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Posted on 06/04/2025 2:24:48 PM PDT by DFG
Apparently, convincing your friends to sell chicken can pay off — big.
At 24, Arman Oganesyan was making $50 a night as a stand-up comedian with no restaurant or business experience when he pitched the idea of selling Nashville hot chicken to his childhood friends Dave Kopushyan and Tommy Rubenyan. Pooling $900 in savings, they launched Dave’s Hot Chicken in 2017 as a pop-up in a Los Angeles parking lot.
On Monday, private equity firm Roark Capital bought a majority stake in Dave’s Hot Chicken, which is now a franchise business with more than 300 locations, in a deal worth “pretty close” to $1 billion, Dave’s CEO Bill Phelps said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“It’s insane what we did,” Phelps said. “The vision of these guys was just great. Arman Oganesyan was the founder. A high school dropout, but a marketing genius, and he created all of this in his head.”
But the idea nearly didn’t happen. Kopushyan — a chef who had worked at Michelin-starred restaurants — initially told Oganesyan, ”‘Chicken? First of all, I don’t even like chicken,’” Oganesyan said on the “How I Built This Podcast with Guy Raz” in 2024.
It took some convincing, but with Kopushyan eventually on board, they went to their other friends looking for investors, Oganesyan said — everyone turned them down, except Tommy Rubenyan. Oganesyan said the trio scraped their savings together and got to work developing a Nashville hot chicken recipe, drawing inspiration from popular Los Angeles restaurant Howlin’ Ray’s, which has two locations.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
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A couple people I know tried the chicken and found it wanting.
Congratulations on a very nice return on their investment!
Love stories like this...
Every couple of years, I re-read the history of Henry Ford’s genius...
“drawing inspiration from popular Los Angeles restaurant Howlin’ Ray’s”
I don’t think they should have mentioned that...especially if Kupushyan had cooked there (unknown).
In the movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, the Cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean declared:
“If Sissy Hankshaw actually arrives here someday, I’m going to teach her how to hypnotize a chicken.”
Most profound thing I’ve ever heard about chickens.
DFW has a number of Dave’s locations. The Addison one is a regular stop of mine when down there smoking cigars. It’s solid hot chicken. Having also had Hattie B’s, Party Fowl and Prince’s all in Nashville to compare it too. Dave’s is a solid rendition of it. Big D also has a Hattie B’s in Deep Ellm and near by a Gus’s chicken which does hot chicken as well.
Good for these guys they made it, and none of them have Anglo Saxon names so truly the American dream.
Roark Capital (named after Howard Roark from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead) bought Subway in April 2024 for $9.6 billion. They also have investments in Arby’s, Baskin Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Sonic as well as Focus Brands which owns Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Jamba Juice.
I’m surprised they didn’t name it Yan Yan Yan’s Chicken.
Since all three of their last names, amazingly, end with YAN.
Chicken places come and go.
So many big chicken tender companies peak and die.
Zaxby’s is dwindling in my area. Cane’s is growing but will probably be gone in 5 or 10 years.
So many names I can’t remember.
I would’ve sold them my recipe for HALF that! ;)
Dave’s Hot Chicken (Copycat Recipe for Sliders and Sauce)
https://juliescafebakery.com/daves-hot-chicken-copycat-recipe-for-sliders-and-sauce/
A local Dave’s opened here and I tried it a week ago.
1. They use Rapeseed (canola) oil
2. They toss the crispy chicken in a wet sauce
3. Their seasoning is so concentrated that it totally eclipses the chicken.
4. Caution: I have a high tolerance for heat and opted to try the ‘medium’. The spice coating was so concentrated and hot that I could neither taste the chicken and most people I know wouldn’t tolerate the medium. Fair warning.
I’m not going back, primarily due to the Rapeseed oil, but I have no interest in SOGGY over spiced fried chicken that I can’t taste.
If I want wings, I’ll go get wings.
I just don’t get the hype about Dave’s (no different than the hype about chick-fil-a).
And I bet in a few years, that this business will be gone.
I agree about chick fil a. Went there twice. The chicken sandwich at Wawa is better and it’s a convenience store. Also the shake is about 8 ounces. Can’t understand the line at the place all the time.
Nor I. My goodness, I don’t think I have ever driven by Chick-fil-A anytime where they were not 50 cars in line at the takeout window.
They use MSG also
I like MSG. Makes everything better. Ask Uncle Roger.
That is the nature of the restaurant business.
Not for all. I’ve owned a small one for 28 years.
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