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Dickey's Barbecue Pit coming to Porterville
Restaurant to move into Screaming Moose building
A new barbecue joint — one of the country’s largest quick-serve barbecue chains to be exact — is coming to Main Street.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit will move into the former Screaming Moose location at 73 N. Main St. and will be owned and operated by Ed Phillips.
This is the second franchise for Phillips, former owner of Porterville’s Pizza Factory on Henderson Avenue and current owner of Cherry Tree Catering.
“I like their concept, it’s a fast-casual type food and I believe it’s a money maker,” Phillips said Wednesday, noting that he has been to Dickey’s in Southern California and in Dallas, Texas, where the chain is headquartered.
Phillips, a retired CalFire battalion chief who’s been in the restaurant business for approximately 10 years, said he had looked into establishing a barbecue restaurant for quite some time and settled for Dickey’s.
The sit-down restaurant known for its hot pit-smoked meats, complimentary ice cream and big yellow cups will employ about 20 people, and is expected to open on Jan. 15, 2012.
When asked why he chose the downtown location, Phillips said he really liked the brick building and the inside “just screams barbecue to me.”
“We were also looking for a good location and I had talked to the landlord some time ago about moving my catering business there, so I knew it was there. And when this thing came up, I just grabbed the opportunity,” he said.
City Community Development Director Brad Dunlap said he found out about the move about one week ago.
“We’ve been really anxious to see something go back into the old Screaming Moose location,” Dunlap said.
The space, he added, was renovated from retail into restaurant and has been vacant for about three years.
“It’s something we’ve been real interested in seeing happen and hearing that its a franchise of a pretty well established restaurant chain is pretty exciting,” he said.
The first Dickey’s Barbecue opened in 1941 in Dallas, Texas and franchising began in 1994.
There are more than 170 Dickey’s locations operating nation-wide, with at least 10 scheduled to open before the end of 2011.
“It will be fun. It’s always something new and exciting and it’s kind of a challenge to do these things and make them work,” Phillips’ wife, Claudia Phillips, said.
Contact Denise Madrid at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or dmadrid@portervillerecorder.com.
