Dave’s Hot Chicken, a Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant from Southern California, is set to open its second location in Phoenix this week, and has plans to open several more in the coming months.
Dave’s Hot Chicken has gone from a scrappy, late-night pop-up to being the fastest growing restaurant chain in the nation. Come this Friday, November 17, Phoenix residents will be able to get their hands on the hot chicken so good, it made superstar Drake want to invest.
Opening this Friday, the newest Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant will be located at 475 E. Bell Rd., Suite 172, in the Target Shopping Center at the corner of Bell Road and 7th Street. It will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 1 a.m.
The endcap restaurant – which features an outdoor patio, locally inspired street art and plenty of patron parking – will be owned and operated by franchisees and brothers Devon and Clinton Wesselink of Elevated Restaurant Group AZ.
“We are bringing even more heat to the desert with Dave’s Nashville hot chicken,” said Devon Wesselink. “This is our first Dave’s location in the city of Phoenix but we are actively seeking more location opportunities throughout the market, with a focus on expanding in the West Valley.”
Dave Uhles and Alberto Caballero of Western Retail Advisors represented Elevated Restaurant Group in the transaction.
“There’s a cool factor about the Dave’s Hot Chicken brand that has boosted its already rapid growth across the country and attracted celebrity investors,” said Caballero. “We are excited to continue to be a part of the brand’s expansion plans in Arizona and to capitalize on this state’s love of quick serve restaurant concepts.”
Dave’s Hot Chicken specializes in Hot Chicken Tenders and Sliders, along with sides of house-made Kale Slaw, creamy Mac n’ Cheese, crispy, seasoned French Fries, and Shakes. Offered at various spice levels ranging from No Spice to Reaper (which requires a signed waiver for those who dare), each piece of juicy, hand-breaded chicken is spiced-to-order.
“Dave’s Hot Chicken will blow your mind! Every Tender is hot, juicy and spicy,” said Bill Phelps, Dave’s Hot Chicken’s CEO. “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 six short years ago. We’re thrilled to be opening our second restaurant in Phoenix.”
In a modern-day American dream story, three childhood friends, Chef Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan, scraped together $900 in 2017 to launch Dave’s Hot Chicken in a parking lot, portable fryers and folding tables in tow. Dave’s Hot Chicken quickly took off, opening an East Hollywood brick-and-mortar restaurant shortly after, with support from Tommy’s brother, Gary. In 2019, the team struck a deal with Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder and former CEO, Bill Phelps, and movie producer John Davis to begin franchising the Dave’s Hot Chicken concept throughout the U.S. and beyond. The company has sold the rights to more than 700 franchise locations in the U.S., Middle East and Canada and will open 70-plus locations this year. Harkening back to an Eater LA blog that helped propel early interest in the brand, the company’s mission is to “blow their minds.” Additional brand investors include Billboard’s Artist of the Decade, Drake, former California First Lady Maria Shriver, actor Samuel L. Jackson, and Good Morning America anchor and retired NFL player Michael Strahan.
