The Richland Dickey’s Barbecue Pit reopens this week but the future is uncertain for its still-closed sister restaurants in Kennewick and Pasco. 

Kenny Teasdale, a commercial real estate broker with NAI Tri-Cities and owner of a local moving company, reached a deal with the landlord and with Dickey’s Dallas, Texas-based parent company to take over the restaurant at 2530 Queensgate Drive. 

The arrangement doesn’t cover the closed Dickey’s locations in Kennewick and Pasco.

All three restaurants closed June 13, 2019, after the state Department of Revenue filed tax warrants for nearly $83,400 in unpaid taxes in Benton and Franklin counties. A spokesman confirmed the warrants were still outstanding in January. 

Teasdale is negotiating territorial franchise rights to the brand. He intends to make Dickey’s the anchor for strip malls he will develop in the future. 

Teasdale has applied for a liquor license to sell beer and wine. He said he will honor prepaid catering bookings placed before previous owner closed last year and pricing for customers who can provide receipts showing they made deposits. 

Teasdale called himself a longtime fan of Dickey’s barbecue. He regularly brought barbecue to his employees at Smooth Moves, a local moving company he formed 12 years ago.  

“The Tri-Cities needs more barbecue. I think the market can sustain this,” he said. “We need more barbecue. Porter’s (Real Barbecue) is great but this is lower price point.” 

Teasdale hasn’t identified where he might site his future strip malls. He said his real estate experience means he’ll be well positioned to act when opportunities surface. 

Texas native Dan Pelfrey introduced Dickey’s to the Tri-Cities in 2014 when he opened a restaurant on West Kennewick Avenue, next to Safeway and Highway 395.  

He’d moved to the Tri-Cities for a logistics job that eventually disappeared in a corporate merger. Missing the tastes of home, he imported Dickey’s to the Northwest. 

Pelfrey added two more locations, on Sandifur Parkway in Pasco, and on Queensgate Drive in Richland. 

Pelfrey previously told the Journal of Business that wages and severe weather forced the closure last spring. The three restaurants employed more than two dozen people.  

Teasdale has hired the former general manager to reopen the business. 

Dickey’s is a private family-owned company established in 1941. It has expanded to more than 43 states through franchise agreements.  

The brand focuses on slow-cooked Texas-style barbecue, serving brisket, pulled pork and other specialties. 

Richland Dickey’s Barbecue Pit: 509-396-9717; restaurantji.com/wa/richland/dickeys-barbecue-pit-/