Dixie Cafe Expanding by 3

The Black-eyed Pea restaurant in North Little Rock’s Lakewood Village closed Oct. 16 and will soon become a Dixie Cafe.

Allan Roberts, president of Dixie Restaurants Inc., the Little Rock-based company that owns the Dixie Cafe restaurants, confirms that the company is buying the Black-eyed Pea building and property. He did not want to disclose a purchase price.

Roberts says the company will gain possession of the building this week, and construction to renovate the interior and exterior of the structure will start immediately. Besides a complete renovation, an addition will be built and parking will be expanded by about 20 spaces. Because of the amount of remodeling work, Roberts doesn’t anticipate the restaurant opening until late February.

Some months ago, a rumor circulated around town that Dallas-based Black-eyed Pea U.S.A Inc. might be leaving the Little Rock market. A company spokesman denied that speculation at the time, though he acknowledged that the North Little Rock store was not performing up to expectations. Last week, a BEP spokesman said the company’s west Little Rock location will remain open and, in fact, will undergo a remodeling in the next six months.

Restaurant observers probably will find it interesting, in light of the chain’s history in this market, that Dixie Restaurants is buying Black-eyed Pea in North Little Rock,

Dixie Management Inc., the one-time Black-eyed Pea franchisee in Little Rock, severed ties with BEP’s corporate entity in 1986 following litigation. In settling the matter, Dixie Management sold five Oklahoma stores to the chain and bought two remaining stores in Little Rock and one in Memphis, Tenn., changing the names to Dixie Cafe.

Roberts, a minority shareholder in Dixie Management, and his partner, Gordon Gondek, subsequently bought the assets of Dixie Management. For a year following the resolution of the deal, Black-eyed Pea couldn’t compete in Little Rock or Memphis and Dixie couldn’t enter Oklahoma.

In retrospect, the year Black-eyed Pea had to stay out of Little Rock may have helped Dixie Cafe solidify an audience in central Arkansas. Roberts downplays a suggestion that the purchase of the Black-eyed Pea’s North Little Rock location signifies a victory of sorts, though he does acknowledge that Dixie may have had “the hometown advantage.”

“For whatever reason, we’ve been real fortunate that the public has supported us and made it possible for us to keep growing,” Roberts says.

And growing they are. In addition to the second North Little Rock store, the company has restaurants under construction on Caraway Road in Jonesboro and at the Central Avenue/U.S. Highway 270 intersection in Hot Springs. The Jonesboro store opens in April, while a July opening is planned for the Hot Springs restaurant. A Fort Smith store opens Nov. 1.

Counting the Fort Smith store, Dixie has eight restaurants in Arkansas, including Diego’s HogsBreath Cantina in Little Rock, in addition to four restaurants in both Memphis and Tulsa, Okla.