How a brand gets to 11 units is very different from how a brand will successfully reach 1,100 units.
That’s the view of Kyle Gordon, the CEO of Dallas-based Dillas Quesadillas, who also co-founded the concept with his wife Maggie Gordon.
Dillas is pronounced “dill-uhs,” which is a reference to the movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” in which the main character’s grandmother comically mispronounces the word.
The 11-unit quick-service drive-thru concept was founded in 2013 and has been growing in the Dallas area—and in Louisiana—offering a focused line of grilled-to-order quesadillas, seasoned fries and house-made queso and dipping sauces.
It’s a focused concept on a simple dish done well, a lot like the chicken finger specialist Raising Cane’s, and that’s no coincidence.
Kyle got his start working for Raising Cane’s and learning about the business as he climbed the ladder there. But, like Cane’s founder Todd Graves, Kyle had a dream of launching his own brand, going back to his days as a student at the University of Texas in Austin.
So before he could get “golden handcuffed” by the chicken finger brand, he decided to step off the Raising Cane’s career ladder to give his idea for Dillas a try.
“I wanted to make the leap while I was still young and hungry,” he said.
Maggie and Kyle Gordon. | Photo courtesy of Dillas.
Quesadillas (like chicken tenders) might be found on a lot of restaurant menus. But there are no other chains that specialize in the cheesy tortilla dish the way Dillas does, he contends.
“Our vision behind the brand was taking the quesadilla off the appetizer menu and putting it in with the mains,” he said.
Kyle believes the brand has the potential to be the next Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, or even Raising Cane’s.
But, to get on that path, he felt the company needed to a step back from growth to work on a few pain points, which Dillas did last year. The result is a brand refresh, including a streamlined menu, that rolled out last week.
Step One was simplifying the menu.
Dillas reduced its menu offerings from about 10 quesadillas to six, focusing on the most popular, though guests can still customize their selections.
A top seller is the Plain-O, for example, featuring chicken, ground beef, extra cheese or bean spread. Leaning into that, the new menu now features a Double Dilla, which allows guests to double their protein and cheese.
Dillas catering menu. | Photo courtesy of Dillas.
Other options include quesadillas stuffed with smoked brisket, steak, mushrooms, grilled peppers and onions, or hatch chili peppers. Dipping sauces are made in-house, and there’s room for limited-time offers, like the Frito Pie Dilla, spiked with Fritos chips, a proprietary chili sauce and sour cream.
It’s a seasonal favorite of Diehards, which is what Dillas calls its loyalty members, Kyle said. “It’s decadent and delicious. It’s one that you might want to eat and then maybe jog home.”
The chain’s menu now also lists each option as a bundled meal with seasoned fries and a drink, which Kyle said gives a better picture of value, even though prices can appear high.
The more-premium smoked brisket Lone Star, for example, is priced at $23.29 for the large "gorilla" size, with four slices of the 10-inch tortilla (with dipping sauce). That's a lot of food, he notes.
In fact, Kyle said he expects the “make-a-meal” pricing will reduce the average check a bit, but he believes it will increase frequency and throughput.
Before the change, guests were sitting at the menu panel in the drive-thru for 45 to 60 seconds, trying to figure it out.
“We were like, wow, that’s a long time,” he said. “We had to clean it up.”
Another pain point was the smoking of meats, which Dillas previously did in-house for the popular smoked brisket quesadilla. There were problems with consistency, Kyle said.
Now the chain is partnering with Sandler’s Smokehouse, which uses real wood to smoke its brisket and produces a more consistent product, said Kyle.
There were other simplification moves. Dillas used to butcher its chicken. Now the chain asked its chicken purveyor to butterfly the breasts that Dillas marinates and cooks in house, saving another step.
The reduced complexity also sets the brand up for franchise growth.
Dillas has actually had a franchisee for about five years, Primeaux Restaurant Group, which now has five units in Louisiana. But that initially started as a joint venture and later grew into a franchise partnership.
Now the chain is taking a more strategic approach to franchising to step up growth. “We’ve been in the emerging brand category for too long,” he said.
Dillas has hired a new development officer, Michael Mabry, who will lead a broader franchise strategy, focusing on experienced operators. Kyle also plans to continue corporate-unit growth, and the chain expects to add about five locations by the end of 2026, including three franchised units and two company-owned.
The units, which are about 2,500 square feet, do about $2 million in average unit volume, he said. About 85% of sales come from off-premise, though that includes drive-thru, takeout, third-party delivery, catering and digital online orders. The remaining 15% is dine-in.
When asked what he took away from his time at Raising Cane’s and applied to Dillas, Kyle said it was mainly “intangibles.”
From Canes founder Graves, Kyle said he learned things like the importance of treating your people right, building “an intentional culture, not a fake one,” and showing appreciation and acknowledgment where it is due.
“If you build that as your foundation, and you build on top of that supporting your community that surrounds your restaurant, you’re going to be okay,” he said. “You’ll be able to survive the ups and downs of the restaurant industry, which are insane. It’s like being on a roller coaster every day.”
Building a brand the right way brings sustainability, he said. But it also has to come from the heart.
“You should not get into the restaurant industry if you don’t have hospitality in your heart,” he said.