Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Three Generations, 866 Locations: Laura Rea Dickey on Growing America's Largest Barbecue Franchise | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Transcript

Three Generations, 866 Locations: Laura Rea Dickey on Growing America's Largest Barbecue Franchise | Restaurants & Franchises Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Laura Ray Dickey, chief executive officer
0:21
of Dickey's BBQ Restaurants. Founded in 1941, they have grown
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from a family venture in Dallas, TX to the world's largest BBQ
0:31
franchise, serving authentic slow smoked BBQ across 866
0:39
locations worldwide. Laura joined the brand in 2009,
0:43
bringing over 20 years of experience in marketing and
0:46
information technology. She previously served as CIO and
0:50
now leads the company's expansion and digital innovation
0:53
strategies. Under her leadership, Dickey's
0:56
has earned recognition for its forward thinking approach,
0:59
including a spot on the Nation's Restaurant News Power List and
1:04
several nods in Fast Casual Magazine's Top 25 Mover and
1:08
Shakers. She is also CEO of Sparks
1:11
Hospitality Technology, which is dedicated to helping hospitality
1:15
brands harness the power of data and technology to drive
1:19
operational success and elevate customer experiences.
1:24
Laura has also been honored as a top woman in technology by the
1:27
Dallas Business Journal. Her speciality is using data
1:30
insights to drive brand and business solutions, which has
1:34
helped push Dickies to new heights in both customer
1:36
experience and sales performance.
1:39
Now before we get into all this good stuff, today's episode is
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2:10
All right, back to our guest today, the CEO of Dickey's BBQ
2:14
Pit. Laura, I appreciate you making
2:16
the time to Share your story for.
2:17
Having me, Anthony, I appreciate it.
2:20
OK. So you have been merging tech
2:24
and marketing throughout your career.
2:26
I'm kind of curious to hear how did that unique intersection
2:30
first capture your attention? I really think like most good
2:33
things completely by accident. It was not some grand design.
2:38
I have always really loved marketing and communication and
2:41
being in the kind of the people connection side of any part of a
2:45
business challenge. But really when I got started
2:47
out in marketing, I was one of the youngest folks on the team
2:51
and using at the time when they were calling it new media and
2:55
the Internet was somewhat revolutionary for a lot of the
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folks that had a lot more experience.
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So I really was really just well timed and had such a really good
3:04
mentor at one of my first jobs. That really was almost in the
3:09
sunset of her career, and she realized that I was just really
3:12
in the very beginning of mine. And it was a wonderful
3:15
partnership where she imparted a lot of her knowledge and her
3:19
experience to me. But she also allowed me to pull
3:23
in at that kind of age where we were just getting going with all
3:26
of the things that social media and new media and digital media
3:30
would become. And really encouraged me to jump
3:33
in early to continue in my education, to really double down
3:37
and learn. And so it was a lot about timing
3:40
and definitely about having several very good mentors early
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on. Is this when you were working
3:45
with some iconic brands like W Hotels and Chick-fil-A or was it
3:49
even before that? Even a little bit before that.
3:51
So I worked with some of those brands with the Richards Group
3:54
and and that was because I was working at Fairfield Development
3:57
and Rita Wilson was heading marketing at the time and I was
4:00
working with our portfolio of student housing across the
4:03
country. And so it was really just a
4:07
happy accident of being around some really great folks and at a
4:12
really exciting time and being able to take advantage of that.
4:16
So give us an idea of how early you got started.
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Were you in the early stages of Google ads?
4:21
Were early stages of Facebook ads, which came a bit later the.
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Above yes, you know we jump. I jumped in at 2000 and started
4:28
in A1 and so really, really got there at that right pivotal time
4:33
where people were just figuring it out.
4:35
They were starting to dedicate budget to technology as a part
4:39
of marketing and a lot of those digital pieces.
4:42
And so that was really exciting. So that was pre Facebook if I'm
4:46
remembering right, but that was early days of Google ads.
4:48
And what was a very interesting actually about Facebook is we
4:51
were working with student housing at different
4:54
universities, right? So private housing for large
4:56
state universities. So Facebook was on the campuses,
5:00
but wasn't yet an advertising medium beyond beyond the
5:03
university students themselves. So that was an interesting time
5:06
to watch all of that develop. So I, I don't want to get too
5:11
far into the weeds here, but I had a little background in, in
5:14
some of that, you know, back in the early days too.
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And so I'm kind of curious, Google Ads obviously was a big,
5:20
big deal when it first came out. What was the next sort of big
5:24
leap for you in that space? The digital advertising space,
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it was really a lot of at that time the campus connection and a
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lot of those social early sites. And then we also started to do a
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lot of the web building. We was really into the right
5:43
digital presence online and folks were really looking at
5:47
digital space and what websites could do that beginning of
5:51
e-commerce and connection point for folks.
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And so that was really a lot of time I spent early on building
5:58
out brands digitally, which now you think is, you know,
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sometimes brands are just digital now, but you think of
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that as so natural, but it was really an intent piece of the
6:08
kind of branding portfolio at the time.
6:12
So how did you take that experience in that work and
6:15
leverage it into some of the work that you then did with W
6:19
and Chick-fil-A and others like that?
6:21
Very interesting it, it was that 360 branding, which is a very
6:26
old term now, but it, it was really taking that and all of
6:31
the traditional thinking around marketing that was, that still
6:33
applies, that still did apply and putting that digital
6:36
presence, that digital space to that.
6:38
What does that look like for that brand?
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And then how do you start to connect those folks that are at
6:43
the time early adopters or right where we were playing with some
6:46
of those brands that the younger folks that were in university
6:50
that were just coming out of school that were really going,
6:52
OK, there's a lot of opportunity here.
6:54
And you saw the launch of a lot of e-commerce or or really the
6:58
early launch and failure of a lot of e-commerce that led to
7:02
the extension of e-commerce as a part of established brands.
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And so that was just a really interesting exciting time and it
7:10
was really adding the digital footprint to a lot of those
7:12
iconic brands or being a part of that.
7:14
Chick-fil-A was interesting though, actually spent a lot of
7:18
time early on in that brand actually with their community
7:20
marketing program, quite the opposite of what I was doing on
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a technology piece with that with some of the other brands I
7:25
was involved in. But that was a much more
7:27
traditional approach still at the time.
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And while they were just getting into a digital development, I
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actually spent a lot of time in the community marketing aspect
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of that brand, which has definitely informed my career
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quite a bit. Give us one example.
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Sure. So they have a very be my
7:45
neighbor inviting folks and to be my guest.
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So they had a really very, and I believe still do grassroots
7:53
community involvement kind of iconic piece to the brand where
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they would go in and around every new store, they would
8:00
invite folks in to be their guest.
