Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is expanding to Upstate New York with a development agreement just executed to open two new stores in Buffalo. Currently the closest Texas-style barbecue is more than a three-hour drive away, and the new restaurants will provide a new concept to the city overflowing with wings and pizza. The first new location will open by the end of 2016 with the second opening in 2017. Location sites are in the process of being selected.

Originally from Ireland, Abban Westby has owned three other restaurant concepts in the Buffalo area. Westby came to America via Ocean City, Maryland, after studying hotel and catering management in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. He has been a restaurateur in upstate New York for over a decade, but decided the City of Good Neighbors needed to add Texas-style barbecue to its list of restaurants. Also from Ireland, Michael Mulcahy has been based in Boston for the past decade. His background is in real estate financing with a heavy concentration in the bar and restaurant and hotel space.

They will open the new restaurants under Dickey’s new store model, with a rustic look featuring reclaimed wood and a glass display case for meats, as well as a smaller footprint. “After touring the new store model in Dallas we knew that we wanted to open this concept in Buffalo,” Westby says. “The modern authentic vibe and rustic look will be popular here, and we look forward to serving Texas-style barbecue to the community here.” The duo hopes to open several more locations in the future.

“Dickey’s is continuing to expand across the East Coast,” says Roland Dickey Jr., CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. “Currently we have four locations in New York state, and we look forward to opening the two new stores in this area and expanding throughout the surrounding Northeastern states.”