Roland Dickey Jr. Extracted Millions While Dickey’s Franchise Owners Fought for Survival
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise owners may be closing their businesses and going bankrupt across the country, but that doesn’t mean the founder’s grandson Roland Dickey, Jr. and his family are suffering. According to an inside source who claims to have reviewed the DBRI corporate ledger, between 2010 and 2014, Roland Dickey, Jr. received over $5 million in the form of salary and “consulting fees” paid through family-owned corporations disguised to look like 3rd party vendors. The Dickey family may have extracted more than $15 million from the reportedly troubled franchise chain since 2011.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) According to an unnamed source (who allegedly has, or had, access to the company’s general ledger), Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. has, in addition to reasonable compensation, paid more than $15.5 million to the Dickey’s family since 2011.
According to the source, more than $14 million of this compensation was paid in the form of personal expenses and “fraudulent 1099s to solely-owned entities intentionally named to conceal the fact that the payments were disguised dividends.”
[Question for Roland Dickey, Jr., Roland Dickey, Sr. and the Dickey’s family: Wouldn’t these millions be better spent with REAL vendors who could maybe help eliminate this problem and this problem?
ALSO READ: DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT Dickey’s Family Charged Millions in Personal Expenses
Bogus Vendor Corporations Allegedly Disguised Pay-outs to Dickey’s Family Members
Our source claims that between 2010 – 2015, Roland Dickey, Jr. and Roland Dickey, Sr. used a number of corporate entities to disguise company payments to look like legitimate business expenses paid to 3rd party vendors when they were, in fact, simply pass through entities whose only purpose was to funnel money to the Roland Dickey family.
Some of these allegedly deceptively named entities include:
- Menu Solutions; (owned by Roland Dickey, Sr.)
- Restaurant Products Company; (owned by Roland Dickey, Sr.)
- Princeton Food Service Equipment; (owned by Roland Dickey, Sr.)
- Sussman Products Company; (owned by Roland Dickey, Sr.)
- Roland R. Dickey Vendor; (owned by Roland Dickey, Sr.)
- Restaurant Specialists; (owned by Roland Dickey, Jr.)
- Roland Dickey, Jr. Vendor; (owned by Roland Dickey, Jr.)
- Central Menu Provider; (controlled by Roland Dickey, Jr.)
- Regional Interests, LP; and (owned by RDJ’s brother Cullen Dickey)
- Restaurant Developers, LP. (owned by RDJ’s brother Cullen Dickey)
Some of these entities may no longer be in existence. According to the Texas Secretary of State, numerous other entities owned by Roland Dickey, Jr. have been formed since then.
Roland Dickey, Jr. Allegedly Extracted More than $5M From DBRI in Four Years
Roland Dickey, Jr. is the grandson of founder Travis Dickey and the son of Roland Dickey, Sr.
According to our insider source, Roland Dickey, Jr. received compensation of more than $5,000,000 from DBRI between the Fiscal Year ending (FYE) 2010 through FYE May 2014.
This compensation was allegedly in the form of salary ($2.4M) and disguised payments through the pass-through entities listed above ($2.6M).
This compensation does not include approximately $2M in Roland Jr.’s personal (non-business) expenses allegedly paid by DBRI during this period.
It also does not include more than $300,000 for non-business travel, meals, clothing and home furnishings allegedly expensed by Roland’s wife, Laura Rea Dickey, and paid for by DBRI.
| Roland Dickey, Jr. Alleged DBRI Compensation |
FYE MAY 2010 | FYE MAY 2011 | FYE MAY 2012 | FYE MAY 2013 | FYE MAY 2014 | Total |
| SALARY | $90,917 | $241,992 | $442,985 | $539,577 | $1,107,099 | $2,422,570 |
| CONSULTING FEES (via 3rd party entities) | $151,833 | $249,000 | $353,190 | $1,195,903 | $686,010 | $2,635,936 |
| TOTAL | $5,058,506 |
Roland Dickey, Sr. Allegedly Extracted More than $4.3M From DBRI in Four Years
Roland Dickey, Sr. is the son of founder Travis Dickey. He is the brother of TD Dickey, Jr., who passed away from pancreatic cancer in May, 2011.
The two brothers operated the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit chain for many years as co-owners.
