Dixie Lee Food Systems Ltd.
Type	Privately held company
Industry	Fast food (Fried Chicken)
Founded	1964 in Belleville, Ontario
Headquarters	Napanee, Ontario, Canada
Key people	Joe Murano, President David Silvester, Franchise Consultant
Products	Fish & Chips Fried Chicken
Revenue	$55 million CND (2006)
Employees	1,000 (est)
Website	dixieleechicken.com

Dixie Lee is a franchised fried chicken fast-food restaurant founded in Belleville, Ontario in 1964. Joe Murano is the president of the company since 2007. The corporate head office is located in Napanee, Ontario. It has over 70 restaurants in operation in Canada and the United States, and one branch in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

History
The original Dixie Lee restaurant opened in 1964 in Belleville, Ontario.

David Silvester started in the business in 1977 as an owner/operator of a single Dixie Lee outlet in Castlegar, British Columbia. He then acquired a Dixie Lee Area Franchise for British Columbia where he opened and sold 17 franchises.After developing British Columbia, he bought the Dixie Lee franchise parent company in 1979. Silvester moved to Dixie Lee's Head Office in Belleville. He was responsible for developing Dixie Lee from eight outlets in Ontario to more than 50 by 1987."

In 2007, Joe Murano assumed the management of the company as a president.

Dixie Lee operates over 77 restaurants in Canada and the United States with sales in excess of $55 million per year. Dixie Lee is ranked by the food and hospitality industryas the fourth largest chicken franchise company in Canada.
 
Franchise coverage
Dixie Lee restaurants are located in Ontario (25 outlets), New Brunswick, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec.

The outlets located in Eastern Canada are managed by Dixie Lee Maritimes Ltd, while those in other areas of Canada and the United States are operated by Dixie Lee Food Systems Ltd.

Menu and nutrition
Dixie Lee restaurants serve fish and chips, fried chicken, nuggets and other side items such as cole slaw, French fries, and soft drinks. According to its website, fried products are prepared with trans-fat free oils.

The company's website states that its chicken products may contain trace amount of MSG and that other products may contain allergens and ingredients that may cause sensitivity to some persons.

Locations
The first Dixie Lee restaurant in New Brunswick opened its door in Caraquet in a small take-out restaurant just past the wharf. It moved following a fire during a winter storm to a new location where Cinéma Vidéo is now situated, not far from what was once the Enfant-Jésus hospital and next door to the Petro Canada gas station. It then moved on to a bigger building in the mid-1990s, where the Trio-Éclatant's clothing store once used to be. Successively other restaurants opened in Shippagan, Tracadie-Sheila and then in Lamèque. The Tracadie-Sheila location is one of the biggest Dixie Lee restaurants in New-Brunswick, and one of the first to include a drive-through function.
Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne mentions in her song My World about having worked at the Napanee restaurant.