Dixie House (photo by Brittany Nunn)
Dixie House closed over the weekend after more than 35 years of business in Lakewood, and there are two conflicting stories about exactly what caused the closure.
For those who don’t know, at the beginning of December Dixie House’s parent company, Black-eyed Peas, which is operated by Restaurants Acquisition I, Llc., filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Earlier this month the restaurant’s manager Scott Pendleton told us the restaurant would close its doors on Jan. 29.
Here’s where things get hairy.
Inside Dixie House
Both Pendleton and Black-eyed Pea spokesperson Wes Oliver told us earlier this month that Dixie House was fighting to stay at the location in Lakewood Shopping Center. Both insisted it wasn’t a money issue — that Dixie House made plenty of money and that it was the landlord, Lincoln Property Co., that forced them out.
Pendleton told us at the time: “Our sell records are huge here, and our profit margins are great. We make tons of money. The cook has been here a long times, so our food cost is low and everything is stable. Lincoln just didn’t give us the the option [to stay in Lakewood Shopping Center].”
On Jan. 22, right after Pendleton told us Dixie House was closing, we called Robert Dozier, Lincoln’s executive vice president, to get Lincoln’s side of the story, but he never returned the call. We broke the news that same afternoon.
Then four days later, on Jan. 26, Dozier talked to the Dallas Business Journal. He told them Restaurants Acquisition I didn’t make rent payments from September to December, which forced Lincoln to terminate Dixie House’s lease.
The last days of Dixie House
Dozier told the Dallas Business Journal: “We would have loved to have Dixie House pay their rent and stay there. But after months of non-payment and no communication, we were forced to terminate the lease agreement.”
We made more calls to Dozier, but he still hasn’t called us back.
We reached out to Pendleton, and he says Restaurant Acquisition I told him the company was late on rent twice in the last year, “but we were current and had to be as part of the bankruptcy,” he says.
Take it how you will. That’s everything we know so far.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Virtually every time we write a story about a property owned and/or operated by Lincoln Property in our neighborhood, we place a call for comments and clarification to Robert Dozier, a neighborhood resident who apparently is the only person authorized to speak on behalf of Lincoln. And he has yet to return any of our calls during the past couple of years. Obviously, who he chooses to talk with is up to him, but we want readers to know that it’s not for lack of trying that we are never able to augment our stories with Lincoln’s comments and perspective.
