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| Company type | Private chain |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | 1929 inNewport, Kentucky,USA |
| Headquarters | 733 Monmouth Street, Newport, Kentucky 41071 |
Key people | Spiros Sarakatsannis, CEO; Nicholas Sarakatsannis, Founder |
| Products | Cincinnati chili,deli |
| Website | www |
Dixie Chili and Deli, originallyDixie Chili, is a chain of threeCincinnati chili restaurants located in theNorthern Kentucky area ofGreater Cincinnati. Dixie Chili is famous for their chili, coneys, and sandwiches.[1]Greekimmigrant Nicholas Sarakatsannis founded the first location in 1929 inNewport, Kentucky, just across theOhio River from the city ofCincinnati. Today the company also has locations inErlanger andCovington, additionally distributing a canned version of their chili product insupermarkets in the Cincinnati and Kentucky area, as well as in someKroger stores in theDayton, Ohio area.
Nicholas Sarakatsannis immigrated to the United States fromGreece in 1912 at the age of 15 in order to escape hostilities between the Greeks and theTurks.[2] He landed a series of jobs in restaurants and the food industry, eventually arriving in Cincinnati. In 1928, he began working for Empress Chili, the original Cincinnati-style chili parlor. His first day on the job he made nine gallons of chili.
He soon became convinced he could develop his own recipe and open his own chili parlor. Searching the region on buses between split shifts for a location that would not be in competition with Empress, Sarakatsannis found a location inNewport, Kentucky on Monmouth Street, the city's primary business district. The first Dixie Chili restaurant opened its doors in 1929, the year theGreat Depression began in theUnited States and is still a family-owned company.
