Dave’s Hot Chicken opened its 500th restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona on October 8, 2026, a milestone the Pasadena-based brand reached roughly nine years after it started as a late-night pop-up in an East Hollywood parking lot. The chain has added about 100 restaurants since its 400th opening earlier this year, and its development rights now reach Europe, Canada and the Middle East.
Founders Arman Oganesyan, chef Dave Kopushyan and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan launched the concept in early 2017 with $900, portable fryers and folding tables. Lines formed quickly, and the founders moved to a brick-and-mortar restaurant within months instead of spending a year on a pop-up and another on a food truck. Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps then partnered with them to franchise the concept nationwide.
Reaching 500 restaurants is an incredible milestone.
That line came from CEO Jim Bitticks, who credited the franchise partners, the operating model and the teams behind each restaurant, and said the brand’s focus is “disciplined execution” as the footprint grows.
Trade outlet Fast Casual framed the latest stretch as 100 units in six months. According to the company’s release, the brand opened a record eight restaurants in a single day in April, in markets from Connecticut to Utah. It now operates in major metropolitan areas including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and is increasingly moving beyond conventional restaurant real estate into major airports.
Dave’s has expanded across Canada and the Middle East, and made its European debut with a flagship on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue. That opening started a 60-restaurant development agreement for the United Kingdom and Ireland. The brand has since widened its partnership with Azzurri Group through an additional 180-restaurant agreement across 10 European countries, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands.
The release names Canada, the Middle East and Europe as markets already in motion, but it does not name Middle East partners, countries or unit counts, and it does not mention Asia Pacific. For investors in those regions, the useful read is structural: the brand has paired a franchise-led US build with large, multi-country development agreements, a structure investors can compare against other chicken concepts entering the region. Our earlier coverage of the segment, including the fried chicken franchise opportunities across Asia Pacific and MENA and the Korean fried chicken brands’ master franchise push, shows how crowded that category is becoming, while the Sides deal in the Middle East illustrates the scale a single Gulf operator can now sign.
Airport and non-traditional sites also matter for overseas operators, because they let a brand build visibility in capital cities before committing to street-level rollout. We cover that format in non-traditional franchise locations across Asia Pacific and MENA, and the wider picture for US concepts in American franchise brands in Southeast Asia and the Gulf.
Source: Franchising.com — Dave’s Hot Chicken Turns Up Heat with 500th Restaurant
