Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurant to open Casper location soon

CASPER, Wyo. – The former Village Inn in central Casper is on track to reopen as a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in the coming weeks.

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. CEO Laura Rea Dickey was in Casper earlier this week visiting the new location at 325 South Durbin St., which she says will likely open for business within a couple of weeks.

The franchise store is owned by Travis and Jessica Brown of Cheyenne, who operate Dickey’s locations in Cheyenne and Laramie, she said. Two other Dickey’s locations in Rock Springs and Gillette are operated by different owners, she said.

Laura expressed her enthusiasm for the new location, which has undergone an extensive gut rehab and exterior renovation, which had sat vacant for months after the Village Inn closed without warning in Oct. 2023.

“[Travis and Jessica] have done an amazing job making this space into a gorgeous Dickey’s,” she said. “I think that I would give that advice to anyone in the restaurant industry, that if you can go in and find a second-generation space and make it work for you, then that’s a really smart way to go.”

Dickey’s was established in Dallas in 1941 by WWI veteran Travis Dickey. The old house he converted into a traditional Texas BBQ and smoke joint is still standing and still in use just across the street from the company’s official headquarters, said Laura. “It does have the original pit, but it fell off of the back and so they had to rebuild it at one point because they put a lot of miles on it,” she said.

Laura, a native of Wheatland, married into the Dickey’s family and initially worked in marketing and technology for the company before moving up to CEO. The family-run company now has 688 restaurant locations across eight concepts, including chicken, burger, and a baked potato concept. Barbecue is still their primary focus, she said.

“Everything is smoked on site,” she said. “It’s a hickory pit, it’s done here, and it’s 12 to 14 hours for our brisket and our pulled pork, so that’s a lot of art and science.”

Laura said partnering with the right people is essential for making smoked barbecue work consistently and understand the culture of the smoke pit. “It’s a challenge, and that’s where having the right partners like Travis and Jessica [is important],” she said. “You want folks who share the passion.”

The Casper Dickey’s Barbecue Pit location is located at 325 South Durbin St. The restaurant’s operating hours listed on its website are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but are subject to change.