Franchising

Dave's Hot Chicken hitting up Colorado, Oregon

Provided

April 30, 2021

Los Angeles-based Dave's Hot Chicken is entering two new markets, opening Friday at 99 S. Broadway in Denver, Colorado, and Saturday in Tualatin, Oregon, at 7715 SW Nyberg St., according to a company press release.

Over the next three-to-five years, Dave's will open 11 Denver-area locations as well as five units in Portland.

"Dave's Hot Chicken will blow your mind. Every Tender is hot, juicy and spicy," CEO said Bill Phelps said in the release. "Our founders started Dave's as a parking lot pop-up restaurant in Hollywood with a portable fryer and picnic tables from their backyards just three short years ago."

Arman Oganesyan and his best friend, Chef Dave Kopushyan, along with brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan, launched Dave's Hot Chicken in that pop-up in 2017. The group soon opened its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in East Hollywood, and in 2019, struck a deal with movie producer John Davis and Phelps, the former CEO and co-founder of Wetzel's Pretzels, to begin franchising.

The company has sold the rights to almost 300 franchise locations in the U.S. and Canada and will open an additional 30 to 40 locations this year.