DALLAS – Dickey’s Barbecue Pit promoted Jim Perkins to executive vice president of International Sales and Support in an effort to build out the company’s global identity, structure and culture.

Perkins plans to build the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit brand in Africa, followed by Asia and the Middle East later this year, the company said. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit currently has locations in five countries and plans to expand its international footprint to a total of 12 countries by the end of 2021.

“Dickey’s is deeply focused on international and over the course of the past two years, with the number of global partnerships created, we’ve realized the need to educate and cultivate a global perspective towards partnership,” Perkins said. “I’m excited to lead this task for this family brand and be a minor component of the evolution and next step for this brand.”

During his career, Perkins is credited with elevating the presence of several multi-national companies, including The Exxon Mobil Corp., 7-Eleven, Priceline.com, and MAM Food Co. in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has counseled Nestlé, Los Angeles County Department of Health, Petroleos de Venezuela, Citgo Petroleum.

Perkins has worked in operations, development, training and financial disciplines in North and South America, Asia and the Middle East. He serves on the board of the Global Restaurant Leadership Conference, and he brings years of experience in restaurant and convenience store executive management to his new post at Dickey’s. Roland Dickey, Jr., chief executive officer of Dickey’s Capital Group, described Perkins as an international thought leader who will continue to position the brand Dickey’s globally.

“Perkins’s accomplishments in the past 30 months: 17 countries with Master deals signed during the pandemic in Australia, Japan, Myanmar, Philippines and Taiwan and new stores open in Singapore, UAE and Tokyo helped my family understand the vast opportunity in international but also the need to ‘internationalize the business,’” Dickey said.