# Dickey’s Barbecue Pit-Customer Feedback Study

## Analysis for Consumer Brands, Restaurants, and Hotels

## Zach Blatt
Zach Blatt is the founder and owner of RightBid. He has been featured in Business Insider, SeekingAlpha, and Internet Retailer. He graduated in 2011 from Dartmouth College with Honors in Economics for his research paper "Price Dispersion as a Function of _Market Structure in Online Retail_ which was the impetus for RightBid’s founding.

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### Fast Casual Barbecue Themed Chain
- Based in Dallas, TX in 1941
- Over 500 locations in over 40 states
- Primarily Franchised
- Substantial Catering Business

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### Customer Review Data
- 5,597 Dickey’s Reviews Collected from TripAdvisor, Yelp!, Foursquare, and Others
- 15,725 reviews collected for Rudy’s and Smokey Bones
- Collected reviews from 173 Dickey’s restaurants
  - Median Location Rating of 3.63
  - Avg. 2015 Rating of 3.57
  - Avg. Subratings: Food (3.90), Service (3.92), Value (3.62), Atmosphere (3.63)

### Highest Rated Locations
1. Panama City, FL (4.5)
1. Clarksville, TN (4.5)
1. Beckley, WV (4.5)
1. Richfield, UT (4.5)
5. Myrtle Beach, SC (4.28)  
### Lowest Rated Locations
1. Kent, WA (2.60)
2. Sandy, UT (2.72)
3. Oklahoma City, OK (2.74)
4. South Lebanon, OH (2.81)
5. Richmond, VA (2.84)

### State Level Ratings
| STATE | N | RATING |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TX | 22 | 3.42 |
| CA | 21 | 3.47 |
| NC | 9 | 3.70 |
| FL | 7 | 3.93 |
| UT | 7 | 3.77 |
| PA | 7 | 3.66 |
| WA | 7 | 3.09 |
| CO | 6 | 3.67 |

### Historical Customer Ratings
- Dickey's Quarterly Customer Ratings Since 2013
- Dickey's Monthly Customer Ratings (12/14-12/15)

### Historical Review Counts
- Dickey's Monthly Review Counts (14-12/15)

### Comparables Customer Ratings
- Rudy's Monthly Customer Ratings (12/14-12/15)
- Smokey Bones' Monthly Customer Ratings (12/14-12/15)

### Average Ratings
| | Locations | Reviews | Reviews Per Location | Avg. Rating |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DICKEYS | 173 | 5,597 | 32 | 3.63 |
| RUDYS | 35 | 9,208 | 263 | 4.30 |
| SMOKEY | 12 | 6,517 | 543 | 4.00 |