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They would have to be my guest cards.
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They would go in everyone and then a 2345 mile radius of a new
8:09
location was somehow personally invited in.
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Whether they gave them a be my be my guest card, whether they
8:16
did grassroots. They were just very involved in
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the community and those type of touch points and building those
8:22
related relationships. You can really still see that
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today in this brand, and it's definitely something that I
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brought to Dickey's very intentionally.
8:31
OK, let's shift into Dickey's now, because this is this
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brand's got quite a story, been around since 1941.
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I believe we're the third generation of the family.
8:43
Yeah. Tell me more.
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How did it get started? And, and and it's it's unusual
8:47
for even a successful company to stay within the same family
8:51
group for second generation, then a third generation.
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So kind of walk me through how this is kind of absolutely.
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And I'm married in Full disclosure.
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So it is my husband who's the 3rd generation and it was his
9:02
grandfather started our original location in Dallas, TX in 1941.
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In fact, I'm sitting in our corporate office here and you
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can look right across 75 and see the original restaurant.
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It's an old converted house. You can walk into the dining
9:16
room and you still see the brick fireplace that was originally
9:20
there. So his grandfather had come back
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from just being a World War 1 veteran actually, and worked at
9:28
a coffee shop, owned a small coffee shop and would walk home
9:31
past this this restaurant and really decided one day that he
9:37
really wanted to own this restaurant.
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So he bought the space. Or as the story goes, they just
9:41
pitched him the keys because he was the best customer.
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And so he turned it into a BBQ restaurant, called it Dickey's
9:47
BBQ, named it after himself and ran that restaurant until he
9:50
passed actually in the kitchen of that restaurant.
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And my, my father-in-law really thought that he was going to go
9:57
on and be an attorney. I think he had visions of being
10:00
Colombo or something similar and was in school to do that.
10:05
But he was newly married. I think he was in his last year
10:08
at SMU actually, and needed to make a living all of a sudden
10:12
for himself and for his mom now. And so he took over the business
10:16
and grew that from one location to truly was and is a barbecue
10:21
joint. It was very small, but grew that
10:25
from one location into a small family chain and I think that's
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where he thought that they would be.
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He really put his heart and soul into the business, expanded
10:33
around Dallas and the Dallas Metroplex and into North Texas
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and really put a lot into catering and building the
10:40
business. And he was Mr. Dickey.
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He did a lot of the innovation of the menu and when we first
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started the original menu and in 1941 was brisket and ham and
10:56
just beer and milk. And one of the first beer
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licenses in Dallas actually I think were numbered as license
11:03
number one. So that was that was really very
11:06
simple menu and potato chips. And so anything else on the menu
11:10
from there has really been my father-in-law and my husband
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that have added to that over time.
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And they just built that organically.
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So at what point did the growth really start to explode?
11:23
That's really when my husband got involved in the business.
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So he went to school and we have what I think is a very good
11:30
family rule that if you wanted to be involved in the family
11:33
business, you have to go out and work for somebody else first.
11:36
So he had to Graduate School and work up to be a district manager
11:40
and another restaurant change. So he did that here with a
11:43
really good company of El Chico brands and he worked for several
11:47
years in those restaurants up to being a district manager and
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then was invited back to the family business and had to also
11:54
work his way up. So my father-in-law and actually
11:59
his brother, so my husband's uncle, they ran the family
12:03
stores together. And so Roland Junior was invited
12:07
back in and he took the restaurant and opened a location
12:10
in Albuquerque for us, for the family.
12:13
And so he ran that location for a full year by himself to really
12:17
prove that he wanted to be involved in the business and and
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have the ability to do so. And then when he came back to
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the Home Office in Dallas, that's really when they started
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expanding. And so they first franchise they
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sold actually to a guest, a long term guest who's still a
12:33
franchisee today, the Smith family.
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But Frank Smith was one of our best customers, as the story
12:39
goes, and used to come in and ask to buy a BBQ restaurant.
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He said, you know, this is a great way to to make a living.
12:44
I love this. How much fun are y'all having
12:47
every day? Please sell me one.
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And eventually wore my father-in-law down till he said,
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OK, Frank, if you'll stop asking me, I'll sell you a restaurant.
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And now his son, Dale, second generation, has four restaurants
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around Dallas and has been with us for, you know, over 25 years
13:02
as a franchisee. So what's the breakdown of
13:06
corporate owned versus franchise?
13:08
Great. Question, we have 8 family owned
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restaurants and everything else is franchised.
13:14
OK. And where are we talking about?
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Is this just across the US? Do you have some in Canada?
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We. Do we have both?
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We are international as so we are in 41 States and Canada and
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then we are in eight countries total.
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Actually, before we were in Canada, we were in Dubai and Abu
13:32
Dhabi, and then we also have restaurants in Brazil, Japan,
13:36
Singapore and Canada. And I'm guessing each of those
13:41
opportunities has come about because a franchise has
13:44
approached you and said, hey, I like this.
13:47
I want to bring some authentic American BBQ to our country.
13:50
Exactly what's happened and that's been, we have several
13:53
family owned airport locations. So that's also been a very nice
13:57
way to connect with international folks here in the
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DFW airport. In Love Field gets a lot of
14:02
brand exposure for us, which is really nice.
14:05
But it is I've have been so amazed by the love of American
14:09
brands internationally. There is just still this hunger
14:12
for authentic American brands, especially Texas brands.
14:16
So we are able to to serve folks internationally that legit Texas
14:21
BBQ. And I'm sure when you know some
14:26
of these international folks are looking for an opportunity,
14:30
there are other BBQ restaurants that they could franchise.
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What is it that you think is drawing them to Dickies?
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I think it's our genuine authenticity.
14:38
We are a family brand and we are about our food and we're about
14:42
our folks. We're very simple.
14:44
We're not confused about actually doing rocket surgery or
14:47
anything along those lines. We stick to the basics, but it's
14:50
really led by great BBQ. Everything is pit smoked on
14:54
site. So you bring in all of those
14:57
fresh proteins. They are smoked right there in
14:59
every restaurant, in every location, with our original
15:02
recipes, with our proprietary spice blends, with our secret
15:06
sauce, with everything that my husband and my father-in-law
15:10
have genuinely put, you know, spent their time and passion
15:13
putting together from our legacy recipes.
15:17
So it's very, very, very great BBQ, very good food, but it's
15:22
also genuinely about family. We have a history you can look
15:27
back on. You can see how we've grown.
15:28
You can see the folks that have come through the restaurant.
15:31
And so you just, we have that history and I think folks really
15:35
look at that and go, gosh, that's amazing.
15:36
I'd like to be a part of that. You use the phrase once or
15:40
twice, as the story goes. Are there some tall tales sort
15:44
of woven through this brand? Yeah.
