A national barbecue chain is being taken to court by numerous franchisees for allegedly misleading them with claims of sweet profits that turned out to be all smoke and mirrors — and several New York based investors say they are among those who got their nest eggs roasted.

“It was the worst financial decision I ever made,” said Scott Raifer, of his decision to buy a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise and open it in Freeport, Long Island.

Raifer said he is now $500,000 in debt and facing foreclosure on his home after taking out a Small Business Administration loan to open the eatery in December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It closed in June 2022 — less than two years later.

“I was under the incorrect assumption that we were in business together — if I did well, they did well,” said Raifer, 58, of Plainview. “I learned that if they did well, it was at the franchisee’s expense.”

Raifer said he felt pressured by the company to get the location “up and running” quickly. An estimate from a Dickey’s-preferred construction vendor, he said, was “triple the price” of what he ultimately paid after hiring his own contractors.

“I spent half a million dollars building the place,” said Raifer, who is not part of the lawsuit and has not brought legal action against the company citing lack of resources.

Raifer said the $16,000 smoker he bought from a Dickey’s-approved vendor repeatedly malfunctioned. When he emailed the company for guidance in January 2021, he said he was reprimanded for including senior executives on the message.

“When I told them that I wanted to sell, they said most of their stores sell for $25,000,” Raifer said.

He said he reached a breaking point when Dickey’s headquarters took over his online menu and kept items listed after he had run out, creating confusion for delivery drivers and online customers — a claim the company denies.

“I ended up closing and walking away,” Raifer said. “Now I owe all this money and I’m losing my house.”

Jerry Stephan, another former franchisee, opened a 2,150-square-foot Dickey’s location in Centereach, Long Island, in September 2020. A 2018 article on Dickey’s corporate website announced that Stephan planned to “bring 21 locations to New York state.”

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Jerry Stephan, another former franchisee, opened a 2,150-square-foot Dickey’s location in Centereach, Long Island, in September 2020. A 2018 article on Dickey’s corporate website announced that Stephan planned to “bring 21 locations to New York state.”

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After paying approximately $20,000 to buy into the franchise, Stephan, a construction contractor, said Dickey’s later backed out of the store development deal without explanation.

“They got amnesia and said they weren’t allowed to set up the agreement we had legally, so they circumvented that,” Stephan said. “I was going to build and get a piece of all the other stores. I was planning on that for retirement.”

Stephan, who previously owned Long Island’s first Quiznos sandwich shop, said the requirement to buy from Dickey’s approved vendors and pay marketing fees — which he said yielded little actual promotion — cut into his bottom line.

“I bought stuff through their distributor that was much cheaper elsewhere,” he said. “Their franchise agreement is ironclad. They’ve got you by the horns.”