It’s believed that the Roland Dickey, Sr. side of the family bought out the the shares of T.D. Dickey’s widow, Martha, in Spring or early Summer, 2016.
According to our source, Roland Dickey, Sr. received compensation of more than $4.3M from DBRI between the Fiscal Year ending (FYE) 2010 through FYE May 2014.
This chart does not include more than $1M in personal expenses allegedly paid by DBRI for this period.
Roland Dickey, Sr. is married to Maurine Dickey.
| Roland Dickey, Sr. Alleged DBRICompensation |
FYE MAY 2010 | FYE MAY 2011 | FYE MAY 2012 | FYE MAY 2013 | FYE MAY 2014 | Total |
| SALARY | $185,365 | $530,880 | $405,958 | $286,397 | $261,276 | $1,669,876 |
| CONSULTING FEES (via 3rd party entities) | $329,225 | $397,140 | $535,938 | $711,596 | $733,186 | $2,707,085 |
| TOTAL | $4,376,961 |
Cullen Dickey Allegedly Extracted More than $660K From DBRI in Five Years
Cullen Dickey is the son of Roland Dickey, Sr. and the brother of Roland Dickey, Jr..
| Cullen Dickey Alleged DBRI Compensation | FYE MAY 2010 | FYE MAY 2011 | FYE MAY 2012 | FYE MAY 2013 | FYE MAY 2014 | FYE MAY 2015 | Total |
| SALARY | $50,600 | $54,306 | $91,600 | $215,199 | $166,708 | $85,100 | $663,513 |
| CONSULTING FEES (via 3rd party entities) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| TOTAL | $663,513 |
Martha Dickey Allegedly Received More than $1.1M From DBRI in Four Years
Martha Dickey is 76-year-old widow of T.D. Dickey, who died in May, 2011, and sister-in-law of Roland Dickey, Jr. She is the mother of T.D. Dickey III and Malinda Dickey. Her husband was the son of founder Travis Dickey and owned 50% of corporate entities DBPI and Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. (DBRI)
| Martha Dickey Alleged DBRICompensation |
FYE MAY 2010 | FYE MAY 2011 | FYE MAY 2012 | FYE MAY 2013 | FYE MAY 2014 | Total |
| SALARY | $40,000 | $60,000 | $150,000 | $520,200 | $350,000 | $1,120,200 |
| TOTAL | $1,120,200 |
About our information source: We believe the source of the information in this post is a credible inside source that has (or had at one time) access to the internal records and general ledger of DBRI for the relevant time period. However, it is possible that some or all of this information is flawed. We urge all interested parties to do their own investigation and let us know what they find. Also, we invite DBRI, Roland Dickey, Sr., Roland Dickey, Jr., Cullen Dickey, Martha Dickey or their representatives to provide corrections, clarifications, and/or rebuttals for any information they deem untrue or misstated.
Also read:
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Franchise Posts (ALL)
DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT Closed Location List
DICKEY’S Franchise Owners: Tell DBRI Your Biggest Concerns, Anonymously
DICKEY’S Franchise Owners Share Frustrations & Fears
DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT Franchise Complaints
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Anyone who would steal money from their own family, is not a person you should trust!
Is there any hard evidence to provide the very lazy IRS or FBI?
This would make the whole difference between accuse and get ready to prosecute.