15:47
Yes, if the walls at Central could dock.
15:50
That's what we lovingly call our original flagship store.
15:54
But we just have had such, it's truly been a family experience,
15:58
you know, as my father-in-law and his brother had built the
16:02
brand. You know, they catered for
16:05
celebrities, They catered high profile events.
16:08
In fact, they used to they catered a catering event for
16:12
Ronald Reagan here in Dallas when he came through on his
16:15
first campaign trail, had a long term customer and Ross Perot.
16:20
And so we've had just a great way to be a part of of just the
16:24
Dallas history and the Texas brand here is just a very
16:28
authentic experience. You know, it's something you
16:33
said I I thought was a really smart idea about how, you know,
16:37
people who are in the family, if they want to work in the
16:39
business, you got to go work somewhere else first.
16:41
Get that, get that outside work experience and then if you
16:45
decide that you want to come join the family business, you've
16:48
got to work your way up, not just going to hand you the keys,
16:51
right? And I think that, you know, if
16:53
you guys continue to employ that, that methodology, it's
16:57
going to ensure, you know, the the future long term success of
17:01
the brand. You're not just throwing the
17:02
keys to somebody who's not ready for it.
17:04
Well, and I think that that's that's a key strategy for us is
17:07
it's when when I say we're about the food and the folks, it's
17:10
about really, really leaning into the BBQ legacy and also
17:15
making sure that we're doing business with the very best
17:18
folks out there, folks that share that passion, that really
17:22
want to be a part of the business.
17:24
And we only use the term franchise because folks are
17:27
familiar with it. For us, they're owner operators.
17:30
It is people that are passionate that want to own a BBQ
17:33
restaurant. We don't have Equity Partners.
17:35
We have true owner operators that are engaged and involved in
17:39
the brand because our food is a little more complicated than a
17:42
lot of folks might think of a restaurant or some other types
17:46
of cuisine are. You come in and you're doing a
17:49
smoke 12 to 14 hours a day to get a brisket or a pork butt
17:52
ready. You've got at least 4 hours on
17:54
your ribs. You've got to keep up with that
17:56
protein. There's an art and a science to
17:59
it that you really have to make sure everything that you serve
18:02
is smoked correctly and that takes a passion.
18:05
It takes wanting to be in there and smell like Hickory smoke
18:08
every day and it is wonderful, but it's a different level of
18:12
engagement and involvement than some other types of cuisine
18:16
might require from an owner operator.
18:20
So you mentioned that you've married into the family and
18:22
obviously we've already talked about, you know, some of your
18:24
external work experience. What was behind the decision for
18:28
you personally? Why did you want to come join
18:30
the the Dickey's? You know, I really thought when
18:33
Roland asked me to, to get involved with the business that
18:36
it would be a very short term engagement.
18:39
It was during the 2008, 2009 recession and it was actually
18:43
probably one of the top two or three most challenging times
18:47
that that we have had that I've certainly had in my career.
18:50
But Roland was at the point that he had come back.
18:53
That's my husband. So second, third generation at
18:55
the time, but he had been come back and was really running the
19:00
business now. And we hit this, this point and
19:03
we were about 8085 locations at the time.
19:08
And it was one of those moments where it's like, wow, nobody
19:12
quite knew what the economy was going to do and what the
19:15
business landscape was going to shake out and look like.
19:18
And so we had a lot of offers at that time to sell.
19:21
And he said, you know, what do you want to do?
19:23
And I'm like, why? I, I support what you want to
19:25
do, but I think this is, this is what you've always wanted to be
19:28
passionate about. I think we have to find a way to
19:30
do this. And he said, that's what I want.
19:33
I need you to quit your job and come help me.
19:36
And so again, I thought that would be.
19:38
Did you want to retract your answer at that point?
19:42
Take a minute is not exactly what I thought he would say, but
19:46
absolutely was what was required at the time because it was one
19:48
of those throw everything in the kitchen sink that you had at it
19:51
from a resources standpoint. This was one of those if we're
19:54
going to make it go, we have to double down, triple down.
19:57
You have to get there earlier, you have to stay later.
20:00
You have to find a solution through those challenges.
20:03
That was where I pulled in a lot of my community marketing
20:06
experience that I had learned from Chick-fil-A.
20:08
That was where we took what was looked like for the brand at the
20:12
time, maybe what the Oregon Trail game looked like from a
20:16
website and and developed it from a very, very SAT HTML dot
20:22
matrix type of website into an actual e-commerce site.
20:26
And so it just it required really rethinking everything we
20:30
were doing. So it it took definitely both of
20:33
us and looking at everything from the brands.
20:35
We made it through that challenging time and instead of
20:39
the shrinking, we grew and we grew considerably and had folks
20:44
that saw us do that through those challenging times going,
20:46
hey, if y'all can really double down and and not only make it
20:49
not only survive, but thrive, I want to be a part of that.
20:52
And so that was definitely a growth trajectory for us.
20:56
And so we made that. We made that through.
20:58
And then we also took a step back and said, OK, what would
21:01
have made this easier? You know, what could we have
21:03
done going into O eight O 9? Because you take every challenge
21:07
as an opportunity, right? And you go, once you've made it
21:09
through, what did I learn? How do I apply it?
21:12
How do I compound that interest? And we shrank the footprints of
21:17
the restaurants. So from going from a much
21:19
larger, you know, 3035 hundred square foot restaurant, we
21:23
shrank our footprint to 1800 to 2200 square feet, which was a
21:28
considerable adjustment. But it raises the economics
21:32
considerably, as you can imagine.
21:33
It also made us a lot more nimble to go in and be able to
21:36
serve communities that we had naturally and organically grown
21:40
into here in Dallas and in Texas.
21:42
But we could be in an in line or an end cap with a drive through.
21:45
You didn't have to be in a very expensive freestanding location
21:50
anymore and we we do still have some of those and they are great
21:53
locations, but we really found ways to be flexible.
21:57
So we reduced everything about the space.
22:02
We re engineered everything. Roland and I actually took and
22:05
built a restaurant and a warehouse and here and and
22:09
genuinely engineered every single piece of opening the
22:13
kitchen, showing off the pit, just redoing everything.
22:17
And that was a big part of it. But the other part was the
22:19
technology. The other part was we had such
22:21
good folks with such good data, such good information, but there
22:26
were disparate parts of data all over the company with their
22:29
respective teams. And we didn't have a nerve
22:31
center. We didn't have any sort of
22:34
business intelligence platform at the time that the term folks
22:38
were just starting to use was big data.
22:40
And big data and BBQ was not a thing at that time and certainly
22:44
not for us. So we started from the back of
22:46
the house and move forward and put that in place so that we
22:50
could share our knowledge. We could really have a culture
22:53
that was built around insights and data and making it
22:57
actionable. And so that the operations team
23:00
didn't know something the marketing team didn't.
