Dave’s Hot Chicken Started With $900 in a Parking Lot. It Now Has 500 Restaurants.
The chain has eight openings in one day, deals across Europe and no sign of slowing down.
Dave’s Hot Chicken continues to bring the heat. The chain opened its 500th restaurant in Phoenix on October 8, according to Food & Beverage Magazine.
Those are impressive numbers for a business three childhood friends launched in 2017 with $900, portable fryers and folding tables in an East Hollywood parking lot. Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps signed on to franchise the concept in 2019. In 2025, private equity firm Roark Capital, which also owns Subway, bought a majority stake at a valuation of about $1 billion.
The pace hasn’t slowed. In April, Dave’s opened a record eight restaurants in a single day. The brand now operates in Canada, the Middle East and London, with a 180-restaurant deal covering 10 European countries and development rights sold for more than 1,592 locations worldwide.
“We weren’t thinking about hundreds of restaurants,” co-founder Arman Oganesyan said. “We were focused on making the best hot chicken we could and getting people to try it.”