Before he embarked on the creation of his own restaurant concept, Kyle Gordon said he wanted to make sure he had ketchup in his veins.
After seven years spent running and managing Raising Cane’s restaurants in Texas, Gordon launched Dillas Quesadillas with wife Maggie in 2013, using one of his favorite Mexican foods as the platform for an entire menu.
There’s the Gordo, a quesadilla packed with ground beef, bacon, seasoned fries and pico de gallo; the Black & Blue, a version featuring steak, blue cheese, red onion and churri dipping sauce; plus a vegetarian selection dubbed Bluebonnet and filled with mushrooms, zucchini, grilled peppers and onions, spinach and cheese. With Build-a-Dilla and Not-a-Dilla (salads) options, noted Gordon, the still-simple menu offers more choices than the brand’s name might suggest.
“Our customer acquisition strategy is rewarding curiosity,” Gordon, the CEO, said. “Because we’re a small brand, we get a lot of first-time customers who come in and start with just chicken and cheese. And so we work to make it a sticky experience and get them committed to the brand.”
Maggie and Kyle Gordon are the co-founders of Dillas, with Maggie now the brand’s president and Kyle the CEO.
Since the opening of the first restaurant in Plano, eight more Dillas restaurants—it’s pronounced “Dill-uhs,” Gordon emphasized, a nod to a famous line from cult classic movie “Napoleon Dynamite”—are on the map in Texas and Louisiana. All but one have drive-thrus, and 85 percent of sales come via off-premises channels.
“We have the niche of quesadillas, and then we niche it even further to quality convenience,” he said as he noted the use of fresh ingredients. “People don’t want to spend $20 on a burrito or $5 for a crappy burger. They want something in between.”
Most of the quesadillas cost $8 to $13, depending on size; the average unit volume is about $2 million, Gordon said.
In 2022, Dillas attracted a minority investment from Gala Capital Partners, which it used to open more company locations and create a franchise program. Gala Capital that year also acquired Rusty Taco and Dunn Brothers Coffee.
Gordon, who described himself as an operator at heart, intends to add more corporate locations as Dillas pursues franchise growth to the tune of a system that’s about 40 percent franchised. The brand’s first franchisee, Pete John, already has three locations open in and around Shreveport, Louisiana, since signing a joint venture agreement in 2018. Now converted to a franchisee, he purchased the development rights for the state of Louisiana, plus several East Texas markets.
A fellow Raising Cane’s alum who was Gordon’s district manager and later a managing partner, John spent 12 years at the popular chicken fingers-focused chain before founding Primeaux Restaurant Group to develop Dillas units.
“I went to the first Dillas and I smelled the fresh vegetables and the meat grilling—I knew it was something special,” said John. “I knew it was a brand that had legs.”
Franchisee Pete John leads Primeaux Restaurant Group and is developing Dillas restaurants through Louisiana.
With just two units open when John inked his joint venture deal, the move was a risk, he acknowledged, but he was confident in his operating chops and those of the founders. Like most restaurant owners, he “learned a lot through COVID,” including the importance of assembling a strong team with a shared vision to grow something new.
“Now, our restaurants are performing very well. One of our units is arguably the busiest in the system,” said John. “Shreveport is my backyard. At no point was I worried people weren’t going to eat quesadillas.”
John has two more locations set to open this year, in Nacogdoches, Texas, and Ruston, Louisiana. With the Ruston unit, near the campus of Louisiana Tech University, he’s building the first drive-thru-only prototype for Dillas. It’ll have a walk-up window and patio, but no lobby or indoor seating.
“We think this will really thrive with the foot traffic, the college kids,” said John, who graduated from Louisiana Tech.
The average size of a Dillas restaurant is 2,300 square feet; the new prototype clocks in at 1,500.
The cost to open a Dillas franchise ranges from $809,000 to $1.37 million.
As he prepares for targeted franchise growth in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, Gordon said he’s always looking for opportunities to improve the model. When the company’s restaurant in Forney, Texas, opened late last year, it was doing $70,000 a week in sales, “and it was hectic,” he said. “It was as close to the wheels coming off as you can get.” One adjustment made as result was the switch to a pre-butchered chicken to alleviate one labor pain point.
“Fresh with ease is our approach to prep,” he continued. To prepare for franchise growth, meanwhile, Dillas invested heavily early on in orientation, onboarding and training tools such as digital checklists and video training, “plowing money back into the business.”
“We’ve worked for a decade to build out a really solid infrastructure and system,” he said. Another Raising Cane’s alum joined the team in 2022 with the hiring of Adam Reed as vice president of marketing. Reed spent 11 years in marketing roles at Cane’s and was a “big get” for the brand, said John, as it supports franchise expansion.
A rendering of Dillas’ drive-thru-only prototype, which is set to open in Ruston, Louisiana, in August, marking the brand’s 10th location.