The barbecue franchisor will soon be available through cloud kitchens nationwide.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, the legacy restaurant franchisor founded in 1941, has announced a partnership with ghost kitchen provider Combo Kitchen to develop Dickey’s ghost kitchens nationwide across the U.S.
This partnership allows a potential operator to open their own Dickey’s by utilizing Combo Kitchen’s ghost kitchen franchise model, and the partnership extends to the Wing Boss and Big Deal Burgers brands as part of the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit family.
Through this partnership, Combo Kitchen expects to expand Dickey’s 550-plus footprint by at least 100 locations within the next year.
“Partnering with Dickey’s provides our franchisees with the opportunity to profit off of a proven and established brand that customers instantly recognize, unlike most ordinary ghost kitchens offering virtual brands” said Combo Kitchen CEO, Hossein Kasmai.
“With the need for brand recognition campaigns essentially eradicated, offering a brand like Dickey’s as a virtual concept gives restaurant owners or investors the key ingredient to operating a successful ghost kitchen.”
Combo Kitchen allows restaurant owners and entrepreneurs to select from a variety of established brands for placement in new or existing restaurants, offered for takeout and delivery only. Restaurant owners can take advantage of their kitchen space by adding established brands to their restaurants as ghost kitchens.
Operating entirely behind the scenes and without disruption of their typical operations, this allows them to instantly increase their restaurant’s revenue. Investors without an existing restaurant can open a ghost kitchen from scratch featuring a variety of Combo Kitchen’s network brands.
Ghost kitchens are an emerging trend in the restaurant industry that has only been accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimates put the global ghost kitchen’s market value at $1tr by 2030.
“Combo Kitchen is a unique franchising opportunity which allows us flexibility to enter new markets at a much lower build cost for operators,” said Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickey’s Capital Group “Interest among new and existing franchisees combined with utilizing the convenience provided by Combo Kitchen, Dickey’s can capitalize on the rapidly growing delivery market and add new ways to serve our guests Texas-style barbecue.”