I am a former 7-Eleven franchisee. I recently reached a settlement with the 711 corporation. Under constant threats to issue me non curable breach I was literally forced to accept that settlement in lieu of selling my interest in the store. Their continous meddling in store operations and blaming me for everything that might have gone wrong soured our relationship. This company like any other company that is out there to suck every last penny out of a genuine hard working person. They are ruthless and most draconianly motivated company . In fact buying into 7 eleven is like you are buying a membership into a high end exclusive club where you have no authority but you are bound by every rule in the book . Your membership can be cancelled anytime without your knowledge or they have the power to create circumstances where you are left with no other option but to withdraw. Once they take money out on any pretext ,regardless of any reason wether it is legit or illegit you need to forget about that money . Think that money went into dark hole and will not see the light of the day . They never accept mistake on their part and will overlook every request made to refund that money . They have perfected various ways to scam hard working franchisees. For example their latest scam is as follow
For last 10 years my stores inventory ran on average between 55k to 60k. 7-Eleven came out with this scam that the sales are not growing because of poor assortment of products in the store. So my fc ordered more stuff and raised my inventory over 100k. That is almost doubling my inventory . All the new products seven elven introduced it makes profit on it by buying it cheaper and selling it at profit to the stores in collusion with McLane . By selling that product at higher than average cost 711 generated it’s first tier profit . Now that merchandise if it does not sell will sit on shelves for days. You pay interest on that merchandise. That interest income is second tier profit for 711. Whatever new merchandise you are able to sell to customers that profit is again shared by 711generating third tier profit . At the end of few months whatever merchandise don’t sell and goes bad you write them off thinking that 7 11 will share the cost but you don’t know what they actually paid for it to begin with. Any ways you write off bad merchandise and higher write offs drag your gross profit down and reduce your take home saving more money to 711. Tha is fourth tier of profit you just made for 711. Looking at big picture you wonder who is in the business of making money without lifting a finger ???????? At someone’s expense .trust me that someone else is just you not neighboring circle k . They got you at the right spot….. by the balls
Anonymous I’m not sure if your posting on the wrong post or if you are comparing Dbri to 7/11 regardless it sounds all too familiar. Dbri also will do anything to create situations where you must buy their products or services. I think their whole intent is making everything a Dickey’s product so owners are completely reliant on them. Need online ordering? Use spark intel, even though it’s shotty at best and hardly works. Want proprietary products? Buy from wycliff owned by us. Even if it’s just slapping a label on a product made by someone else (IBP, farmland etc) want accounting? Well you have to use our company or we have to vet your accountant at your cost. Want insurance? You have to use our company or pay a fine. Once they have owners completely reliant then they have them trapped. Even if dbri goes under you still need their 3rd party services owned by them. Seems like a trap to me.
No I was just comparing my experience with dbri franchisee’s. I just gave an example to show that all these companies are chips of same block . Franchising has become a tool to loot people of their savings , hard work and sweat they pour in to the buisness. Just because they make you sign the contract written by them for themselves should not mean they can hold you hostage for ransom. All the lawmakers are probably sleeping in cozy lounges waiting for next sleep break. And judges have lost sensibility to decide cases based on right or wrong . They get lost in translating the contract word by word without judging the actions. A low paid orderly can do a better job than most presiding judges. These judges should have read shylock before getting on to law books to understand what real justice means …..a sad testimony of falling standards of judiciary …
I’m looking forward to the American Greed episode on the Dickey family. They don’t even bother to hide this stuff, everyone at corporate knows what’s going on.
The $50M extraction from DBRI in 2016 to form Dickey’s Capital Group – that is totally separate from these payments to the individuals discussed above, right?
anonymous:
Yes, I believe this is all referencing the time period prior to the Wells Fargo deal and the buyout of Martha Dickey’s shares.
Dickey Family: Let them eat cake! We have caviar and champagne!
Former employee here and I can vouch for a large part of this not being any surprise. This was the most awful company I was ever worked for, if a person made it past six months it was astounding. They set everyone up to fail and then wrote them up for failing. They lie to people about salaries & raises then run and hide when you try to call them on it. Biggest bunch of a-holes but still managed to attract some of the best talent, for a few months anyway, the smart ones bailed as soon as possible.
Job seekers and people looking to invest your money in a business, RUN!!!
So the articles and comments on here surely point to how inept the entire Dickey family is at running their business, but here is an interesting admission from the “CEO” herself…
In an article published to franchisees in the Nov 27 daily email, DBRI themselves linked to where Laura Rea Dickey goes on record to say “I do think that spending eight years in so many different roles in the company is the only way that I am even mildly qualified to sit in the chair I’m in today.”
It seems to me that if your own “CEO” thinks she’s only mildly qualified to hold the position that maybe you are doing all your franchisees a disservice by letting an inexperienced individual run the company. On the other hand, They’ve been doing that for years even when Roland Dickey Jr. was in that spot.
https://www.qsrmagazine.com/start-finish-what-inspires-execs/what-inspires-dickey-s-ceo-laura-rea-dickey
Knowing that DBRI buys PR from “magazines” that will write anything they want, anyone know if QSR is one of those?