Dickey’s franchise owners are invited to share their frustrations, fears, challenges, & complaints – by leaving a comment or sending an email – on a confidential basis. Roland Dickey, Jr. and other members of the Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurant Inc. (DBRI) are invited to respond to their franchise owner’s concerns and to our questions, and to share what is being done to address these issues. All familiar with the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise are invited to join the discussion.
See other recent posts here: Dickey’s Franchise
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) The Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise chain reached its expressed goal of opening its 500th restaurant in March, 2016th.
We’ve been contacted by numerous franchisees who are struggling to keep their businesses afloat.
They complain that changes in vendors (from Sysco to US Foods and back to Sysco), changes in menu, and forced shipments of holiday food items that don’t sell have driven food costs up, not down.
They complain that DBRI (through family-owned affiliates such as Wycliff and Spark Intelligence, Inc.) is further driving up their costs by adding mark-ups, accepting rebates on purchases made by franchisees, and adding additional fees.
Dickey’s franchisees claim that the DBRI-controlled marketing programs rely too heavily on discounting, BOGO offers and promotions involving giving away free food… promotions that may lead to greater revenue for the franchisor and its affiliates at the expense of franchisee profitability.
Many franchisees have said that they’ve noticed a sudden and appreciable drop in advertising coverage earlier this year.
According to the Dickey’s Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), “A statement of the operations of the Marketing Fund will be prepared annually by Dickey’s and will be made available to [Dickey’s franchisees] upon request, as well as an accounting of Marketing Fund expenditures.”
Franchisees report that their request for the advertising fund report have been ignored or denied.
Dickey’s franchisees pay 4% of their gross sales into a franchisee advertising fund, which DBRI administers.
DBRI has failed to provide franchisees a detailed accounting of the expenses of the franchisee advertising fund, despite the fact that they are contractually obligated to do so.
While their specific situations vary, franchisees who have contacted us all express a consistent view that their franchisor DBRI is indifferent to their struggles and not overly concerned about their plight.
In fact, some have expressed the suspicion that the corporate strategy is to allow Mom & Pop owners to finance the opening of new restaurants, then allow larger multi-unit franchisees to take them over for little or nothing as they fail…
The end result, some contend, will be a larger chain with fewer owners to oversee.
Are you a Dickey’s franchise owner? What do you think? Is Dickey’s doing all it can to help its franchisees be successful? What improvements would you like to see them make? Share a comment below or send an email in confidence to UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.
You can also view and provide input on these issue-specific pages:
Dickey’s Menu Changes & Menu Management
Dickey’s Threats, Bullying & Churning of Franchisees
UnhappyFranchisee.Com will continue to publish the most common complaints and sources of dissatisfaction among Dickey’s franchise owners, and give DBRI execs every reasonable opportunity to provide corrections, clarifications, rebuttals, or explanations.
Our goal is to give voice to both sides of these issues with the hope that DBRI will listen to its struggling franchisees and attend to their concerns in a constructive manner.
Unfortunately, DBRI has created an internal environment of distrust among its franchisees.
Some believe their concerns fall on the deaf ears of an indifferent franchisor.
Others are afraid of negative repercussions from speaking out.
A recent news story about two franchised store closings in Wisconsin provide examples of why franchisees do not feel that they can share their concerns with their franchisor.
Maureen Wallenfang, who writes for the USA Today news network, published a story in local news affiliate the Post-Crescent about the simultaneous closures of Dickey’s franchises in Appleton and Green Bay, WI.
The story is titled The Buzz: Dickey’s BBQ closes in Darboy, Green Bay.
In the story, Anthony Falbo, a Dickey’s franchise owner who recently closed two locations, was quoted as saying “We can count 15 to 20 (other franchised Dickey’s) closings around the country in the last month and a half, based on conversations we had with other franchisees.”
Dickey’s spokeswoman Michelle George, based in Dallas, said that Falbo’s claims of recent closures was inaccurate.
Michelle George stated: “‘That number is how many close in a year.”
While Ms. George’s denial of a franchise closure problem might fool the public, Dickey’s franchise owners know that the company tends to hide its store failures by selling failed locations at “pennies on the dollar” or even giving them away for free to a succession of owners.
A Dickey’s location could, hypothetically, have had 3-4 owners who each lost money on it without ever closing.
We estimate that 41% of the Dickey’s franchise agreements in the past ten years ended in closure, termination, reacquisition by the franchisor, or “transition” to another owner.
See what we’ve found regarding closures and resales here: DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT Closed Location List
Sometimes, failed franchises are temporarily taken over by DBRI and put on the market at fire sales prices.
There are currently 41 Dickey’s franchise locations listed for sale by franchise brokers (See DICKEY’S Franchises for Sale)
Half of these franchise locations have a sale price under $200,000, with some listed as low as $39,000 and $49,000.
Dickey’s spokesperson Michelle George must surely be aware that a $39,000, $49,000 or even a $150,000 franchise resale represents a lost investment (or investments) even though the store may technically not have closed.
We estimate that 41% of the Dickey’s franchise agreements in the past ten years ended in closure, termination, reacquisition by the franchisor, or “transition” to another owner.