### Word Counts - Dickey's
| WORD | FREQ | 2015_FREQ | 2014_FREQ | AVG_RTG | 2015_RTG | 2014_RTG | CHANGE |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TOTAL | 5,103 | 2,057 | 1,269 | 3.63 | 3.57 | 3.68 | -0.11 |
| good | 36.65 | 43.02 | 41.45 | 3.70 | 3.64 | 3.77 | -0.13 |
| bbq | 35.96 | 40.64 | 40.11 | 3.60 | 3.56 | 3.62 | -0.07 |
| food | 33.78 | 39.62 | 37.35 | 3.59 | 3.51 | 3.60 | -0.09 |
| side | 25.83 | 32.91 | 28.13 | 3.66 | 3.61 | 3.72 | -0.11 |
| great | 22.83 | 24.45 | 24.51 | 4.19 | 4.16 | 4.20 | -0.05 |
| brisket | 22.44 | 26.45 | 24.98 | 3.61 | 3.52 | 3.70 | -0.18 |
| pork | 20.56 | 24.11 | 22.14 | 3.75 | 3.63 | 3.92 | -0.28 |
| pull | 18.2 | 22.02 | 20.17 | 3.69 | 3.56 | 3.83 | -0.27 |
| sauce | 17.54 | 19.98 | 19.46 | 3.61 | 3.53 | 3.76 | -0.23 |
| service | 15.03 | 18.77 | 14.97 | 3.65 | 3.59 | 3.69 | -0.10 |
| price | 12.7 | 15.8 | 13.08 | 3.59 | 3.51 | 3.66 | -0.15 |
| rice | 12.29 | 15.31 | 12.84 | 3.60 | 3.52 | 3.66 | -0.14 |
| friendly | 11.48 | 15.95 | 11.03 | 4.07 | 4.01 | 4.07 | -0.06 |
| barbe | 11.33 | 13.13 | 12.29 | 3.83 | 3.83 | 3.94 | -0.11 |
| smok | 8.72 | 10.55 | 10.17 | 3.61 | 3.49 | 3.76 | -0.27 |
| special | 8.7 | 10.79 | 9.77 | 3.78 | 3.75 | 3.90 | -0.15 |
| taste | 7.92 | 9.53 | 9.46 | 3.11 | 2.99 | 3.31 | -0.32 |
| fast | 6.94 | 8.02 | 7.25 | 3.82 | 3.84 | 3.82 | 0.01 |
| beef | 6.53 | 7.15 | 6.7 | 3.68 | 3.61 | 3.85 | -0.24 |
| locat | 6.15 | 8.07 | 6.62 | 3.54 | 3.53 | 3.53 | 0.00 |

### Reviews Summary
- Reviews using the word price had a slightly below average customer rating in 2015 (3.51 compared to 3.57 overall).
- Over 20% of all reviews used the word pork. These reviews were moderately positive (3.75 to 3.63 overall).
- Profiles using the word taste had abysmal ratings (3.11 to 3.63 overall).

- Comments for pork are more than twice as likely in Dickey’s reviews (21%) versus Rudy’s (9%) and Smokey Bones (12%).
- Comments using the word fast have a higher average rating than all Dickey’s reviews, whereas these comments are in line with overall averages for Rudy’s and Smokey Bones.
- Barbecue shows up in 11.3% of Dickey’s reviews versus 6.2% for Rudy’s and 3.5% for Smokey Bones.

### Customer Testimonials
"This place is my new go-to BBQ. The pulled pork is to die for and the sauces don’t overpower the smokey flavor. Also really enjoyed the brisket. My wife had the grilled chicken and it was not at all dry and had really good flavor. The sides were also really delicious; enjoyed the potato salad and the fried okra. SOO GOOD!"

"I really enjoy coming to this Dickey's. The food is consistently well cooked and tasty. The employees are always courteous and willing to help with special requests. You cannot beat the price for the amount of food you get. I am so glad they are so close! We come once a week!"

"Loved my Westerner Sandwich and Ribs. Everything melted in my mouth. Restaurant was super clean and the staff was very friendly. I will definitely be back when I visit Raleigh again."

### Negative Feedback
"The rack of ribs was way too salty. BBQ not that good. Lots of fat in the pulled pork sandwich. The brisket sandwich was very dry. Staff was rude and seemed like they wanted to be somewhere else. Won’t be going back."

"Rude service provided by the guy chopping the BBQ. Ignored us as we were standing there ready to begin our order. Green beans were like baby food because they were so overcooked. $16+ for this with a drink-way overpriced."

"Very overpriced! It was 16 dollars for the rib plate which was 3 sad little pieces of ribs that were not that good (and definitely not smoked on a barbecue!)."

### Insights
- Moderately low average review score of 3.57
- Comments are more food-centric compared to competitors
- Low review score associated with the word taste, a cause for concern
- Significant number of locations with average customer review scores under 3.0
- Low subrating for Value (3.62) a cause for concern

### Additional Information
Assembled a list of 24,254 barbecue-themed restaurants across the US from Yellowpages.com for a consulting firm interested in studying the market penetration of barbecue restaurants in specific markets. More information is available upon request.

For more information please email [zblatt@rightbidresearch.com](mailto:zblatt@rightbidresearch.com)