23:02
And so the marketing team shared all of their insights from guest
23:06
feedback with the training team and with our owner operators.
23:09
And so that really was that push for us into being data-driven
23:15
and having a culture that evolved in that way.
23:17
And it all came from that challenge.
23:19
And that's really how and why I got involved in the brand and
23:23
then thought that I would always eventually move back out into
23:26
doing something independently. And I've missed a couple of the
23:29
wrong meetings and been demoted eventually to CEO.
23:34
OK. There's some really good stuff
23:36
there I want to unpeel. So one of the things that you
23:40
did, you guys redid the website, right, was a little bit
23:42
outdated. You turned it into something a
23:44
little bit more modern, useful. You mentioned that you leaned on
23:47
a lot of your community marketing experience that you
23:50
know, you gathered from your days with Chick-fil-A.
23:53
Say more about that. What did that look like in a
23:56
practical sense? You know, that was such a strong
23:58
brand. I was so lucky early on.
24:01
Another absolutely fantastic mentor that I got to have early
24:04
in life. I was Jerry Murray.
24:06
I still work with him, actually. He's a brand consultant for us
24:09
today, but he had Murray Brown branding and I, I interned for
24:13
him in college and then I also worked with the Richards Group
24:18
and worked for Glenn Gill, who later in his career actually
24:21
came back and worked with us here at Dickey's.
24:23
So having those two, those two forces of just marketing and
24:28
communication was really instrumental to me.
24:31
And in particular with the Chick-fil-A brand, they really
24:35
made an impression upon me about having a strong culture, about
24:38
being very, very, very community minded about giving back, that
24:42
it is not just about doing well, it's also about doing good.
24:46
And you have to have that in your brand's DNA.
24:49
And that's very organic to Dickey's.
24:51
It's very much how we have always been.
24:54
But we were able to formalize it through a community marketing
24:57
program where it was very intentional that every location
25:00
goes out and gets involved with their local schools.
25:03
Every location, every restaurant we have supports first
25:07
responders. We do that in partnership
25:09
through the Dickey Foundation. But it's very important to go
25:12
out and be a good steward in the community in which you're doing
25:16
business. And then that's also how you
25:18
make genuinely organic and authentic connections.
25:22
That's how you have folks that want to come and do catering
25:25
with you. That's how you build those
25:27
connections. So it's very symbiotic, but it's
25:30
very important. And so that definitely made an
25:32
impression on me that you intentionally have to go out and
25:36
invite folks every day to be your guest and then remind them
25:40
why you want to be be involved in the community and show that
25:45
commitment to where you're doing business.
25:49
So walk me through what that looks like in practical steps.
25:54
I want to be involved in the community.
25:55
Does that mean if there's like a little street fair, I'm setting
25:59
up a booth there and I'm handing out free samples, Does it mean
26:03
I'm going into the schools and doing pepper?
26:05
Like give me a sense of like what?
26:06
What does this look like? Those things it is really taking
26:09
all those different type of touch points in a community.
26:12
And I always say start with school, start with first
26:14
responders and then start with your business community.
26:17
How, whether that is a convention in Business Bureau or
26:21
whether that's the small Business Association, whatever
26:23
it is in that particular community, get involved.
26:28
Host meetings, have folks that are engaged, be a part of of the
26:33
business resources in the community.
26:36
Absolutely be a touch point. Have fundraisers for your
26:40
schools. Sponsor Little League teams,
26:43
sponsor anything to do with the local public schools.
26:48
Be involved in raffles. Do things to support first
26:51
responders, do food donations to 1st responders.
26:54
Do anything you possibly can. Anytime there is an opportunity
26:58
to go out and be involved, whether that is street fair or
27:04
an artist market or whatever it might be, go and do that and be
27:09
present in the community and get to know everybody.
27:11
Go. For us, it's taking our big
27:13
yellow cups and it is putting Be My Guest card in there and a
27:17
catering menu and a business card and it's handing them out.
27:20
And we do that every day. And then we call on folks and
27:23
invite them in to be potential catering guests.
27:27
So it's getting to know your business community and that
27:30
sounds very, very traditional and very analog, but that's so
27:34
necessary to pair that with the right digital strategy. 1 is not
27:39
merely as effective as when they're both paired together.
27:42
So I think having that, that kind of grass roots, that
27:45
genuinely personalized community piece is very important still in
27:49
branding today. What does the digital piece of
27:53
this look like today for Dickies?
27:56
It is gosh, it is. So for us it starts with our our
28:00
e-commerce. And so it's being it's built
28:03
around our our website, our online ordering.
28:07
And then that pulls folks into kind of our eco structure, if
28:11
you will, that pulls them into loyalty, that pulls them into
28:14
app that allows us to connect with them and activate them.
28:17
So that we have a very robust loyalty program where we're
28:20
constantly thanking folks for being our guest.
28:23
We're constantly inviting them back to be our guest again, if,
28:26
for example, they've lapsed for a little while.
28:29
Or it's knowing those guests on a personalized way because
28:31
they've shared their data with us, how they order, when they
28:34
order, why they order. So we can personalize offers for
28:37
them so that we can have that kind of digital connection in a
28:41
way that you might previously have gotten to know a guest
28:44
because they came into the restaurant personally.
28:46
Well, now you can see that in their data history when they're
28:48
willing to share that. So you can really create those
28:51
customized programs and offers and it's very, very, very
28:54
important to the business. Yeah.
28:57
I want to hear more about the tech that you put in place, you
28:59
know, the business intelligence that.
29:01
Can you give us an example of the like a piece of actionable
29:04
data that you were able to surface once you kind of got
29:08
these systems talking to each other?
29:10
It was taking and connecting not just our sales data, not just
29:14
our inventory and business data, but truly our guest data.
29:18
So it was looking at when folks were ordering, why they were
29:21
ordering, what channel they were ordering, if they were single
29:24
channel guests or they were multi channel guests.
29:28
That was also a very big insight is who's coming into the dining
29:31
room, how are they different or how often do they engage with
29:35
the brand in an online ordering sense?
29:38
It's really interesting to me that from our online ordering,
29:41
we are split evenly on our digital guests almost perfectly
29:45
between our carry out guests, those that will order online to
29:49
pick up versus those that will order online for delivery.
29:53
It's really fascinating to me that I thought naturally that
29:56
folks would just be ordering online for delivery at a greater
30:01
percentage than they are to pick up, but that's not the case.
30:03
They're using, so it seems their smartphone or wherever they are
30:09
at, usually the office or wherever they are before they
30:12
are going home and they just want to jump the line and have
30:14
that convenience, but they'll still go in and pick it up.
