Dave’s Hot Chicken is taking North America by storm with rapid franchising efforts that are seeing new locations from California to Canada. Three of these new stores are headed for the Bay Area, including one in Oakland where it will take over the former Old Brooklyn Cafe & Bakery at 2228 Broadway in Uptown, SF Chronicle reports.
As seen at the existing outposts in Union City and Santa Rosa, the arrival of Dave’s Hot signals long lines for Nashville-style hot chicken tenders and sandwiches, plus crinkle cut fries, pickles and a side of Dave’s sauce. Two more stores still go up in Sunnyvale and San Leandro, making five total Bay Area locations in the coming months.
The chain was founded in 2017 by four friends Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan, and Tommy and Gary Rubenyan. Dave’s Hot began as a tiny stand in an East Hollywood parking lot, serving a simple menu starring their spicy, juicy tender chicken sandwiches.
Through word of mouth, it wasn’t long before Dave’s Hot Chicken garnered lines around the block, which didn’t ease up even after the group opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant a year later. The restaurant’s continued growth is evidence of how lucrative the current Nashville hot chicken craze is for many businesses today.
Dave’s Hot Chicken will be joining a host of other spots throughout the Bay Area where locals currently get their hot chicken fix. There’s Oakland’s own World Famous HotBoys, which also has Sacramento and Walnut Creek locations; Scratch Cookery, a food-truck-tuned-brick-and-mortar in San Jose; plus Hotbird which will also be in Uptown, following a relocation from San Francisco.
