Dixie Lee Fried Chicken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dixie Lee Food Systems Ltd | |
 |
|
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1964 in Belleville, Ontario |
| Headquarters |  Belleville, Ontario, Canada |
| Key people | Dave Silvester, President Ann Williamson, Office Manager Paul Dayton, Operations Department Peter Mason, Operations Department Ron Silvestri, Financial controller |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Chicken Clams strips Macaroni Salad Salads (Ontario)[2] Chicken Wrap Sandwiches (Ontario)[2] |
| Revenue |  $55 million CND (2006) |
| Employees | 1000 (est) |
| Slogan | Le poulet frit, Dixie Lee! (8) (Atlantic and Gaspé Peninsula) If you like Chicken, You'll Love Dixie Lee (Other locations)[1] |
| Website | dixieleechicken.com |
Dixie Lee is a typical fried chicken fast-food restaurant which was founded in Belleville, Ontario in 1964. Mr. Silvester is the president of the privately held company. He started in the business in 1970 as an owner/operator of a single Dixie Lee outlet in Castlegar, British Columbia. He then acquired a Dixie Lee Area Franchise for British Columbia where he opened and sold 17 franchises. After developing British Columbia, he was successful in purchasing the Dixie Lee franchise parent company in 1979. This facilitated Mr. Silvester's move to Dixie Lee's Head Office in Belleville, Ontario. He was responsible for developing Dixie Lee from 8 stores in Ontario to more than 50 stores by 1987.
Today, Dixie Lee has more than 75 stores in Canada with sales in excess of 55 million dollars per year. Dixie Lee is ranked by the Food and Hospitality Industry as the 4th largest chicken franchise company in Canada.[3]
[edit] Franchise coverage
His restaurants now also cover New Brunswick and British Columbia a well as some parts of Quebec (Gaspésie). Expansion plans were made to bring Dixie to the United states, with 1 store already opened and 7 more to come in the next 2 years.[3]
The first Dixie Lee restaurant in New Brunswick opened its doors in Caraquet, New Brunswick and used to be where Cinéma Vidéo is now situated, next the the Enfant-Jésus hospital and the Petro Canada gas station. It then moved to a bigger building in the mid-90's, where the Greenberg clothing store used to be. Dixie Lee locations nearby, such as in Shippagan, Tracadie-Sheila and then in Lamèque also opened. The Tracadie-Sheila location is one of the biggest Dixie Lee restaurant in New-Brunswick, and one of the first to include a drive-thru.
A new one in Moncton recently reopened. Some sources say the location shut down its doors due to bad management, while others pretend that the high price/quality ratio was a major part of the failure. This location also has a drive-thru service that will, according to recent news, never be in service. This building was previously owned by Dairy Queen before they moved to their new location further down Mountain Road, next to Boston Pizza and Princess Auto.
The Dixie Lee franchise in Bathurst, New Brunswick is known for its immense popularity among teenagers and university students once bars close. Few youth in the area haven't made a late night run to the restaurant, and an ongoing joke in the area is that no Friday night is complete without a trip to Dixie Lee.
[edit] Non-uniformity of the taste
The biggest complaint from customers is mainly about certain disparities regarding the taste of certain items of the menu itself. Even though they serve about the same menu, the food served at each location does not always taste the same. For example, the clams strips sold at the Shediac location come from the local coast, while some other locations serve clams strips that you can find in any grocery store. Also, the recipes of the coleslaw and the macaroni salad may vary greatly between restaurants. Some comments from this web site show that the taste of the food prepared in the Maritimes' locations is better than in Ontario. [4] A lot of customers also admits that the franchises in the Acadian Peninsula (New Brunswick) have a certain variation in the quality of the food, regardless on how close they are geographically.
There is speculation of Dixie Lee in alberta
[edit] References
- ^ Dixie Lee Official web site. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ a b Dixie Lee Chicken franchise opportunity. Purchase a Dixie Lee Chicken fast food business.. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ a b Dixie Lee Official history page. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Ottawa XPress - Food - Dixie Lee. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