30:18
And so that was a really interesting insight to me when
30:20
we were truly able to see how our guests were engaging with
30:24
us. So then we can create offers and
30:26
products and packagings and invitations that really cater to
30:30
what they're interested in, not just what we hope they're
30:33
interested in or what we try and doesn't work.
30:35
Because certainly, you know, that is a method of business
30:38
building, but I'd rather have them tell us upfront.
30:41
And so it led to insights definitely in our packaging what
30:45
different how folks were wanting to to cater.
30:49
For example, we cater so significantly for groups of 15
30:54
to 25 people. We cater that size group more
30:58
than anything else. We do a lot larger, we do a lot
31:00
smaller. But we had always had family
31:02
packs in the store. And what we realized is that
31:05
where folks were coming in and buying two or three family packs
31:08
when what they wanted was an option that immediately went
31:11
right to that to that the group size.
31:15
And so that led to the invention of our big yellow box.
31:18
That was an easy portable box to pick up and it was a no mess.
31:23
Guests really wanted that type of convenience.
31:26
We have food that's really easy to cater.
31:28
It holds really well. It's a very high quality.
31:31
It has really good, really good reception with guests for folks
31:35
that that cater with us. But they wanted the ease of
31:39
coming in and having A to go packaging that was very little
31:42
set up, very little takedown. And so that that really was from
31:45
the data insight and seeing how guests were ordering and what
31:49
they wanted. And so that 15 to 25 group, I'm
31:53
guessing that's probably like a, a small party on the weekends or
31:56
it's like like an office like get together.
32:00
Tailgate those, but definitely that that size small parties
32:05
were there and so that's it. It was interesting to me because
32:08
again we have we had products on both sides of that, but what not
32:12
one that was geared directly to what we were seeing folks order
32:15
the most. So I don't know the exact stats,
32:20
but most franchises don't get to five locations, let alone 85
32:25
that you guys got to, you know, back in 2008, 2009.
32:29
When you kind of, you know, you hit some headwinds there.
32:33
When you get to that level of success, it's kind of natural to
32:36
think we're pretty smart. We've got a lot of things
32:38
figured out, right? Hey, we're, we're pretty cool.
32:42
But you guys had enough humility to say there's a better way
32:47
here. We need to take a step back and
32:49
we need to rethink some things in a big way.
32:52
And one of the things I love that you did is inside of a
32:55
warehouse you built, you know, an exact replica so that you
32:59
could move through the space and know, OK, we're, you know,
33:03
bringing in, you know, food from the truck.
33:05
OK, now we're taking it to the counter.
33:07
Now we're giving it to the the customer.
33:09
So you knew the exact footprint that that you could efficiently
33:15
operate within. And that opened up a lot of new
33:18
opportunities for you. You were a lot more efficient.
33:23
You're you're able to recoup your investment a lot faster
33:26
with a much smaller footprint and you opened up a lot of
33:30
additional real estate opportunities that couldn't have
33:33
existed for you. Before we have a mantra, it's
33:35
evolve or fail, and I absolutely so fundamentally believe in
33:39
that. You have to evolve or eventually
33:42
you were you will fail. You have to be humble enough to
33:45
go. I've been successful and I've
33:47
learned from that, but I could and should all always strive to
33:51
do better, to learn more. And that exercise of retooling
33:55
for us was not changing our core.
33:57
You know, we were still pit smoked on site, legit Texas BBQ.
34:02
We still had our core menu, but we had business opportunities.
34:06
We had the ability to go in and scrub everything to make sure
34:10
absolutely everything that made it into our kitchen, into our
34:13
footprint, into our equipment package, into our dining room,
34:17
into our decor, into the branding was necessary and had a
34:21
purpose. And that was that mantra.
34:23
If it didn't contribute to the success of the brand, pull it
34:26
out. There was no sacred cow, if you
34:30
will, about. Well, it's.
34:31
Always. But that's hard, Laura, when
34:34
you're trying to, I mean, you've got this legacy brand, it's been
34:36
in the family 3 generations and you're trying to make changes to
34:40
it. But at the same time, balance,
34:41
like staying true to your roots and who you were.
34:46
That's a balancing act. Like what can go, what has to
34:49
stay? Like how did you figure out what
34:51
has to stay you? Have to have a lot of good
34:54
relationships internally to be able to fight about those
34:56
things, which thankfully Roland and I did.
34:59
And I really all credit to his dad.
35:01
Mr. Dickey is one of my favorite people.
35:04
I always describe him that if I'm Winston Churchill and Rodney
35:08
Dangerfield had a baby, that's my father-in-law.
35:11
And he has. He's a sense of humor, and he
35:15
has. Oh, I've got to meet this guy.
35:18
He is just Paul Texas everything awesome, but he really has such
35:23
a sharp business mind. He is, he comes across as so
35:26
folksy and down to earth and he he is, but he, he and my
35:30
husband, they, they very, very much understand business and
35:34
numbers and can see things in that way.
35:37
But we were able and we were given the space and the
35:40
opportunity and the trust to do that.
35:42
Actually, I think that family saw that we were very committed
35:45
that we were all in and that we were we were looking forward and
35:49
going, you know, we cannot stay the same and expect the same
35:53
results in a landscape that's changing, right?
35:56
So that is that evolve or fail. That was not three years down
36:00
the road, but it was going to be 10/12/15 if we didn't invest in
36:06
digital. We were going to be lapped if we
36:08
didn't reduce our overhead costs.
36:10
We were not going to be a good investment any longer if we
36:14
didn't go back and look at how do we make sure that we know why
36:19
our guests love us, Not just think that we know why, but
36:22
deliver on that. You know, they're definitely
36:25
coming for the brisket. They're definitely coming for
36:27
the ribs. They're definitely coming, you
36:29
know, for that true Texas smoked on site BBQ.
36:33
But why are they coming back or why do they not come back?
36:37
And how do we, how do we fix that?
36:39
So that was in making sure that we expanded some of our sides,
36:42
that we had different sandwiches that, you know, we, we have a
36:45
one meat plate and A2 meat plate and a three meat plate.
36:47
And that's those are, you know, meats with sides.
36:50
But we had a whole sandwich opportunity.
36:52
We've expanded in the past couple of years since the
36:55
pandemic into having some southern, more southern inspired
36:59
menu expansion in crispy chicken and a crispy fried shake, crispy
37:03
fried steak and mashed potatoes with gravy.
