New Texas-Style Barbecue Restaurant Is Coming To Ocean County

MANCHESTER, NJ — If you're looking for places to eat out in Whiting, the options are fairly limited.

"We have three pizzerias, two Chinese places. Oh, and Wendy's," said Gary Mulligan, who moved to Whiting after he retired from PSE&G a few years ago.

Mulligan has been on a mission to change that, and later this week will reach his goal when Dickey's Barbecue Pit opens at the Whiting Town Center. The soft opening is Wednesday and the grand opening is set for Thursday.

Dickey's is at 108 Lacey Road in Whiting. It offers sit-in dining, takeout, delivery, and catering. It will be just the second Dickey's Barbecue Pit in New Jersey; the company founded in 1941 has more than 500 locations nationwide.

"There are not many food options here (in Whiting)," Mulligan said. "In our restaurant you can eat here seven days a week and never have the same thing."

Mulligan said he and his business partner, Donna Brunner, have been working to bring Dickey's to Manchester for more than two years. He and Brunner, a fellow PSE&G retiree, first started talking about the idea in 2019, he said.

It was a trip to Dallas, Texas, to the Dickey's corporate offices for a discussion about becoming a franchisee that solidified his desire to open the restaurant.

"I was looking to start a business that I could pass down to my son," Mulligan said. During the presentation about Dickey's Gary Mulligan learned that was the company's history, too, passing the business down from father to son for generations since it first opened.

"This is exactly what I wanted to do," he said. If that wasn't enough, "then I tasted the food and said, yeah, I'm in."

Mulligan, Brunner and Mulligan's son Garrett spent three weeks in Dallas learning what they needed to know to run the franchise.

"My son was the VIP of the class," Mulligan said. "He loves it."

Dickey's offers barbecue Texas-style, with the meats hand-rubbed with spices and then smoked. You can see the menu on their website; it's also posted on the Dickey's of Whiting Facebook page.

"All of our meats are smoked daily on-site," Mulligan said. He said Dickey's does not put sauce on the various meats, but leaves that up to the guests to decide to add sauce.

Mulligan said they have faced setbacks and challenges in preparing to open, though not all the issues were related to the pandemic. A leaking roof damaged new ceilings and lighting they had installed. The sewer system had to be brought up to the current code, and the building's electrical system had to be upgraded, too. Then there was the time someone crashed into their brand-new $18,000 air conditioning unit.

"Thankfully our AC guy knew someone and we were able to get a new unit quickly," Mulligan said.

On Thursday, when they hold their grand opening with all of their family and friends present, all of the tribulations won't matter, he said.

"I can't wait," Mulligan said, and apologized for getting emotional about the opening. "It's been two years. I’ll have my whole crew out front to welcome the whole community."

Mulligan said he would like to open other Dickey's sites in the area in what he hopes will be the near future. But for now, he's savoring the impending opening like a perfectly cooked rib.

"We stayed steady with it," Mulligan said. "This is our dream."

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