See what we’ve found regarding closures and resales here: DICKEY’S BARBECUE PIT Closed Location List
In the same news story, the Wisconsin franchise owner said that high costs, made worse by a recent vendor change, forced he and his wife to pull the plug on their two Dickey’s franchises.
Dickey’s President Renee Roozen’s response was to deny that there’s a problem with costs, and to state that DBRI was going to “pursue all available remedies”(legalspeak for “We gonna sue’m!).
Seriously, Ms. Roozen? No expression of concern for the franchisees who bought into your system and lost their investments?
You are going to SUE your franchisee for losing their money with Dickey’s?
(As for Ms. Roozen’s contention that franchisees are enjoying lower prices and improved service with the vendor change, we will be happy to share complaints of franchisees about higher prices, worse credit terms, and forced-shipments seasonal items that traditionally don’t sell.)
The lesson for Mr. Dickey, Ms. George and Ms. Roozen: If you want franchisees to share their concerns with you, you must not deny that their problems exist, and you must not threaten to sue them if they share their opinions. Because if you aren’t willing to listen to their concerns, they’ll eventually share them with others… like the media, litigation attorneys, etc.
Hopefully, now that they’ve reached 500 stores, DBRI will reevaluate its priorities, and put Open and Honest Dialogue with Franchisees at the top of the list.
Also Read Past Posts on Dickey’s Franchise:
Please share a comment (anonymous is fine) or Contact UnhappyFranchisee.com.
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View Comments
Did anyone actually receive credit terms? I know Tamala and the whole Dickeys "team" promised them, but, did anyone actually receive them? We had great credit terms the first time around with Sysco, and were paid up and were set up on a truck to truck payment. Which normally would've been fine if we weren't paying two weeks of us foods bills.
No credit terms. Plenty out of stocks. Disgusting substitution items. Higher prices. Deliveries in the middle of lunch hour. Thanks for nothing Dickeys!
Higher prices for sure and late deliveries. Lots of being pushed around, we have credit terms, we don't have credit terms. What was the point of filing out ach paper work and credit paper work? If you have to pay online and were told COD, cut off for your next truck until your paid up. The most disgusting part was delivering for two weeks while we were still paying us foods then all of a sudden pay up the two weeks of food.
Yep! Those 2 first weeks were horrible.
And this week Sysco started charging me interest and penalties for not paying immediately
Oh wow that I've never heard of!
Dickey's management still believe there's no problem with the brand.
If the store is not performing, they always blamed the owners for not doing enough and it's never on them.
Food cost has risen especially after they started to manufacture their own paper product under their own Wycliff company. There are still issue or concern brought up to Dickey's using their BOSS system or area directors never gotten any response back and no one from Dickey's reach out to the owners. For Dickey's to claim that switching to Sysco was a business decision that will lower cost or improve operations are just excuses. Everyone owners in Dickey's know that it's a step down. How many wrong products we received weekly, increases in cost, no night drop delivery, product being substituted or even out of stock , there are just so many issues.
Not only these, Dickey's is forcing stores to switch to new menu that will lower average ticket and not telling us that those stores that are already switched are regretting it. There is just no transparency and if you want stores to succeed, they need to listen.
Renee sent out email after she was promoted to be the president of the company promising better correspondence and quicker response time, .. things are just getting worst and as one of the long time Dickey's owner, I'm not surprised at all. It's all promise, talk, threat and no action and improvement.
The only thing they did well is sell franchise and your journey to failure will start right away.
I am hearing a lot of complaints about the new menu raising food costs and problems withe Sysco transition. Can those who have converted to the new menu give some specifics as to how it's affecting food cost, average ticket, etc.?
It breaks up plates they now order 4 or 8 oz meats and then don't get the cheaper price to add two sides so no one does and If they do add a second side and get 8 oz meat it actually costs less then a one meat with two sides plate used to cost but you give more meat!
Prices are also "Market pricing" So your meats by the 1/4, 1/2 or 1lb are all different prices, pulled pork being one of the cheaper prices and brisket being more!
DBRI tells us that COGs will drop with the new menu which is a total lie. They release a suggested prices sheet and the prices are so incredibly low that COGs will increase to 40-45%. We made adjustments quickly and have found ways to make the menu better on our own and provided meal options so guests get 2 sides and a drink because they won't otherwise.
DBRI tries to sell you that lower prices and a lower average ticket will increase guest counts because people will want to come back more. Problem is they can't drive anybody into the restaurant because their marketing is the worst. So while stores are struggling to stay open, sales/average ticket drops, COGs and labor go up and DBRI does nothing about it.
The menu is confusing for the guests and causes too many guests to not return or just flat out not order.
Thanks, Anonymous. When did the new menu roll out? Was it phased in or all at once?
Is it voluntary, or mandatory?
Does Dickey's provide an overall marketing plan for the year that communicates the overall strategy for the year and the media mix and budget?
Will they work with you on custom marketing programs for your market or region - beyond the ad fund - or are you on your own?
Owners were given dates they had to have it changed by. You can push it off for awhile but, eventually they are just going to force everyone to do it and I'm sure they will say it's a provision buried in your 200+ page franchise agreement.
Owners used to be able
To request marketing money for advertising they wanted now that's no longer permitted.
Does anyone actually have a copy of their marketing money expenditures? I've heard a lot of people say they've requested it (me included) and haven't received them.