Houston TX Hot Chicken (HHC) is leaving the United States for the first time, signing a master franchise agreement with PizzaExpress to bring its viral Nashville-style hot chicken to the United Kingdom. The deal puts three restaurants on track to open in 2026, with a plan to reach 50 locations nationally within three years.
The partnership hands HHC a rare head start abroad. PizzaExpress runs close to 500 locations across the UK and Ireland under its house of brands, and it will use that operational base — supply chain, real estate know-how and local market read — to launch a brand most British diners have never heard of.
“This is chicken unlike you’ve seen it before,” said PizzaExpress Group CEO Paula MacKenzie.
Founded in 2021 by Edmond Barseghian, HHC has built a U.S. following on a loud, social-first brand experience and a menu built for sharing online. The line-up runs from hot chicken sandwiches, tenders and waffles to loaded fries and house-made lemonades, with heat levels topping out at the waiver-required “Houston, We Have a Problem!” — a 2-million-Scoville challenge that reliably racks up views at each new market.
Picking a market through a single, well-resourced master franchisee is a deliberate way to lower launch risk. Rather than build a UK supply chain from scratch, HHC plugs into an operator that already has one. It is the same logic driving cross-border expansion in higher-growth regions — find a partner with on-the-ground depth, then scale behind them. For brands eyeing Asia and MENA, the structure mirrors what works there: control rights at the country level and let a local specialist run the playbook, as outlined in our guide to how master franchising works.
Fried chicken remains one of the most portable restaurant categories in the world, travelling well from the U.S. to Asia and the Gulf — a point underlined by Bonchon’s recent Malaysia entry. HHC’s tie-up with an established casual-dining group, rather than a first-time operator, signals a maturing approach to international growth: emerging brands increasingly want partners who can absorb the cost and complexity of a new market. For investors weighing concepts to localise, the model is worth studying alongside other restaurant franchise formats now moving across borders. If the UK rollout hits its 50-unit target, expect HHC — and its backers at Savory Fund — to look east next.
Source: Franchising.com — Houston TX Hot Chicken Takes Its Heat Global With UK Debut
