Dickey’s BBQ Could Close More Locations in 2025 (Will Yours Be One?)

The restaurant industry continues to struggle, and Dickey's Barbecue Pit is not immune.

Almost 100 Dickey's Barbecue Pit locations were closed or sold during the last fiscal year ending in May 2024. By December, the Texas-style barbecue chain shut down 30 more locations. As of June 2025, that leaves around 304 locations across the country still open for business, according to their website.

Restaurants are becoming increasingly aware that today's diners are struggling to go out to eat more on a limited budget. And with nearly half of the franchisees of Dickey's Barbecue Pit either closed or sold, could more be coming in 2025? Here's what we know about the state of the restaurant.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit was founded in 1941 in Dallas, Texas. It took more than 50 years for the restaurant to begin franchising, and by 2012, it was dubbed the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the U.S by Technomic. 

Customers love the meat smoked on-site, which uses wood-burning hickory pits to create a rich barbecue flavor. Their menu also offers home-style sides like fried okra, barbecue beans, and green beans with bacon that taste like they came from a home picnic. 

Dickey's operates eight different brands, including Wing Boss, Big Deal Burger, Trailer Birds, and Barbecue at Home.

The 2024 struggles could largely be a result of declining sales. According to Eat This, Not That, system sales decreased 5.2% last year, although Dickey's told the outlet that they achieved five of their highest sales days ever within the last four years.

And along with closing many physical locations, nearly all of Dickey's virtual restaurants will stop expanding.  

Virtual restaurants or "ghost kitchens" rose to prominence during the pandemic as a way for restaurateurs to start their own pop-up, to-go location without all of the hefty operating costs of a sit-down eatery. 

However, some ghost kitchen owners reported steep fees and costs, according to a December 2024 Restaurant Business article.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit may be struggling financially, but honing in on the success of its subsidiaries could be the future. Wycliff Douglas Provisions could help the company pivot from franchising restaurants to selling food products. WDP is a meat processing company that delivers ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meats to restaurants, retail stores, and private-label clients.

Nation's Restaurant News reporting of Technomic's numbers said that WDP was "registering a 105% year-over-year increase in sales and a 200% increase in its customer base. WDP has also extended its shipping beyond Texas to all U.S. markets."

Alternatively, Restaurant Business reported in December 2024 that for the recent fiscal year, sales for the company's overall subsidiaries decreased by 9% in tandem with franchise-related royalties.

"The company relies nearly as much on selling products to operators as it does on taking franchise royalties, according to the FDD," Restaurant Business said in December 2024.

Moving forward, the company may find potential growth in subsidiaries like WDP, instead of opening new sit-down or virtual restaurants.

Families struggling to move beyond living paycheck to paycheck have little choice but to cut pleasures such as dining out from their budgets.  And Dickey's Barbecue Pit is far from the only restaurant chain that has faced financial challenges in the past few years as a result. 

Places like Red Lobster, White Castle, Boston Market, and other recognizable brands have struggled to stay relevant to American diners.