37:07
And we've added those in. We have always had this
37:10
wonderful kiobasa solid sausage that is actually my father in
37:23
And so we have this craft sausage business and we have
37:27
also then expanded that into the Dicky Dog and offering it on and
37:33
a hot dog bun in the restaurant. And it was doing some of those
37:35
things to make sure that we stayed relevant to younger
37:39
folks. We wanted to make sure that we
37:42
continued to evolve and attract with how folks, especially
37:47
younger folks that may have gone to the brand with their parents
37:51
or their grandparents, but they themselves wanted to come on
37:53
their own. And so it was doing those type
37:55
of menu innovations or adding smoked wings.
37:58
We have phenomenal pit smoked wings, and they're very popular,
38:02
but that was an intentional addition to the menu to bring in
38:06
younger guests. I can always tell in general the
38:10
average age of a guest by what they're ordering.
38:13
And our younger guests order chicken.
38:16
Far and away. They order more chicken.
38:18
Our older guests order more brisket.
38:21
And while that's a generalization, I can always
38:23
tell when that's happening. And so you see those patterns
38:27
and you just want to make sure that you stay up with that.
38:30
I think it's very important to always be humble, aware of where
38:33
your success is, but also aware of where you can lose that
38:37
success if you don't continue to evolve and keep up with it.
38:42
COVID was another really difficult time in the
38:44
hospitality industry. During that time, you guys
38:47
launched virtual concepts, new menu items.
38:51
Can you kind of walk us through the brainstorming process that
38:55
went on behind the scenes? That's probably hands down the
38:58
second, the second hardest time of my career, and it was
39:02
certainly that deeply unexpected situation for everybody.
39:05
That was one of those times where we were all so thankful we
39:09
had the proprietary technology that we had.
39:13
So we had our digital infrastructure so that we could
39:17
be incredibly nimble. It allowed us to keep serving
39:20
continuously throughout the pandemic in almost all of our
39:23
locations. And if we hadn't had our own
39:26
online ordering, our own app, our own loyalty, if we hadn't
39:29
been able to be incredibly nimble and responsive to each
39:33
different communities requirements and rules and needs
39:38
at the time, we really would not have been able to do as as well
39:42
as we did. And it was very challenging at
39:43
first, but we were able to pivot and be flexible.
39:47
And so we leaned in to ecommerce and then we were able to keep
39:52
our to go ordering so folks could come in for pickup.
39:55
So we we were able to serve folks.
39:57
We were one of the first brands that did a doorstep delivery.
40:00
So you had no contact delivery. But we were able to do that
40:03
because we controlled our own digital assets.
40:06
And so we weren't dependent on someone else having to come up
40:08
with that. We could just immediately be
40:10
responsive and do those those types of things.
40:13
In fact, I will never forget we had six.
40:17
We have a line extension of sauces.
40:20
On the way to every location as our marketing promotion at the
40:24
time and it was going to be self-serve sauces so that they
40:27
could customize from our original BBQ sauce and our spicy
40:31
and our sweet to three other sauces.
40:33
And that sounds wonderful until you're sitting in the middle of
40:36
a pandemic where nobody is wanting to share or touch
40:39
anything anymore. And so that was definitely one
40:42
of those situations where we had to be deeply responsive and make
40:46
those adjustments. We went from a lettuce from a
40:49
self-serve to a lettuce get that for you culture.
40:51
We adjusted our packaging yet again.
40:54
We also had to take a look at all of our suppliers.
40:58
We have some absolutely wonderful legacy relationships,
41:01
legacy suppliers that are very important.
41:03
But in particular, for example, with our sausage, we just could
41:07
not get product consistently during that time.
41:11
So we ended up having to build a USDA license facility and our
41:15
manufacturing that ourselves now and that came out of the
41:18
pandemic because we had such a need and such a growth which was
41:23
good. But but in order to sustain
41:25
those things, you have to have consistency and quality and
41:28
consistency and availability and you just have to have that.
41:32
So we really worked through a lot of product shortages and
41:36
challenges, but also because we had our own digital assets, we
41:40
were able to communicate with guests about what was in stock,
41:43
what wasn't, what was changing. So that was also something that
41:46
our guests really appreciated. And so that that just really
41:49
kind of built a lot of of trust and connection with the brand
41:54
because we were able to be there for folks, especially in those
41:57
early days that were needing to supplement the grocery store
42:00
because the grocery stores alone couldn't keep up.
42:02
You definitely saw that it that it, it takes both restaurants
42:05
and grocery retail to get folks through.
42:09
And so that you know, there was a lot of challenge, but a lot of
42:12
good that came out of that for the brand.
42:15
And some of those innovations where where we had to self solve
42:19
and set us on the path where we had been making our own sauce
42:23
and spice in Texas for a long time for the brand and then used
42:27
that manufacturing knowledge to build out the protein production
42:31
facilities. So you still maintain and own
42:36
your own facility where you're preparing all the proteins and
42:40
then you are distributing them to the franchisees worldwide
42:44
and. Not all of our proteins in
42:46
particular are sausages and some of our brisket prep and ribs.
42:50
So not all of the proteins, but are very core proprietary
42:54
sausages we do. What was the most challenging
42:59
aspect of transitioning from CIO to CEO?
43:03
I'm making sure that I always have the big picture in mind.
43:10
You know, we, we lead with the food and the folks.
43:12
So it's always being mindful of our owner operators, it's always
43:15
being mindful of our guests. But for several years my focus
43:19
was the digital piece of the brand.
43:23
It was the e-commerce, it was all the data, it's all the
43:26
connection points. It's our training platform
43:28
online and it was making sure that I was equally aware of all
43:34
the other pieces of the brand and not just defaulting back to
43:38
where I was very comfortable for the past two years.
43:40
So I think making sure that that I was very aware of the other
43:45
parts of the brand that while I had been involved didn't have my
43:48
direct attention in that way for several years.
43:53
Tell us about Sparks, the hospitality technology company.
43:57
What is? This and that's that was really
43:59
as a result of that 08/09 and needing better data and needing
44:05
to control our own assets. You know, we're one of those
44:08
brands that it's, if we always go through a build or buy
44:11
program with everything we do, can we buy it or can we build it
44:15
better for our needs. And that's really what we found
44:18
with our technology is there's an ocean of great tech out there
44:22
for restaurants. But very specifically what we
44:24
need and continue to need is flexibility that is catered so
44:30
directly to us. We're a high protein.
44:32
We can have high food cost if it's not very tightly managed.
44:35
And so we need just that additional customization in our
44:39
tech. And so that's what we built and
44:42
we built that for the brand and we rolled that out and again,
44:45
started with data and then kind of worked from the back of the
44:48
house all the way to the front of the house from our what we
44:51
literally called Technology in a Box or TIB program is that we
44:56
had, you know, legacy restaurants that were out there
44:58
that if they could still have used an Abacus or a calculator,
45:04
they would have because they had been able to function that way.
45:09
So it was convincing folks that make that change is good and
45:13
that again, that evolved so we don't fail peace.
