{"id":16387,"date":"2025-06-04T12:28:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/?p=16387"},"modified":"2025-06-04T12:28:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:28:30","slug":"daves-hot-chicken-acquired-for-1b-by-roark-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/daves-hot-chicken-acquired-for-1b-by-roark-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken Acquired for $1B By Roark Capital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/franchises\/directory\/daves-hot-chicken\/336434\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken<\/a>, which began in 2017, announced on Monday that it was acquired by private equity firm (and Subway owner) Roark Capital in a $1 billion deal.<\/p>\n<p>The chicken shop, which specializes in a hot, Nashville-style of the bird, expects to open 155 locations this year and end 2025 with 400 restaurants worldwide, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2025\/06\/02\/3092237\/0\/en\/Dave-s-Hot-Chicken-Entering-Next-Phase-of-Growth-Innovation-with-Roark.html\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">according to a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Not bad for a company that began with a group of childhood friends in an East Hollywood, California, parking lot.<\/p>\n<p><b>Related:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/business-news\/it-was-like-a-drug-how-daves-hot-chicken-grew-a-cult\/430394\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">&#8216;It Was Like a Drug&#8217;: How Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken Grew a Cult Following From a Parking Lot<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is one of the great entrepreneurial journeys of our time, and now we begin the next chapter in the story,&#8221; said Bill Phelps, Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken&#8217;s CEO, in a press release. &#8220;Our entire organization is excited about the fit between Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken and Roark, and we&#8217;re looking forward to continuing to blow our guests&#8217; minds and unlocking growth and value for our franchise partners.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.placer.ai\/anchor\/articles\/broad-pickins-for-big-chicken\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">data from Placer.ai,<\/a> &#8220;Big Chicken&#8221; is on the up, and Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken was the leader of the flock, with the &#8220;most significant&#8221; year-over-year visit growth (67.2% in Q4 2024 and 60.0% in Q1 2025) of all the chicken chains, including Huey Magoo&#8217;s, Super Chix, and Raising Cane&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"602\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/_\/DXZ6ut1tzDyYVNi9P284?src=embed\" style=\"border:none;\" title=\"Chicken Chain Visits Outpace Overall Fast-Casual, Quick-Service Segments \u2013 as Brands Continue to Expand Their Footprints\" width=\"780\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dave Kopushyan, the &#8220;Dave&#8221; in the name, is one of the founders and the chef who began slinging the now-famous hot chicken using portable fryers and folding tables. He told <i>Entrepreneur<\/i> in 2022 that the company&#8217;s fast success is making them work even harder.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You just have to be present for all of it,&#8221; Kopushyan said. &#8220;And you have to believe in your product and use that motivation to keep going.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Related: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/franchises\/blackstone-acquires-jersey-mikes-for-8-billion\/483136\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">Private Equity Giant Blackstone Acquires Jersey Mike&#8217;s Subs for $8 Billion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 2019, Dave&#8217;s began franchising, and the company says it has sold the rights to more than 1,000 locations in the U.S., the Middle East, and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Roark is based in Atlanta and specializes in franchised businesses, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/daves-hot-chicken-roark-caca42cedf915683a4707a77248b9c45\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">per the AP<\/a>. It purchased <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/subway-roark-capital-sandwich-chain-66ce052f6b12469fc9264defbad2c75d\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">Subway sandwiches<\/a> in 2023 and backs a slew of restaurant chains, from Jimmy John&#8217;s to Jamba Juice.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.entrepreneur.com\/images\/misc\/1748979844_Daves-hot-chicken-sliders.jpg?width=1000\" style=\"height:1000px; width:1000px\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\"\/><sup>Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken Sliders &#8211; Courtesy of Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken <\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"first-letter:float-left first-letter:text-8xl first-letter:pr-1 first-letter:-mt-1 first-letter:font-black first-letter:text-gray-500 prose prose-blue max-w-3xl text-lg leading-relaxed mb-12\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/franchises\/directory\/daves-hot-chicken\/336434\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken<\/a>, which began in 2017, announced on Monday that it was acquired by private equity firm (and Subway owner) Roark Capital in a $1 billion deal.<\/p>\n<p>The chicken shop, which specializes in a hot, Nashville-style of the bird, expects to open 155 locations this year and end 2025 with 400 restaurants worldwide, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2025\/06\/02\/3092237\/0\/en\/Dave-s-Hot-Chicken-Entering-Next-Phase-of-Growth-Innovation-with-Roark.html\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_self\">according to a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Not bad for a company that began with a group of childhood friends in an East Hollywood, California, parking lot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"justify-center bg-gray-100 flex flex-col sm:flex-row rounded-lg p-6 align-middle sm:text-left text-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col justify-center align-middle mr-0 sm:mr-16\">\n<p class=\"text-sm leading-5 my-0\">\n      The rest of this article is locked.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xl text-black font-bold leading-5 my-1\">\n      Join Entrepreneur<span class=\"text-yellow-500\">+<\/span> today for access.\n    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/business-news\/daves-hot-chicken-acquired-for-1b-by-roark-capital\/492690\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dave&#8217;s Hot Chicken, which began in 2017, announced on Monday that it was acquired by private equity firm (and Subway owner) Roark Capital in a $1 billion deal. The chicken shop, which specializes in a hot, Nashville-style of the bird, expects to open 155 locations this year and end 2025 with 400 restaurants worldwide, according [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets.entrepreneur.com\/content\/3x2\/2000\/1748973888-dave-s-chicago.jpg?format=pjeg&auto=webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16389,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16387\/revisions\/16389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsfund.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}