Texas-based Dickey's Barbecue Pit is set to expand further into the Canadian market through a partnership with Ontario family-owned Hayder Smokey Barbecue.
The new markets will include Windsor, Leamington, Chatham, London, Ottawa, Kingston, and St. Thomas.
Dickey's Barbecue Pit was established in 1941, and has become the largest barbecue franchise in the United States and worldwide offering sandwich combos and signature pit-smoked meats.
Ibrahim Daniyal is the president of Hayder Smokey Barbecue and says the Windsor market specifically stood out to them.
"If I'm coming from America, this is the starting point of Ontario. This is one of the reasons why wanted to open a Dickey's store in Windsor and Leamington."
He says they are looking forward to being a part of an organization has locations all over the world, including in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Japan and Singapore.
"We are so delighted that we are a part of growing smokey barbecue restaurants."
Business partner Shahrez Hayder says when they visited a Dickey's for the first time, they realized there was a need in the Ontario market.
He says the demographics of Windsor are in line with the Dickey's brand.
"Working class, everybody works hard for their money,, really family oriented, you know, they love sports, right? Especially football. So Dickey's is that type of food where you families can get together, you know, just enjoy very healthy good Texas barbecue while they while they enjoy football games as well."
Daniyal says they have begun looking for property in Windsor-Essex, and hope to welcome customers within one to two years.