Contentious Corn Dog Pop-Up Finds a Semi-Permanent Home

This summer, Dallas will be able to enjoy corn dogs, funnel cake and other fried fair favorites any day they want. Fletch is a new corn dog company opened by fried food experts Vickie and Victoria “Jace” Fletcher. Calling themselves “purveyors of fine stick food,” this mother-daughter duo is aiming to elevate classic concession food.

The love of fried food is in their blood; Jace is the great-granddaughter of Neil Fletcher, of the eponymous Fletcher’s Original State Fair Corny Dogs. Vickie worked for the Fletcher’s business for 35 years.

Fletch was conceived as a special event food concept. Jace and Vic wanted to bring their fresh, modern spin on fried fair food on the road, in the form of large-scale catering, concessions and special events. Fletch’s grand opening party at The Rustic on March 19 was a preview of how they plan to operate their special event business.

Their announcement, however, has splintered the Fletcher family. Fletcher’s Original State Fair Corny Dogs came out with a strong statement making it clear that the new Fletch and Fletcher’s Original State Corny Dogs are not affiliated.


Jace and Vickie did not anticipate the recent controversy surrounding their new enterprise.

“Our family has been in the business for 80 years,” Jace says. “It’s to be expected when you have four generations involved. Things are not perfect … I wanted there to be a clear delineation. I am Jace Fletcher, this is my mom Vic Fletcher, we are Fletchers, but we are not Fletcher’s Original State Fair Corny Dogs. This is our family history and our own work experience. This is our own intention with our own company and there’s no affiliation.”

Jace and Vickie are determined to move past the drama and focus on the food.

Fletch distinguishes itself with the quality of the ingredients they use.

“We offer the classic corn dog, but we’re also doing an organic, uncured, 100 percent grass-fed beef corn dog,” says Jace. “We do a spicy sausage that’s infused with jalapeño and cheddar and we use good cheese — sharp cheddar and smoked gouda.”

“I’ve developed a new batter recipe,” Jace adds. “It is unbleached, unenriched, no preservatives. It’s as clean and simple as possible.”

Of course, you can’t have fair food without funnel cakes, and Fletch is also reinventing this sweet specialty.

“Half of our business is the funnel cake bar,” Jace says. “I started playing around with premium toppings. We’ve settled on a list of things like the salted caramel drizzle, dark Belgian chocolate, real whipped cream, berries.”

A long-term pop-up location is now in the works. Together, the Fletch team and strategic real estate partner Rosebriar Properties are opening a “test” restaurant at 10220 Technology Blvd., next to Gas Monkey Live.

“This location is awesome; it’s very centrally located,” Jace says. “It’s right at I-35, 635, Loop 12 … there’s full access to the entire metroplex. There’s a large lunch crowd, and there’s also the late-night aspect in that area.”

Rosebriar was the first to bring California-based In-N-Out Burger to Texas and Austin-based Hopdoddy to Dallas. They have signed on for a three-month lease to test the waters of a permanent, year-round corn dog and funnel cake eatery.

“I’m scared of taking on a permanent lease; I’m prudent. I love the idea of pop-up restaurants,” Jace says. “This provides us a trial run for three months, and we can continue on a permanent basis if we’d like.”

Expect to hear even more from Fletch.

“We are slammed,” Jace says. “We’ve been bombarded by catering requests. We’re planning a restaurant and are in the process of designing a food truck. And we have back-to-back events planned. We are in growth mode.”