Dave’s Hot Chicken opened its 500th restaurant in Phoenix on October 8, 2026, nine years after four childhood friends launched the brand from a parking lot in East Hollywood, California with roughly $900, portable fryers, and folding tables. The chain has grown into a franchise system with development rights sold for more than 1,592 locations worldwide and a majority stake held by Roark Capital at a valuation of approximately $1 billion.
The brand entered franchising in 2019, when Bill Phelps, co-founder of Wetzel’s Pretzels, partnered with the original team to build out a franchise model. Since then, growth has accelerated sharply: the system added roughly 100 locations in the six months before reaching its 500th restaurant, and opened a record eight restaurants in a single day in April 2026.
The franchise chain has topped Fast Casual’s Top 100 list in 2024 and 2025, placed in the top five in 2026, and ranked first on Yelp’s Most Loved Brands list. It operates in major US markets, airports, Canada, the Middle East, and a London flagship on Shaftesbury Avenue.
Dave’s Hot Chicken
Damn, That’s Good
- Restaurant
- Not discliosed
- Liquid capital: $Not discliosed
From Parking Lot to 500 Locations in Nine Years
The 2017 launch took place in a parking lot in East Hollywood, where the founders sold spicy chicken tenders and sliders from a pop-up setup. The concept drew long lines and a following that expanded into social media coverage before the brand had a permanent address.
The transition to a permanent location and then to franchising compressed a trajectory that typically takes longer: the system crossed 400 locations earlier in 2026, then added its next 100 in under six months. The 500th location, in Phoenix, represents a pace of expansion that few fast-casual brands have matched from a similarly small starting point.
Roark Capital, a $1 Billion Valuation, and a Franchise Pipeline
In 2025, Roark Capital acquired a majority stake in Dave’s Hot Chicken at a valuation of approximately $1 billion. The firm also holds a majority stake in Subway, the largest fast-food franchise system in the world by number of locations.
For Dave’s, the investment followed a period of rapid franchise development: the brand has sold area development rights covering more than 1,592 locations worldwide, including a deal for 180 franchise restaurants across 10 European countries through an expanded Azzurri Group partnership, and agreements covering the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the United States, the brand continues to recruit experienced franchise operators and groups for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.
Good to know
Roark Capital is a private equity firm that owns or has invested in several large franchise systems, including Subway, Arby’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Its majority stake in Dave’s Hot Chicken values the brand at approximately $1 billion, a figure that reflects both the scale of the existing system and its signed development pipeline.
A Franchise Model Built on Area Development Agreements
Dave’s Hot Chicken has grown primarily through area development agreements rather than single-unit franchising, a structure that assigns multi-unit development rights to operators across defined territories. The brand does not publish franchise fees or royalty rates through the Entrepreneur article, but franchise disclosure documents are available through the brand’s official channels.
The system has credited the strength of its franchise operators for the pace of its expansion. With 1,592 development agreements already signed and a footprint that now spans four continents, the brand is transitioning from an emerging fast-casual concept into an established international franchise system built on a product that started with less than a thousand dollars and a parking space.
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