45:16
And so it was getting everybody in that kind of ocean of
45:20
disparate technology that was out of the brand to be
45:23
consistent, to see value in it, to go through the painful part
45:27
process of training on it. You know, a lot of folks are in
45:29
the restaurant business because they don't want to be in the
45:33
technology business or a traditional off the space.
45:36
And so coming in with technology going, hey guys, I know we're
45:40
BBQ, but was definitely a hard sell early on.
45:44
And then and then folks have definitely started to see the
45:46
value. And now it's just so part and
45:48
pulse part and of the of the culture really that they
45:53
couldn't imagine doing business without, you know, pulling up
45:55
their smokestack dashboard and seeing all their metrics and
45:58
seeing all their numbers and having all that served.
46:01
And you know that that very much wasn't wasn't the case 1517
46:05
years ago. It was just that, evolution.
46:09
So this is tech just for the Dickey's?
46:11
Brand, private label, we do that as well.
46:14
OK, so other folks can access this and and if folks are
46:17
listening and they want access to this, what's the website
46:19
where they? Can definitely go to
46:21
sparkhospitalitytechnology.com, OK?
46:25
Laura, I'd like to hear about a serious challenge that you've
46:28
overcome. We've already talked about a
46:30
couple of them, right? We've talked about COVID.
46:32
We talked about 2008, 2009. Maybe this one is another
46:35
professional one. Maybe it's a personal one or,
46:38
you know, somehow the two of them coming together.
46:40
What was that like? I can.
46:41
Tell you my least favorite day ever at the office was when I
46:46
had just taken over as CIO actually.
46:49
And it's one of those things where you you can see the
46:53
challenge coming even though you know that it's there.
46:56
But if I had only seen it literally a few days before, I
47:01
probably wouldn't have had such a challenging day.
47:03
But it was the day I had to explain to my husband and my
47:05
father-in-law what the crypto locker virus was and why we had
47:10
it and why we had to adjust protocols for folks bringing
47:15
data in. So we had and had a team member
47:19
that was a great team member doing their job.
47:21
They brought in an outside USB. It had the virus on it.
47:26
So we we we lost a considerable amount of of data there.
47:31
Real quick, for folks who weren't familiar with the virus,
47:33
what did they? Do so that's it's basically like
47:35
a Trojan horse virus that comes in downloads and then freezes
47:39
access to your data, your files, unless you want to to pay them
47:43
to release it, which we did not. That is not our culture to do
47:47
that. So, so thankfully where the
47:49
virus was, was in a lot of our marketing assets and not the
47:53
other part of our system. But we still did spend almost
47:57
two years rebuilding a lot of our creative assets that we just
48:01
lost access to. But it was one of those things
48:05
that was such a learning lesson to me about constantly talking
48:09
to folks about the opportunity and the potential challenges
48:14
with technology and why you have to be so vigilant about
48:17
education and so understanding of folks that they might not
48:21
have the same visibility into those type of threats.
48:25
So you constantly have to do security training, you
48:28
constantly have to do all of your antivirus, You constantly
48:31
have to do all of that because we're, you know, we're in a
48:34
people business and the opportunity for, for someone to
48:40
unknowingly bring in something into your digital environment is
48:44
just so right there. So you constantly have to
48:46
educate on that piece. And that was not my favorite day
48:50
as CIO, but a valuable learning 1.
48:54
And it definitely has led to our continued development and
48:57
informed a lot of how we house our data and a lot of how we use
49:01
micro services on the back end and how we separate everything
49:04
and how we we really engage that not only on the front end.
49:08
Do we hope that never happened? But if it does, it's a very
49:11
limited scope of a situation or anything like that.
49:15
You say it's not your favorite day, but it wasn't just a day
49:19
like as I just heard you say, it was a couple of years that you
49:21
spent rebuilding some of these assets.
49:23
One particular conversation where I had to explain that, and
49:26
that's one of those where you know, when you're you're married
49:29
to your business partner and and you go home for dinner, that's
49:32
definitely taking work home that day.
49:37
Were there any, I don't know, people outside the business that
49:41
you were able to lean on as a resource during this time,
49:44
people that kind of talk you through, give you some
49:47
suggestions, give you a pep talk?
49:49
That is definitely reaching back to my mentor, Jerry Murray of
49:53
all time. He has just been one of the
49:55
greatest resources of my career. I count him as a personal
49:58
friend. I love that he is still involved
50:00
in the brand. I literally went to work for
50:03
Jerry when I was 19 and now at, you know, almost 46 and still
50:08
working with him and he is there for us and, and helps guide
50:13
everything. And I don't think I've ever had
50:16
a professional challenge where I wasn't able to go back to him
50:20
who gave me my first, as I would call it, adult paycheck job when
50:24
I was in college as an intern and was getting to send out
50:29
press releases for him by mail. And, and do those sorts of
50:33
things that I haven't sought his counsel and his advice.
50:38
And he's a such a good mentor. But he really also very early on
50:43
helped shape and inform my business values.
50:47
And that no matter what, at the end of the day, if we don't
50:50
remember we're in a people business, we're not going to be
50:52
in business for long. It's so great to have access to
50:57
mentors and the peer groups that can help support you and and
51:00
guide you and offer that advice. How about a favorite book or
51:04
podcast that you'd recommend? To others we I am such a reader
51:09
and love reading. I I read usually at least I try
51:16
to do a book a week. Some there's my favorite book.
51:19
It's so hard to narrow that down.
51:22
I love radical candor. If I were to recommend a
51:24
business book for someone, I think Radical Candor by Kim
51:27
Scott. Fantastic podcast series.
51:31
Actually, my husband Roland does a series where he's always
51:35
talking about his business podcast that he listens to.
51:38
So we do a lot of of business podcasts and.
51:44
Well. He does he does BBQ books and
51:47
business is his podcast and and then that's pulling from a lot
51:51
of the founders podcast that are fantastic.
51:54
Love that series. I'll actually love the
51:55
franchising 101 series is really good to to listen to that.
52:00
If I'm also just going to to take a break and step outside of
52:03
business. I love the true the true crime
52:06
podcast. I will will really enjoy those
52:09
or anything history. We do a lot of history, a lot of
52:12
history reading and enjoy that quite a bit.
52:16
How about daily practices that help get you started and keep
52:20
you on? Track.
52:20
It's an ounce of coffee, but it's seriously I read or listen
52:27
to something every day outside of what I'm required to do for
52:30
functioning in business, and I think that's it.
52:32
I think having a curious mind is the most important thing,
52:36
whether it's on the way to work, whether it's, you know, after
52:41
work. But it's an intentional time
52:43
that I spend at least an hour of day reading.
