Speaking at the UKHospitality Summer Conference in London yesterday (11 June), Steve Holmes, CEO of Azzurri Group, which owns the UK franchise to the Nashville-style chicken brand, said Dave’s will open a total of seven new locations by the end of the year.
Dave’s Hot Chicken, which was acquired by Roark Capital earlier this year, made its UK debut in December 2024.
“We’ve had queues at the London site three to four months after opening… the volumes are still phenomenal,” Holmes told delegates.
“Dave’s gave us the opportunity to move into a new segment with a younger consumer, a fast-growing part of the market, and a different proposition.”
Set to launch in three weeks’ time, Dave’s Hot Chicken Birmingham will take over a site on New Street previously operated by ASK Italian, another Azzurri brand.
An outpost in Manchester is due to open three weeks after that.
Dave’s Hot Chicken was founded by childhood friends Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan in 2017 as a pop up in LA and went on to open its first bricks and mortar site in East Hollywood the same year.
It now boasts more than 200 sites across America, as well as locations in Canada and the Middle East, and counts actor Samuel L. Jackson and singer Usher among its backers.
Under its partnership with Azzurri Group, the brand is aiming to open 60 sites across the UK & Ireland in the coming years.
Speaking to Restaurant back in January, Jim Attwood, Dave’s Hot Chicken UK managing director, said the group is ‘open-minded’ when it comes to choosing locations for future sites.
“From an operational simplicity perspective, greater London is easier initially,” he said.
“At some point we’re going to have to go to another city, though. And if we’re confident, which we are, then we should take that step sooner rather than later.”
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