They Bet Everything to Turn a Simple Snack into a Restaurant Brand. Now They’re on Track for $20 Million in Revenue.

In 2013, Kyle and Maggie Gordon opened the first Dillas Primo Quesadillas successful Plano, Texas, dedicating their resources to a edifice solely focused connected quesadillas. The husband-and-wife duo believed that the quesadilla could beryllium the adjacent chickenhearted fingers — a simple, universally adored food category. They were consenting to bet the family’s savings connected it, moreover though, astatine the time, they were successful their precocious 20s and had young children. 

They planned to walk $200,000 to get the first Dillas location up and running, but Kyle tells Entrepreneur that it yet cost astir $500,000.

“We passed the chapeau around,” Kyle says. “It was friends and family and Maggie’s and my savings. We couldn’t get a slope loan, truthful that’s really you had to do it backmost successful the day.”

Thirteen years later, their stake is paying off. Dillas has 11 locations crossed Texas and Louisiana, pinch average yearly income revenue of astir $2 cardinal per location. The apical location is approaching $2.5 cardinal successful income revenue. The company’s projected 2026 gross is $20 million.

“We knew that we had a unsocial space,” Maggie says. “We’re the only quesadilla-focused concept, putting that beforehand and center. There’s nary 1 other doing it, truthful that was thing ace unique.”

The pursuing Q&A pinch Kyle and Maggie has been edited for clarity and concision. 

Maggie and Kyle Gordon. Credit: Dillas

Backgrounds and early careers

Could you show maine much astir yourselves? What are your acquisition backgrounds and early activity histories?
Maggie: I graduated from the University of Texas astatine Austin successful 2006 pinch a PR grade from the advertizing school. I went consecutive into the corporate advertizing world arsenic a media planner. When we started a family, I shifted into freelance trading activity for a while until we started Dillas. Fun fact: I was besides an esthetician for a play successful the mediate location earlier Kyle and I launched Dillas successful 2013. We’ve been moving together connected the marque ever since.

Kyle: Maggie and I met astatine the University of Texas astatine Austin — that’s wherever I went to schoolhouse arsenic well. My awesome was successful government, but I knew I wasn’t going to prosecute a accepted way successful that field. After graduating, we moved to Dallas, and I sewage a occupation astatine Raising Cane’s, the chickenhearted digit edifice concept. I started arsenic an hourly displacement leader, yet became a wide manager, and past a managing partner there. That was the only occupation I had until I near to commencement Dillas successful 2013, erstwhile I decided to pursue my dream of building thing of my own.

Origin of Dillas

Take maine backmost to the infinitesimal Dillas came to be. Who came up pinch the idea, and really did you pass it?
Kyle: The thought for Dillas started backmost successful assemblage successful the early 2000s. I wasn’t the astir academically aligned student, truthful I was ever trying to fig retired what I would do aft graduating, particularly since I knew I wouldn’t usage my authorities grade directly. Around that time, fast-casual concepts for illustration Chipotle were emerging, and I was drawn to that space. I came up pinch a conception for a quesadilla-focused edifice called Dillas because I saw the quesadilla arsenic a elastic conveyance that group loved. I felt it deserved to beryllium featured arsenic the main event, not treated arsenic a side. It became a long-term dream, and complete the years I stacked smaller enabling goals to yet make it a reality.

Maggie: When I met Kyle astatine UT, his family was surviving successful Austin and still does. There was a section edifice they’d gone to their full lives, and the first clip I met his family, we went there. Kyle ever ordered quesadillas — and successful tons of different ways. Because they knew the waiter truthful well, he could customize them pinch immoderate ingredients he wanted. I retrieve him saying, “Chipotle is bully because it’s amended value nutrient than regular accelerated food, but quesadillas are truthful overmuch amended than burritos — we request to do this pinch quesadillas.” That’s really I retrieve him first articulating the idea: Take that upgraded fast-casual attack and use it to quesadillas.

Menu brainstorming and early experiments

How did you commencement brainstorming the paper and flavors for a quesadilla-focused concept?
Maggie: One of my favourite memories from the early days is simply a roadworthy travel we took to Houston because we needed a chair from Ikea, and we didn’t person 1 successful Austin. On that drive, we started brainstorming each the different spirit combinations you could put into a quesadilla. That travel was really the inception of the paper — conscionable the 2 of america dreaming up each the possibilities of what a quesadilla could beryllium beyond the modular fillings.

Kyle: The versatility of ingredients was a large portion of what motivated me. Chipotle was very “down the lane” successful position of options — you could person beans, onions, and greenish doorbell peppers, but that didn’t consciousness very adventurous. I wanted our quesadillas to connection overmuch much adventurous spirit profiles. That’s why we concepted Dillas arsenic a spot wherever the quesadilla is beforehand and halfway and tin transportation almost immoderate operation of ingredients.