52:46
And if I can, then I'll squeeze in at least another 30 minutes
52:49
of some sort of podcast where I'm learning something.
52:52
And so I think that's really important.
52:54
How are you finding the resources that you want to read?
52:59
And I asked this from a personal perspective too.
53:03
With everything going on, I prefer to not spend a lot of
53:05
time doom scrolling through news.
53:08
But I'm, you know, similarly wired to you and where I want to
53:11
take in some new information, some new ideas and so maybe give
53:15
some suggestions where can we find that kind of stuff?
53:17
I think where I have found that is the ability to do that on
53:21
social media in different book groups.
53:23
So I'll do that on Instagram, I'll do it on Facebook, and I'll
53:25
do it on Goodreads. So I'm looking at suggestions
53:29
from folks that have the same reading interests that I do.
53:33
And then also I love the suggestions that actually just
53:36
naturally come up on Amazon and on my Kindle for me.
53:40
And on Audible, a lot of really their, their algorithm is as
53:44
outstanding. They know exactly what I'm
53:46
consuming. And so they're, they're serving
53:48
up like authors, like like subjects.
53:51
So it's it, that definitely is where I find a lot of that
53:54
material. And then actually just Roland
53:57
is, he's always, if there is something history based that he
54:01
can find, we will end up listening to it or watching a
54:05
documentary on it or I will end up getting a book about it for
54:09
Christmas or something along those lines.
54:13
I think maybe that's where I need to change my strategy I'm
54:15
looking for. I've been looking for more short
54:17
form and I think if I go to long form books, ebooks, audio books,
54:23
I'm going to find a lot more choices there that are probably
54:25
going to suit what I'm looking for in terms of the.
54:28
Cost, I think so. And then when you when you find
54:30
that, then the algorithm adjusts and then kind of filters back.
54:34
And so that's, that's where then you can go, oh, and I can find
54:37
this in in summary, or I can find this in a Cliff Notes
54:40
version or or what something similar.
54:46
Laura, I've just got one more question for you, but before I
54:48
ask it, I want to do 2 things. First of all, I'm going to
54:50
invite everyone to hit the follow or subscribe button on
54:53
their favorite podcast app. This has been a wonderful
54:55
interview today with Laura. She's been a fantastic guest.
54:58
There will be more to come, and I want to make sure that
55:00
everybody gets their hands on that.
55:02
I also want to let people know the best way either to get in
55:05
touch with you personally or to continue to follow your story or
55:09
the brand story. Where would you like to point?
55:10
At dickies.com. So absolutely the very best
55:13
place is dickies.com and then and the second place would be
55:19
dickiesfranchise.com. Those two places you can connect
55:22
with me directly. You can connect with the brand
55:25
also on social media, on Instagram, BBQ books and
55:30
business is the the other way to get a hold of Roland and I and
55:34
and we love to share that. Barbecue books and business and
55:38
Dickey's for everybody listening that doesn't have access to the
55:41
visual of the show now Dickey's is spelled Dickey.
55:45
Let's make sure you get the correct spelling.
55:47
Yeah. And so, OK, last question for
55:51
you, Laura, as you look to the future, you guys have already
55:54
seen so much incredible growth that, you know, that period of
55:57
2008, 2009, when you were at, I think you know, roughly 85
56:02
locations. Now you've 10X that, you know,
56:06
what are we 17 years later? What has you most excited about
56:11
the future and future growth as you look forward?
56:13
Where is this brand go it's going?
56:15
To continue to grow and I think that that's what I'm most
56:17
excited about is that we have seen and are seeing that
56:21
recovery. So post pandemic, for two years,
56:24
I think the restaurant industry, a lot of folks were able to
56:27
recover during the pandemic. But the prolonged kind of
56:31
economic challenges that everyone has faced and seen,
56:35
high inflation, high wages, all of those sorts of things have
56:39
just left folks less comfortable with spending money on going out
56:44
to eat on everything in general. But in particular where they may
56:47
have spent most of their money during the pandemic because
56:50
that's all they could spend it on.
56:51
They definitely took a step back from spending it as much going
56:55
out to eat in restaurants. And we are definitely now seeing
56:58
the swing back to kind of more normalized dining, more
57:03
normalized frequency. All of those things are moving
57:06
in, in the right direction. We're just seeing a lot of those
57:09
economic indicators at at the other types of recovery points
57:13
that we've seen. So I'm very, very excited about
57:16
that. I'm always more comfortable when
57:18
our guests are more comfortable spending more money, right.
57:21
And so that's good. But also the the interest that
57:24
we have in new markets, not in our international growth.
57:28
We are absolutely exploding in Canada in a wonderful way.
57:31
So I love that they have a palette for Texas BBQ that's
57:37
wonderful. But also our our domestic
57:40
expansion. So we're still very much growing
57:43
here in the States. And then also just our
57:47
additional brands that we're able to do with our our trailer
57:50
Birds brand, I'm very excited about.
57:52
I think we'll see a lot of growth with that brand as well.
57:55
That's one. Of our virtual brands that we
57:58
had that we're actually now taking that into brick and
58:00
mortar because it has done so well from a virtual brand
58:04
standpoint. And so we're excited about that.
58:08
But what is it and and how can people find it?
58:10
And what does it mean to be a virtual brand?
58:12
Is a brand that's either in a ghost kitchen or that operates
58:15
outside of the kitchen of another restaurant.
58:17
So when it doesn't have, you can find that direct delivery or you
58:21
can find it through a third party vendor.
58:24
And so it exists as a brand. And that really came over from
58:28
being very popular in Asia and Singapore.
58:31
And a lot, a lot of those countries have a lot of virtual
58:34
brands that don't have a traditional dining room type of
58:39
a setting. So we were able to adopt that
58:41
during the pandemic. And so that's where we're now
58:44
seeing that kind of continued growth with that brand and we're
58:48
very excited to open in the coming year some true brick and
58:52
mortar locations for that. So it's been a wonderful.
58:55
So this is hot Nashville style chicken.
58:57
Is that what it is? OK, all right.
59:01
And are there actual locations, physical locations available now
59:04
today or that's still Dallas? Is we've opened our first here
59:07
in Dallas and then we have an expansion path for there.
59:10
So I'm very excited about that. And then I'm excited about
59:14
Dickey's where we we have this extension in our menu, in our
59:18
core menu there where we've been able to add in the crispy
59:22
chicken and some of those new menu items.
59:24
And seeing that bring in new folks to the brand is always
59:26
wonderful. That's terrific.
59:29
Well, Laura, I want to be the first one to thank you for
59:31
sharing both your time and your story with us today.
59:33
I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me,
59:35
Anthony. I appreciate it.
59:37
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
59:40
podcast. Thanks for learning with us
59:41
today.