction of Dickey’s system including its franchisees.”
No shit.
And, yeah, it’s pretty poor BBQ. I don’t know if they even smoke their own meat or just heat packaged stuff that’s brought in but even that model can be pretty good. We used to have nearby a satellite location for a BBQ joint across town where the goods would be brought in by the manager before they opened at 11am. Unfortunately the mother store survived Covid but the satellite did not. The biggest drawback they had was that if sales of an item were greater than expected they were out for the rest of the day.
I honestly think Arby’s is a better BBQ experience than Dickey’s.
I’ve eaten at Dickey’s maybe a half dozen times in my life. Never by choice. It’s edible, I guess that’s the best thing I can say about it.
I think I’ve seen maybe three Dickey’s in my life. Never tried them because I live in NC where decent BBQ is cheap and plentiful. Not surprised they’re another franchise scam because they never seem to last long.
Thanks for the heads-up. I reached out to the reporter through a number of channels, even linking to the OP in this thread (Hi, Brett!). Do not think he’ll respond - he is more of a food critic than a ‘crusading reporter’ - but if one doesn’t make the effort, it’s definite he won’t reply.
::Checks forum::
We’re more meta that Zuckerberg! 
I agree, all smoked meat topics from Cafe Society should be moved to The BBQ Pit. Is it best to start a new topic in ATMB or just go flag each thread?
To keep it mildly on topic, something I’ve been curious about is franchising from the other direction. Lucile’s Creole Cafe is a breakfast spot started in Boulder. For many years they had a blurb on the menu saying “ask us about opening a franchise.”
There are a few other locations, but it’s not obvious from the website if they are all under the same owner, or franchises, because they use language like “Lucile’s expanded by opening a second restaurant.”
So, say you have a successful restaurant, a notoriously difficult business. The franchise is essentially renting out your recipes and branding, because there is not a vertically integrated supply chain behind a 30 seat restaurant in downtown Boulder that you can lock franchisees into. I guess it is relatively low risk, with the biggest downside being diluting of the brand’s reputation.
I’m glad this thread was bumped. I just bought a copy of your book, John! I thought it would come in handy if I or anyone I know is tempted to “buy” a franchise.
I will say that your photo on the book jacket looks nothing like your SDMB avatar. 
Our little boy is all grown up!
My eyes are clearer too…
Thank you, @robby! Appreciate it!
You found a priest to depossess / unpossess (?) you?
I prefer the old term “exorcism”, tbh.
I know this is a joke, but some part of my brain seriously thinks people look like their avatars even when clearly they don’t.
My jaw still hurts from holding that grin for the photo.
They perform an exorcism because you are possessed; therefore they are depossessing you
Laughs my front wheel off.