Dave’s Hot Chicken by Nick Selle

May, 2017: Arman opened his pop-up shop (Entrepreneurship)

sellenicky — 2025-02-19 17:28:29 UTC

Arman and 2 of his childhood friends started their business as a pop-up tent in a parking lot in East Hollywood. They pooled $900 together to buy a fryer and other things to start their business. They used picnic tables from their backyard to put their food on. They took many risks when starting up that they might not get business but they got so much business they couldn’t keep up with the one fryer. This showed Arman’s entrepreneurial mindset that he was willing to take risks.

November 2017, Arman opened his first real restaurant (Capital)

sellenicky — 2025-02-21 15:26:17 UTC

Just over 6 months after their pop-up tent, they expanded into an actual restaurant in a strip mall. This was a big step for Dave’s Hot Chicken and the 3 owners because this was their first actual business. The interior of the restaurant's walls were decorated with street art by local artists, a style that has become a recognizable feature of the chain.

2021: Investors

sellenicky — 2025-02-21 15:31:25 UTC

After getting more popularity from the media they eventually got some big name investors. Drake the rapper, and producer recently became Dave’s latest celebrity investor and brand ambassador, Oganesyan and Phelps said, noting that the artist will be more visible in the coming months. This will help Dave’s a ton since Drake is a very popular artist at the moment and will spread more business to Dave’s.

2025: Dave’s Owners

sellenicky — 2025-02-21 16:09:05 UTC

The 4 childhood friends are doing very well with their current day business. They now have over 300 stores with a strong presence in the United States, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Their business that they started from a pop-up tent in a parking lot with one fryer can now be valued at 1 billion dollars.

2019: Began to franchise Dave’s Hot Chicken all over the world (Land)

sellenicky — 2025-02-21 16:17:56 UTC

In fall 2019, the founders formed an agreement with an investment group including former Wetzel’s Pretzels CEO and co-founder Bill Phelps as well as movie producer John Davis to franchise the restaurant. The deal made plans for more than 300 locations in the United States and Canada. The deal saw Phelps named as the chain's new CEO. This was the new beginning for Dave’s as they would be in multiple countries spreading worldwide.

October 2017: Added brother to team (Labor)

sellenicky — 2025-02-21 16:21:36 UTC

Since the 3 friends were in their mid 20’s and didn’t have enough revenue from the pop-up shop right away, they added Tommy to their team which is Gary’s brother. Tommy was older so he had revenue to buy most of the products for the team right away. They would eventually pay him back since he was able to get them up and going. Arman says in the How I Built This podcast that if it wasn’t for Tommy he doesn’t know if they would have ever been able to expand and be the business they are today, so Tommy was a huge contributor to Dave’s.

2021-2022: Fun Facts

sellenicky — 2025-02-23 19:17:16 UTC

The brand has seen remarkable growth, with a 67.6% compound annual growth rate from 2021 to 2022.
Sales rose 155% to $203.6 million in 2022 from $79.8 million in 2021.
Their Hottest tender the Reaper is so hot that diners must sign a waiver before eating it.
The pieces of chicken are all white meat breast lightly battered then fried and tossed in a mix of spices which is different from most places since most use the chicken tenders.