Adventurous flavors

What are immoderate of the much adventurous flavors you’ve offered complete the years?
Kyle: In the beginning, we experimented pinch a batch of flavors that didn’t ultimately make the cut. One illustration was the Philly Dilla, a cheesesteak-inspired quesadilla. Another was a buffalo chickenhearted quesadilla pinch bacon that we called Buffalo Bacon. That 1 had to time off the paper eventually, moreover though Maggie perfectly loved it. Over time, we’ve had to “pour 1 out” for a number of Dillas arsenic we refined the menu.

Maggie: Buffalo Bacon was for illustration taking American buffalo wings pinch accepted bacon, buffalo condiment and bluish cheese, and putting it each into the quesadilla arsenic the vehicle. We usage a tortilla and a food that’s flavorful but mild capable that it doesn’t overpower whatever’s successful the middle. That lets america put almost thing wrong without the food swinging excessively powerfully successful 1 guidance — it’s a awesome guidelines for each kinds of flavors.

What’s 1 of the astir adventurous items connected the paper today? 
Kyle: Today, astir apt the astir adventurous and highly celebrated quesadilla connected our paper is called the Fluffy. It has cheese, a achromatic legume spread, French fries inside, a queso drizzle, steak, bacon, and pico de gallo. It’s thick, fundamentally 2 meals successful 1 quesadilla, and perfectly delicious. It proves that the humble quesadilla deserves to beryllium showcased because you tin put almost thing wrong it.

Building an original concept

What’s been the hardest portion of creating your ain conception alternatively of buying into a franchise?
Kyle: Creating a conception from scratch alternatively than buying an existing one is highly difficult. It astir apt adds two, 3 aliases moreover 4 much years to the process compared pinch purchasing a conception aliases franchising personification else’s brand. Everything we designed and built happened successful our small room successful Richardson, Texas — from each condiment to each operation and each our civilization seasoning blends. None of it was taken disconnected the shelf; it each had to beryllium created, tested, paired together and grown organically earlier we could coming it to customers and build from there. That’s thing I’m really proud of.

Maggie: There are truthful galore much specifications than you recognize erstwhile you’re creating a caller brand. You don’t conscionable prime a paper — you’re making decisions astir operations, position and impermanent acquisition astatine a granular level. It requires changeless learning and accommodation arsenic you observe what useful and what doesn’t successful a unrecorded environment.

Recognizing franchise potential

When did you recognize that Dillas had franchise potential?
Maggie: I don’t person a edifice background, truthful I grew into this abstraction arsenic Kyle and I built Dillas together. Early on, pinch his acquisition from Cane’s, his mindset was very overmuch shaped by firm maturation — we would turn organically arsenic a company-owned marque and debar franchising to support tight control. When his erstwhile leader from Cane’s reached retired and said he loved what we were doing and believed his organization would emotion it, our first guidance was, “We’re not franchising.” Instead, we system a associated task and licence statement to trial if Dillas could activity successful a marketplace we weren’t managing directly.

Kyle: That associated task began successful 2018, correct aft we opened our 3rd location successful McKinney. About 3 years later, astir 2021, we felt we were genuinely fresh for franchising. The conception always had franchise potential because it’s a very focused brand, and operational ratio is the hallmark of franchising. If you can’t return personification disconnected the street, train them to tally your strategy and empower them to run from afar, you’re not franchise-ready. We worked difficult to build systems, infrastructure, a streamlined paper and operational efficiency. 

Once our joint-venture partner had successfully opened and operated 3 stores successful different state, we knew the exemplary translated beyond our backyard and started formalizing our franchise program.

Franchise strategy

So the franchise really locked successful astir 2021? What was the strategical reasoning down that timing?
Maggie: The inflection constituent was erstwhile our joint-venture partner had 3 stores unfastened and moving well. That showed america the conception could win extracurricular Dallas and without america straight managing each detail.

Kyle: Around 2021, we completed our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and felt we had capable systems, training and site-selection acquisition to standard responsibly. While you could opportunity we were “franchise-able” from time 1 successful 2013, we weren’t realistically fresh to standard done franchising until we’d spent astir a decade building infrastructure, systems and controls.

Were location immoderate naysayers aliases guidance erstwhile you decided to grow done franchising?
Kyle: The database of naysayers was decidedly longer than the database of sayers. Everybody has an sentiment astir franchising, and galore of the antagonistic stories travel from group who didn’t creation heavy capable systems and sewage into franchising excessively early. They suffer control, motion up the incorrect partners and past reason the exemplary itself is flawed. On the different hand, location are galore extraordinary occurrence stories — Wingstop, McDonald’s and countless others that were built connected a beardown franchise model.

Maggie: We didn’t want franchisees improvising because our systems were incomplete. The consequence pinch franchising excessively early is that you hear, “There was nary strategy for this, truthful I did it my ain way,” which leads to inconsistency and marque drift. Our extremity was to beryllium capable to say, “Here’s the system, and you request to do it our way,” truthful franchisees tin colour wrong the lines and everyone tin person assurance successful wherever the marque is heading.