As the chain’s footprint has remarkably expanded, Yelp and Google scores have increased in the past couple of years, which tells Phelps that Dave’s is doing what’s necessary to maintain a consistent guest experience. That’s because all the video and photographic content on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms are organic, genuine, and appealing.

The CEO, a former Nestlé marketing man himself, describes Oganesyan as the best marketer he’s ever worked with. Phelps says no one knows more about capturing that target audience than Oganesyan. That group hasn’t changed much from the early days of the parking lot and the first brick-and-mortar unit in Hollywood. We’re still in that work mode-continuously trying to improve the brand as much as we can.”īill Phelps, cofounder and previous longtime CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels, attributes much of the growth to understanding the customer base, which is the 15- to 30-year-old male demographic. So we understand that we’ve done a lot, and we also understand there’s still a lot to do. So right now our priority is making sure that our operations and the stores are running really well so franchises continue to want to open up stores.

We still have a lot of stores to open,” Oganesyan says. “To be here now, it’s pretty incredible, but I think we also realize that we still have a lot of work to do. The company believes there’s room for 1,000–1,200 stores domestically and another 800 to 1,000 internationally. There are 620 units in development, and 85 restaurants are expected to debut globally in 2023. Thanks to a well-built franchising program, Dave’s finished 2022 with roughly 100 locations-including international spots in Canada and Dubai-after starting 2021 with just seven stores. What they had on paper compared to what happened is still difficult for Oganesyan to wrap his mind around. LOOK BACK: QSR’s Breakout Brand of 2021: Slim Chickens Hits Another Gearįueled by a passion for food and sympathy for people who didn’t have access to Nashville hot chicken outside of Southern California, the founders wanted to plant as many flags as possible throughout the U.S. From there, “the coolness of Dave’s just evolved,” Oganesyan says. At the start, it was decided that every store would look different to prove Dave’s authenticity. As Oganesyan says, “Food is our superpower.” When the fast casual transitioned to its first brick-and-mortar, the founders had an opportunity to visually invoke the same feelings customers have when they first bite into a tender or slider. The menu, based around the Nashville hot chicken craze, is what drew crowds. The environment was nothing special it was just a tent, a couple of fryers, and some tables. Oganesyan remembers plenty of moments like those, back when customers would wait in the parking lot for two-and-a-half hours. Nobody gives a crap about this, that, or the other thing. From the very beginning, it’s about the food.

“How do we operationalize that? How do we operationalize that ‘rolling in the back of your head’ moment? That’s been the challenge. “When they bite into the food, I’m not even kidding, one of the guys’ eyes rolled back in his head and he’s like, ‘Oh!’ And there’s all sorts of expletives, and ‘They’re like, oh sh**, that’s so good,’” Bitticks says. Bitticks found a video from 2017 of two men trying Dave’s Hot Chicken for the first time at the concept’s parking lot pop-up, founded by Arman Oganesyan, Dave Kopushyan, and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan.

So, like anyone with a cell phone or computer these days, he Youtube’d it. When Dave’s Hot Chicken COO and president Jim Bitticks joined the company, he admittedly knew little about the chain’s humble upbringing.

Daves hot chicken franchise