Franchising

Dave's Hot Chicken making Dallas debut

Provided

May 25, 2021

Los Angeles-based Dave's Hot Chicken is making its Texas debut Friday at 14750 Preston Rd. in Dallas.

"Dave's Hot Chicken will blow your mind; every Tender is hot, juicy and spicy," CEO Bill Phelps said in a company press 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. We are ecstatic to be opening our first restaurant in Dallas."

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

Dave's, which made the 2021 list of Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers, has since sold the rights to nearly 300 franchise locations in the U.S. and Canada and will open an additional 30 to 40 locations this year.

Additional investors include former California First Lady Maria Shriver, Red Sox owner Tom Werner, actor Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Strahan, "Good Morning America" anchor and retired NFL player