Dave’s Hot Chicken History: How the Brand Started
The brand began in Los Angeles with a small pop-up. Franchising and later investment were separate steps in its growth.
Dave’s Hot Chicken started in an East Hollywood parking lot in 2017. The company says three friends began with $900, folding tables and a portable fryer. That starting point is different from its later franchising story and from the much larger restaurant network described in recent announcements.
Chef Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan began the early operation. Tommy’s brother Gary later supported the move into a permanent restaurant. The four names are credited in the brand’s story. A 2019 franchise partnership marked a later growth stage.
The first chapter was a small Los Angeles pop-up
The company’s official origin account places the beginning in East Hollywood. It describes a simple setup and early attention through Instagram and local coverage.
The location matters because Nashville hot chicken names a food tradition, not the city where Dave’s was founded. Dave’s began in Los Angeles while serving its interpretation of that style. Our guide to Nashville hot chicken explains the broader food category.
The $900 figure belongs to this early pop-up account. It should not be presented as the cost of opening a current Dave’s franchise, a permanent restaurant or a complete modern commercial kitchen. Those are different business situations.
What early reporting actually described
Farley Elliott’s May 11, 2017 Eater LA report documented the parking-lot operation shortly after it began. It described chicken tenders with bread and a small supporting menu, including fries and kale slaw.
That early report listed Mild and Hot as the two heat choices available at the time. It is useful evidence that the menu developed over time. Today’s familiar seven-setting range should not be copied backward into every description of the first stand.
The article also described the team’s wish to move toward a food truck or permanent restaurant. Read that as reporting from the early stage, not as a description of every Dave’s location today.
Old prices, serving details and operating hours from that story are historical information. They do not establish what a current restaurant charges or serves.
Why three early friends and four founder names appear
The brand’s account starts with Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan. It then describes support from Tommy’s older brother Gary. Its founder story includes all four names.
That sequence helps explain why a short history may mention three people at the first pop-up while another source names four founders. The descriptions can refer to different points in the same early story.
A founder credit also differs from a later investor or executive role. Someone can become important to a company’s growth without having started the original stand. Our ownership guide keeps those later roles separate.
Franchising was a later chapter
The company’s growth accounts identify a 2019 partnership with Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps to expand the Dave’s concept through franchising. The brand had already begun before that partnership.
This distinction prevents a common timeline error. The year franchising began is not automatically the year the business was founded. Likewise, an executive who helped build a franchise system is not necessarily one of the original pop-up founders.
Franchising also separates the brand from the operator of a particular restaurant. A new location can bring the same brand into another market while being run through a local franchise business. The name on the storefront does not by itself identify the legal owner of every individual location.
A timeline of the main stages
| Stage | What it represents |
|---|---|
| 2017 | The East Hollywood parking-lot beginning |
| After the early pop-up | The move toward a permanent restaurant |
| 2019 | The franchise-growth partnership |
| 2025 | The Roark investment chapter |
| October 8, 2026 | The company’s announced 500th restaurant milestone |
These dates answer different questions. Founding, franchising, investment and location openings should not be collapsed into one event. A later deal does not mean the brand was newly created at that moment.
The 500th restaurant is a dated milestone
In its October 8, 2026 announcement, Dave’s reported opening its 500th restaurant in Phoenix. Treat that as a company-reported milestone on that date, not as a live count that never changes.
Restaurant announcements can also discuss development agreements or rights to future locations. Those figures do not mean every planned restaurant is already open. A signed development plan and an operating store are different stages.
If you want to visit a branch, use the location-finding guide and confirm the specific opening details. A brand growth announcement is not enough to establish that a particular restaurant is serving guests today.
How the early story relates to the menu now
Tenders and a heat choice remain recognizable parts of the brand, but the present menu contains formats beyond the first stand’s small offering. Regular sliders, smaller pieces, group boxes and newer specials need to be checked in the current restaurant menu.
The two-tender meal guide explains one familiar serving. Our tender and slider comparison helps distinguish the modern choices without assuming they all existed in their current form from day one.
The clearest way to read Dave’s history is to keep each stage in order: a 2017 pop-up, a permanent restaurant, franchising and later expansion. Use the Dave’s Hot Chicken menu for today’s food choices, and use dated accounts when you want to understand how the brand reached them.
