The next revolution of the restaurant industry has arrived: digital platforms are providing opportunity to operators allowing them to increase revenue by maximizing unused kitchen space. On this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends podcast, I chat with Laura Rea Dickey, chief executive officer of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey shares some history on the brand and says, “Dickey's is first and foremost it is legit texas barbecue. That's what we've endearingly been for 80 years. It is all about the food and the folks.” Adding, “You know we still have our original restaurant here in Dallas Texas that opened in 1941 we are the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Dallas that has never changed names, changed locations, changed ownerships, and we're still serving there today.”

Dickey said she initially joined the company as a consultant, served as chief information officer and currently serves as chief executive officer. Dickey’s background was in the marketing and technology field. When we spoke about her role as CEO she says, “So that's currently what I do which is really like just being a head hall monitor, which is making sure we have the right folks in the right place to do it right.”

We talk about Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants getting into the virtual brand space, Dickey says, “it was definitely accelerated by the pandemic. You know we had been partnering with folks and looking into markets internationally for some time. We had our locations in the UAE and we had a wonderful partner join us in Singapore and as we'd entered that market in Singapore and then Japan it was something that was there already and certainly very embraced in the asian market.”

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants added three new virtual concepts, Wing Boss, Big Deal Burger, and Trailer Birds in addition to Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. Dickey shares a bit about the testing and launching process saying, “we took the virtual concepts and ran those for ninety days before we brought any potential existing owner operator in, and then we invited them to come test.” Dickey talks about the challenges in launching the brands, she says, that supply chain as well as technology needed to be addressed. I asked her about a takeaway when launching brands, Dickey says, “I think first and foremost it always starts with the food.”

To learn more about Dickey’s Barbecue virtual brand platforms, insights on off-premise, and a cookbook Dickey co-authored with her husband listen to this episode of Ghost Kitchen Trends