Dixie Lee Fried Chicken

Dixie Lee is a regional franchised fried chicken fast-food restaurant founded in Belleville, Ontario in 1964 and now based in Kingston. Its largest group of franchise operators is Dixie Lee Maritimes, based in New Brunswick with 38 locations in two provinces. The parent organization is the direct franchisor of ten restaurants in small-town Ontario.

History
The first Dixie Lee restaurant opened in 1964 in Belleville, Ontario.

The first Dixie Lee restaurant in New Brunswick opened its door in Caraquet in a small take-out restaurant just past the wharf. It moved following a fire during a winter storm to a new location where Cinéma Vidéo is now situated, not far from what was once the Enfant-Jésus hospital and next door to the Petro-Canada gas station. It then moved on to a bigger building in the mid-1990s, where the Trio-Éclatant's clothing store used to be. Successively other restaurants opened in Grande-Anse, Shippagan, Tracadie-Sheila and then in Lamèque. The Tracadie-Sheila location is one of the biggest Dixie Lee restaurants in New-Brunswick, and one of the first to include a drive-through function.

In 1974, Alton Scott, owner of a Dixie Lee in Woodstock, New Brunswick, built and operated a U.S. location in Houlton, Maine which went bankrupt in 1981. A 1970s location franchised in Ogdensburg, New York was sold in 2012.

By 1975, the chain claimed "over 101 fried chicken and seafood takeout stores in the U.S. and Canada" and was actively recruiting new franchisees through a U.S. office in Massena, New York. Many of these locations were existing restaurants under local branding who carried Dixie Lee chicken as a sideline.

David Silvester started in the business in 1977 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 bought the Dixie Lee franchise parent company in 1979. Silvester moved to Dixie Lee's Head Office in Belleville. He was responsible for developing Dixie Lee from eight outlets in Ontario to more than 50 by 1987; he sold the company in January 2006.

In 2006, the chain claimed to be the fourth largest chicken franchise company in Canada with sales in excess of $55 million per year from over 77 restaurants in operation in Canada and the United States. Dixie Lee restaurants were located in Ontario (25 outlets), New Brunswick, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec.

In 2007, Joe Murano assumed the management of the company as a president. His previous franchise experience is with Kingston local chains Bandito Video (now defunct) and Papa Pete's pizza. The corporate head office was located in Napanee, Ontario and the company listed by OTC Markets Group as over-the-counter stock Dixie Lee International Industries, Inc (Pink Sheets: DLII). A 2007 expansion plan claimed that there would be twenty locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan by 2012; the chain also proposed an expanded US operation as "Dixie Lee Diner".

One branch opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2008 but is now closed. A Kiev, Ukraine location operated briefly in 2008 with initial plans to establish five restaurants in that country. Expansion to Manchester, UK was also attempted; the chain predicted locations in China and India would be in operation by the end of 2008. In 2012, an expansion was attempted into Jamaica. Malaysia and Sri Lanka were also targets for Dixie Lee franchises.

A restaurant briefly in operation in Whitby was to be the first of ten new locations to open in Ontario in 2012, an expansion which would have returned the chain to Ottawa. The chain's previous attempt to expand to Ottawa failed in 2006. This proposal, and another to open four stores in Western Canada, never came to fruition.

OTC Markets has discontinued the display of stock quotes for DLII; the stock last traded at a quarter of a penny.

Locations and franchise coverage
In 2014, ten Ontario locations remain in operation, primarily in small markets. With the notable exception of Dixie Lee Maritimes (which remains strong with 38 locations extending from Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec eastward through New Brunswick and as far the Magdalen Islands), the chain has little remaining presence outside Ontario. One location has been listed as "coming soon" since 2012 for Squamish, British Columbia, originally as part of a 25-store expansion plan which has yet to materialise.

The outlets located in Eastern Canada are managed by Dixie Lee Maritimes Ltd., while those that remain in other areas of Canada (and formerly the United States) were operated by Dixie Lee Food Systems Ltd.

Dixie Lee's only international presence is in Guyana, where local businessman Alfro Alphonso opened Dixie Lee and Papa Pete's franchises alongside a US-franchised Miami Subs Grill and a sports bar in Georgetown in September 2013.

Menu and nutrition
Dixie Lee restaurants serve fish and chips, fried chicken, nuggets and other side items such as cole slaw, French fries, and soft drinks. According to its website, fried products are prepared with trans-fat free oils.

The company's website states that its chicken products may contain trace amount of MSG and that other products may contain allergens and ingredients that may cause sensitivity to some persons.